*REGISTRATION CLOSED* England Lacrosse Invites University Teams to Join Mixed Lacrosse Leagues for 2020/21 Season

Please note, registration for the mixed lacrosse leagues 2020/21 has now closed.

England Lacrosse are excited to invite university lacrosse teams from around the country to join the EL local mixed lacrosse leagues for the 2020/21 season.

This news comes in response to British Universities & Colleges Sport’s (BUCS) decision to suspend the start of their 2020/21 season until January 2021 at the earliest.

As Government guidance in response to the coronavirus pandemic continues to move towards more relaxed restrictions and, indeed, with an adapted version of lacrosse being given the go-ahead to start on Saturday (1 August), England Lacrosse are looking to offer universities fun, structured competition against other university teams in their local area.

We will adapt our existing regional mixed lacrosse leagues in the south east and midlands to create more localised competitions consisting three to four teams within a close geographical proximity.

These localised competitions will initially take place from October to December 2020 and teams who enter will be given the option to continue in their competition in the new year (January to March 2021), with what will hopefully be more regional-based competition.

All the competitions will be administered centrally by us at England Lacrosse, with regional support available where necessary.

The local mixed leagues will be open to all universities and we’ll aim to accommodate all teams who’d like to participate.

Teams will be entered into a competition local to them and fixtures will be scheduled for home and away games within their local league.

Fixtures after Christmas will depend on the teams who remain in the competition but will hopefully see wider regional fixtures and knockout competition. 

All latest Government and England Lacrosse guidance MUST be adhered to at all times and can be found HERE.

Requirements for universities interested in taking part can be found by clicking the button below:

Registration for the mixed lacrosse leagues will open on Friday 31 July and close on Monday 31 August and any teams wishing to take part should complete the registration form:

Any further questions or queries can be directed towards England Lacrosse Regional Competitions Officer, Helen Amos, via email at h.amos@englandlacrosse.co.uk.

2020 Baths Eights Tournament Cancelled due to COVID-19

Last week, the Bath Lacrosse Club committee made the difficult decision to cancel the annual Bath Eights tournament due to take place on 5 September 2020.

The tournament would have been the 35th edition of the men’s and the 4th edition of the women’s tournament with the titles currently held by Hillcroft Lacrosse Club and Bath University Lacrosse Club respectively.

A statement released on Friday went on to say:

“Despite a lot of work by the organising committee, the event has proved, under the current COVID limitations, impossible to host this year.

“Although the latest Government announcements for return to play are positive, the management of some 400 players plus spectators, and a lack of site and support organisation commitment has provided the club with no option but to cancel.

“All the 2020 bookings will be refunded in full and the tournament will be rebooked for Saturday September 4th 2021.

“Bath Lacrosse club look forward to seeing everybody at the traditional launch to the Lacrosse season in 2021”.

The competition is seen as the traditional season opener by many and has been running a men’s version every year since 1986 while a women’s version was added in 2017.

In a letter sent to clubs involved in the competition, Bath Lacrosse Club committee chair, Paul Bown, remarked:

“Sadly in the absence of approved playing conditions for lacrosse at this time and given the practicalities of organising an event for over 300 people requiring social distancing and at a venue that has yet to confirm it's reopening plan we've taken the decision that we cannot provide you with a safe and enjoyable day this year”.

Read the full letter by clicking the button below:

For more information regarding the cancellation, please contact Nik Roberts at n.roberts@englandlacrosse.co.uk.

Madi Jones Appointed New University Rep on National Lacrosse Committee

England Lacrosse are delighted to announce the appointment of Madi Jones as the new University Representative on the National Lacrosse Committee (NLC).

NLC oversees the recreational game in England and is made up of representatives from the various sections of the game; it is tasked with decision making on key issues within the sport.

The University Representative role aims to, among other things, represent the university sector on the Committee as well as to develop ideas to engage students outside of their university lacrosse clubs.

And Madi, who is 20 years old and entering her final year at the University of Bath, is hoping she can use her role to ensure the student voice is fully heard.

“I want to make sure that student athletes are considered within decision making processes; I am also hoping to achieve a change in the way recruitment occurs within universities to allow for a more inclusive attitude.

“I’m also looking forward to working with other members of the committee on larger projects to benefit the lacrosse community”.

For the past year or so, Madi, a Wales international who competed at the 2019 Women’s Lacrosse U19 World Championship, has been volunteering for England Lacrosse as part of the University Lacrosse Officer (ULO) programme which she believes is a really great way to grow the sport.

“I wanted to be a ULO as I wanted to help Bath University Lacrosse Club to integrate with the wider community and increase participation within lacrosse in my local area.

"As part of my role on NLC, I would like to expand on the work I’ve been doing as a ULO and also consider the responsibilities the ULOs have to ensure they are being utilised correctly”.

Madi has been involved in lacrosse since her secondary school days at Haberdashers’ Monmouth School for Girls and she believes the game can be a real force for good, especially when played at university.

“I originally got into the sport because of the skill set used to play the game; the speed and agility elements appealed to me greatly.

“But being part of a lacrosse team at university is an amazing experience; the combined social and competitive elements of lacrosse have definitely enhanced my university experience.

“The majority of my close friends at university have been made through lacrosse and I would definitely recommend it to any university students that might be considering joining”.

Madi started her University Representative role on the NLC immediately and you can contact her by email at bath@unilax.co.uk.

SEMLA Set-Up Video Calls to Address Equality and Diversity within Lacrosse

Last month, the South of England Men’s Lacrosse Association (SEMLA) began a series of video calls with its community to discuss equality and diversity within lacrosse.

The recent Black Lives Matter protests/movement coupled with UK Pride month led the SEMLA committee to pause for thought and begin to challenge themselves and question whether they were doing enough to make lacrosse an attractive recreational pastime for everyone living in their region.

It is hoped the new video calls will help to find ways to promote lacrosse to communities who may not be aware or have misconceptions of the sport.

President of SEMLA, Rob Gooch, believes it’s important to have difficult conversations around equality and diversity to help the sport make changes to stand out from the crowd.

“Lacrosse is a smaller sport, battling with many other sports in this country for the recognition and funding that are needed to grow participation numbers, create a thriving grass roots network, and attract more world class athletes”, comments Rob.

"Showing that we are a sport with players from a full range of backgrounds can only help to open the game up to new people and help the sport to grow”.

The calls are conducted with the Microsoft Teams platform that so many of us have become accustomed to using during the COVID-19 pandemic but, despite this, SEMLA are keen that everyone has the opportunity to make their voice heard.

“Meeting rules are outlined at the start of each meeting”, Rob says, “we want people to openly share their experiences, both positive and negative, about equality and diversity in lacrosse. Minutes are not taken, other than to record actions and next steps and, so far, we have identified the need to form a 'working group' to take experiences and turn them into positive actions for club and regional development plans”.

The meetings are advertised to the SEMLA community but are open to anyone interested in helping address the issues of equality and diversity in lacrosse and growing the game as a whole.

The new working group SEMLA has recently formed will meet monthly from mid-July with a representative from England Lacrosse and our new partners Sporting Equals being invited to join.

If you have any more questions regarding the new SEMLA equality and diversity calls or their new working group, don’t hesitate to contact Rob Gooch at semla.president@southlacrosse.org.uk.

Return to Lacrosse update: 10 July

England Lacrosse is today (Friday 10 July) in the process of submitting our Return to Play action plan to DCMS outlining our proposals on how our sport can move to the next stage of the Roadmap for Return to Lacrosse. 

Following yesterday’s DCMS announcement regarding recreational sport, each individual sport has been asked to submit an action plan demonstrating how their sport will operate, with any adaptations or mitigations required, to ensure a safe playing environment and adhering to all relevant guidelines.

Many of the required mitigations around minimising COVID-19 transmission risk such as attendance registers and venue considerations have already been considered and adopted within our current Phase 3 guidance, and we are confident that our Phase 4 action plans will be approved by DCMS in the coming days.

Our Phase 4 action plans are based around a return to modified full training and competitive play adapted in line with the relevant recommendations for minimising the risks of COVID-19 transmission.

England Lacrosse plans to hold webinars towards the end of next week to further explain the new guidelines, any adaptations in place, and the requirements for facility provisions. 

We are all understandably looking forward to moving to the next phase of the return to lacrosse, however, we would like to reiterate to our lacrosse community that we should all continue to follow the current approved EL guidance until any changes are approved and subsequently announced.

The Best England Lacrosse Away Destinations: Canada

We’ve been to Israel. We’ve been to the USA. And all from the comfort of our sofas at home!

But we couldn’t make a list of the best England Lacrosse away destinations and not include Canada, could we?

Canada has a long history of being very very VERY good at lacrosse: five men’s World Indoor Lacrosse Championship titles, three men’s World Lacrosse Championship titles, and two women’s World Lacrosse Championship silver medals.

And that’s even before the one title and seven silver medals at U19 level!

The men’s World Lacrosse Championship has been held in Canada three times (1967, 1986, 2000), the women’s World Lacrosse Championship has been held there once (2013), and the men’s World Indoor Lacrosse Championship has been held there three times (2003, 2007, 2019).

On this latest virtual trip, we’ll be reminiscing about three memorable trips to Canada: the 1967 (and first!) men’s World Lacrosse Championship, the 2007 men’s World Indoor Lacrosse Championship, and the 2013 women’s World Lacrosse Championship.

You know the score by now; buckle up, enjoy the ride, and pretend you’re travelling oversees with us to watch/play some summer lacrosse!

1967 Men’s World Lacrosse Championship

The first ever men’s World Lacrosse Championship in 1967 was a four-team invitational tournament that coincided with Canada’s centennial lacrosse celebration.

However, the lacrosse community would have to wait seven more years until the next invitational tournament in 1974 and it was at this time that World Lacrosse (formally the International Lacrosse Federation or ILF) was formed and the idea of a formal 4-yearly tournament was born.

Despite this, the 1967 edition will always be remembered as the first men’s World Lacrosse Championship.

The tournament saw England, Canada, USA, and Australia battle it out to be top dog in a round robin mini-league event in Toronto, Ontario.

The USA were represented by their national champions, the Mount Washington Lacrosse Club from Baltimore, while the Canada team was made up of indoor (or box) lacrosse players from the Peterborough Petes and Green Gaels.

As seems to be the case with many of England’s early encounters with these three lacrosse-playing heavyweights, they struggled to impress themselves upon the tournament, losing all their games.

A narrow 9-11 defeat to Australia in their first game gave the England team some hope but a 15-3 defeat to the USA was followed by 11-8 loss to Canada in their final game, meaning they finished bottom of the league in fourth place.

The USA, on the other hand, won all their games meaning they returned home as champions of the world with Australia finishing second and Canada third.

Despite this less than pleasing result, it was still a huge honour for England to take part in the first ever men’s World Lacrosse Championship and we finished second seven years later so it’s not all bad, is it?

2007 Men’s World Indoor Lacrosse Championship

Now, this is exciting.

Indoor lacrosse, otherwise known as box lacrosse, hasn’t featured in our previous Best England Lacrosse Away Destinations articles yet.

But it’s here now and we can’t wait to tell you all about this growing version of lacrosse and the 2007 men’s World Indoor Lacrosse Championship!

This second edition of the competition took place in Halifax, Nova Scotia on the east coast of Canada and saw England make their first ever appearance at the World Championship, after missing the inaugural tournament in 2003.

An estimated 850,000 people tuned in to watch the spectacle in Canada alone but the worldwide number was much higher as the games were also streamed live across Europe.

England were drawn in group B alongside the Iroquois Nationals, Scotland, and the Czech Republic missing out on the veritable ‘group of death’ that was group A containing the USA, Australia, Canada, and fellow tournament newcomers, Ireland.

Poor Ireland.

The task for England was simple: finish top of the group and they would have an automatic place in the semi-finals, finish second or third and a place in the quarter-finals awaited, but finish fourth and they’d have to be content with a battle for seventh place.

Surely one of the top three spots was within England’s grasp?

Their first game, the toughest game, was against the Iroquois Nationals and they were suitably beaten 27-8.

Big wake up call.

England knew they had to hit the ground running on day two and they didn’t disappoint, defeating close neighbours Scotland 15-7.

Day three saw England play their final pool stage game against Czech Republic, who’d finished sixth (out of six) at the 2003 Championship.

It was going to be a tough match; Czech Republic have never been a push over and have a very accomplished indoor lacrosse team (one that would finish fourth at the 2011 competition).

But England were confident and managed to overcome their opponents by a narrow two goal margin, eventually seeing the game out 9-7.

This meant England finished second in the pool and qualified for the quarter finals where they would meet *pause for dramatic effect* Australia!

Australia had finished fifth at the previous World Championship and managed to scrape through the pool at this tournament winning just one game in the process.

A tense game with Australia ended 15-11 to England and saw them progress to the semi-finals where they would eventually succumb to the host nation, Canada, losing 24-9.

The stuffing had been well and truly knocked out of England after their semi-final defeat and they went on to lose the bronze medal match versus the USA 17-10, meaning they finished fourth in the tournament.

A definite disappointment but certainly not a bad showing for a team making their first appearance at a World Championship!

Watch highlights of the 2007 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship Quarter-Final between England and Australia above!

2013 Women’s World Lacrosse Championship

Our third and final memorable experience in Canada came in 2013 when it was the England women’s team who took centre-stage.

Held in Oshawa, Ontario, this edition of the Championship saw 11 nations take part for the first time with new entries including Finland, Hong Kong, Israel, and Latvia.

As usual, England were drawn in the top pool (pool A) along with the USA, Australia, Canada, and Wales.

A tough 17-7 defeat against the USA in their first game was quickly followed by a rousing 9-4 win over close rivals, Wales, that gave England the belief they could make it to the knockout stages.

Two 11-6 defeats then followed, first against Canada and then against Australia but the win over Wales was enough to see them through to the quarter-finals.

And it was Wales who England would meet again after they overcame Austria 21-0 in their quarter-final qualifier.

England went into the game with confidence but knew the danger that could come if complacency did set in.

No need to worry, however, as they dealt with Wales with the utmost professionalism defeating them by 10 goals to nil.

So far, so good.

But, if you are going to go the distance in a World Championship, you have to compete against and ultimately beat at least two of the top guns, i.e. the USA, Canada, and/or Australia.

The semi-final saw England pitted against one of those aforementioned top guns: the USA.

It was tough. England worked hard. But unfortunately, the USA were the better side, making it to the final, winning 21-8.

This left England battling for third place against a team they’d already played (and lost to) in Australia.

The game played out in similar fashion to the early pool stage meeting between the two sides and Australia came away as victors, taking home the bronze medal with a 12-6 win.

A tough pill to swallow at the time but it meant England returned home as the fourth best team in the world. Not a bad few days’ work!

Clubs Around the Country (Tentatively) Restart Lacrosse

Since the Government and England Lacrosse made the announcement that we could restart small training sessions in groups of six (including a coach), many clubs/teams around the country have taken advantage of the slightly eased lockdown restrictions.

We take a look at what a few of them have been up to over the past couple of weeks!

*Always follow the latest England Lacrosse and Government guidelines and fill out an Intent to Train Form if you want to restart lacrosse sessions again*

Purley Lacrosse

Purley Lacrosse Club tentatively restarted their sessions last week with a bit of social distanced passing!

Nuneaton Lacrosse

Just like Purley, Nuneaton Lacrosse Club welcomed back their players for some social distanced training sessions last Monday!

England Women

Our very own England women’s team restarted their lacrosse practice in social distanced groups of six last month. It was the first time the group had met up in any form (other than on Zoom) since March and, with around 300 days until next year’s World Championship, it couldn't have come at a better time!

Bristol Bombers

Bristol Bombers Lacrosse Club have had two great social distanced sessions with their girls last week while their men’s side finally got some practice in too!

Cheltenham Lacrosse

Cheltenham Lacrosse Club were able to meet up in small groups as well last week and are focusing on specific attacking and defensive aspects of their play.

England Lacrosse Announce New Partnership with Oodles Training

England Lacrosse are delighted to announce a new partnership with Oodles Training!

Oodles Training are “experts in delivering training and love to help people grow”; they share knowledge and best practice from the environments they are passionate about to make sure their courses are “exciting and different”. 

England Lacrosse have always required coaches to hold a valid first aid qualification but now we are proud to announce that we are launching a brand new, specific lacrosse First Aid course.

We’ve worked together with Oodles Training to develop a one day course that is tailored to our sport and focusses on injuries that are more likely on and around the lacrosse pitch, as well as all the basic life support skills you would expect from a first aid course.

As the first ever England Lacrosse recognised First Aid course, we hope it will offer a relevant, meaningful and useful option for coaches, players, officials and parents.

For more information about the course and how it can be run at your venue, please contact Oodles Training via email at hello@OodlesTraining.com

As soon as the current Government regulations allow Oodles Training to start running this exciting new course, we will publish more information about how to book your place!

Pride Month: England Under-23 Player, Bea Webber

As part of our Pride Month celebrations, we had a chat with England under-23 midfielder/attacker, Bea Webber, to get her thoughts on Pride Month, identity, and what it’s like to be a member of the LGBTQ+ community within lacrosse.

With June being Pride Month, Bea, who identifies as gay and uses the pronouns she/her, reflected on her views of pride celebrations and how her outlook has changed over the years, believing it’s more important than ever to keep holding Pride events all over the world.

“At first, I wrongly thought that celebrating Pride didn’t need to be such a big deal; I didn’t like the huge parades that drew attention to us as different and I was sceptical of the sincerity of shops, banks, and other businesses participating in Pride Month.

“This is likely due to my easy coming out in which I never really came out and instead just started dating girls instead of boys.

“I didn’t want my sexuality to be the defining feature of who I was, and I didn’t identify with the people I saw at Pride who felt proud in a way I didn’t yet.

“As my family and friends barely reacted when I came home with a girl, I didn’t think I needed Pride to feel accepted”.

However, after a negative experience with Bea’s girlfriend experiencing severe homophobia when she came out to her parents, it was around then that she understood and appreciated the importance and necessity of Pride.

“Pride demonstrates that homophobia and discrimination will not be tolerated in the public sphere; being in a Pride parade feels incredibly welcoming and exciting as people are unapologetically themselves and are surrounded by others who vehemently support them. The parade has a liberating effect that I would recommend everyone participates in if they can, regardless of sexuality.

“I am a firm believer of strength in numbers, so continued public support of the movement is paramount. Pride is about being brave for yourself and for others and working towards creating a more inclusive society within which we all have the possibility to thrive”.

In the lacrosse world, the 21 year-old Oxford University student and former Wycombe Abbey School pupil feels that seeing other players who identify as LGBTQ+ within the England women’s teams, she found it quite easy to be out as part of the England set-up.

“I’m pretty certain the first women I knew of who were gay were England lacrosse players or other female athletes.

“The first regular conversation I ever heard about two women dating, getting married, or having children was in a lacrosse context; the normality with which the girls spoke about the same sex relationships of older England players played a huge part in normalising being gay to myself as these were sportswomen I massively looked up to as a young lacrosse player.

“It was in my first year of university that I started to properly consider myself as gay both publicly and privately. The Oxford lacrosse team assumed I was straight after a few freshers’ week anecdotes about past boyfriends, which I likely resorted to as a means to fit in.

“I thought I was the only gay girl in the lacrosse team but it became obvious that in the tolerant and largely liberal university environment, no one really cared what gender you were interested in and frankly it wasn’t really anyone else’s business!

“And once I knew there were other girls who liked girls within the team, I never worried about it again. Being comfortable with being openly gay varies from situation to situation and, so far, I have experienced it as a developing process as opposed to a sort of ‘on-off’ switch”.

When it comes to receiving and experiencing homophobia within a sporting context, Bea acknowledges she’s been really lucky to not have the same difficult experiences that some people in the LGBTQ+ community have had.

“There was always the schoolgirl insult that if you were very sporty you were a lesbian but hopefully now, with increased visibility of some really badass gay sportswomen, the connotation won’t be seen as a negative in the future and sporting ability will lose its strange and somewhat unfounded connection to sexuality”.

If sport, and lacrosse in particular, is to make itself truly inclusive to people from the LGBTQ+ community, Bea thinks the same principles that we apply to wider life should be used and she acknowledges there’s still a lot of work to be done.

“Whilst UK society is becoming increasingly inclusive in many ways, it would be an injustice to assume the fight is anywhere near over.

“Whilst I am more than happy to tell people I’m gay and be relatively comfortable with my sexuality, I still fear holding my girlfriend’s hand in the street or kissing her in public as changes to laws haven’t necessarily penetrated wider society beyond the liberal student bubble.

Bea (#13) pictured with the England Under-23 Squad on the 2018 Japan tour.

“Helping LGBTQ+ people feel more comfortable on an institutional level will require consistency and persistency with public support of LGBTQ+ matters and the upholding of a zero-tolerance policy of discrimination or harassment amongst anyone associated with your group.

“On an inter-personal level, in my opinion, less is more in terms of bringing attention to someone’s homosexuality. Remember that we are all people before we are gay and we have massively diverse life experiences that may have had nothing to do with our sexuality and separate us on totally different lines. Whilst we band together to make ourselves stronger as ‘the LGBTQ+ community’, it is important to listen to individual experience and appreciate its variation.

“Also, making efforts to be more proactive as an ally, whether that be in discussing LGBTQ+ related news with friends and family, or perhaps resorting to Google before asking potentially uncomfortable questions to your LGBTQ+ friends.

“I am convinced most questions come from good and inquisitive intentions; however, a particular personal pet peeve for me is being asked if I am a lesbian or bi-sexual or any other label that requires an accurate pinpointing of something that is considerably more abstract and complex.

“We are all just people trying to live our lives freely and authentically and whilst labels are lifesavers for some they don’t fit right for other people. That might not bother any other LGBTQ+ people but again, we are all different!”

Pride Month: England Lacrosse Marketing Manager, Caroline Royle

As part of our Pride Month celebrations, we sat down (via Microsoft Teams, of course) with England Lacrosse Marketing Manager, Caroline Royle, and spoke to her about what it is like identifying as LGBTQ+ in daily life, the sporting world, and at England Lacrosse.

As a gay woman, Caroline stresses the importance for organisations, including England Lacrosse, to have diversity from grassroots right up to the boardroom.

“To really place inclusivity at the heart of an organisation, it has to be a thread-through business strategy. But if everyone who is developing that strategy looks the same and experiences and interacts with society in a similar way, then their thoughts and opinions are going to be fairly close to one another.

“I think any organisation is strengthened by their direction being influenced by many perspectives. You need that diversity of experience to really shape an inclusive strategy otherwise the organisation won’t be able to reflect society as a whole”.

Caroline, who has been out since the age of 15 and joined England Lacrosse 14 years ago, says the only time she’s had to hide her sexuality was when she graduated from university and got a full-time job.

“That need to conform to a corporate ideal, or at least my idea of a corporate ideal, didn't really sit well with who I was.

“I’ve always played sport so I’ve got a muscular body and I don’t feel comfortable in corporate clothes. That added to my feeling of not really fitting in.

“For me, I think a lot was tied into how I look; I’ve received more hostility towards my physique than my sexuality. Whether those things are connected in the mind of the person discriminating, I don’t know.

“I haven’t often experienced overt homophobia; it’s more the feeling of being on the outside. Not joining in conversations because it’s all about, “do you have a husband, boyfriend?”, “do you have kids?”; it’s not overt homophobia, it’s more to do with not joining in conversations because they’re all about an agreed societal way of being which you are not a part of.

“You have to be quite calculated in your conversations and how you are until you decide you’re going to come out. But even then you don’t just come out once, you have to come out every time someone says, “do you have a husband? Or similar”.

“Maybe because I’ve been out for so long and I’m so happy in my personal life, I’m always quite confident in demanding that acceptance and if someone isn’t accepting, I see it as their problem not mine”.

Caroline feels England Lacrosse has made significant strides throughout the years she has worked here to improve its record on inclusivity and diversity, but that the job is most certainly not done, with the need now for concrete action beyond just policies and platitudes.

“It helps to have inclusivity, diversity, and equality as part of our value set as an organisation but that can’t be enough to ensure people feel comfortable. It’s certainly not enough to ensure someone who is LGBTQ+ wouldn't be worried about going for a job at England Lacrosse and being out.

“The little disclaimer at the bottom of a job advert saying we don’t discriminate is not enough and we need to do everything we can to make sure we are doing enough.

“I honestly believe everyone who works at England Lacrosse, everyone on the leadership team, and everyone on the board, has a genuine desire to be inclusive and welcoming to whoever works for us and from my point of view I’ve always felt that but obviously there is much more to do.

“I think as an organisation we can educate and offer people opportunities to learn more about different groups and different minorities to ensure people are guarded against all forms of discrimination and we act appropriately when it happens”.

As a senior member of staff at England Lacrosse who grew up through the 90s, Caroline has also seen a real societal change in people's and organisations' attitudes towards LGBTQ+ representation.

“Undoubtedly, people’s and organisation’s attitudes have really changed. There’s so much content now that has gay people in it and not just your stereotypical gay male best friend or the lesbian in a lumberjack shirt.

“You can find content on TV and films etc. which show gay people and they don’t make their sexuality the pivotal point of the storyline, it just happens to be something and that’s so much different.

“I mean I’m old enough to remember the first lesbian kiss on Brookside and the uproar that that caused which is crazy, isn’t it? I remember it because when you’re younger and you’re gay you try to see role models and you latch onto whoever you can find.

“In a sporting context, the tennis player, Martina Navratilova, was ground-breaking, when you realise she was out and playing sport in the 1980s. Back then, she was a really good role model and she paved the way for the huge amount of women LGBTQ+ sporting role models we have today.

“So, yes, it has changed a lot. You’re not searching out role models anymore, they’re there to see, from a female perspective certainly”.

Caroline, who has earned post-graduate qualifications in Digital Marketing and Sponsorship in her time at England Lacrosse, doesn’t think the fight for equality, inclusivity, and diversity can be fought without the help of allies who are not part of the LGBTQ+ community.

“I think people just need to be proactive in calling people out when they make homophobic comments, whether it’s casual or overt.

“People should also educate themselves about the LGBTQ+ community, their struggles, and their history and ensure that when there is discrimination they stand up to it.

“It’s about having uncomfortable conversations. If someone uses a homophobic slur but doesn’t realise it’s offensive, which happens all the time, people should be able to say to them, “that’s offensive to me”, and have a conversation about why.

“Specifically within a workplace environment, it’s about ensuring the appropriate processes are in place and that we are always taking steps to ensure we are more diverse.

“Every person within England Lacrosse has a part to play to ensure we are doing the right things and that everything we do includes an inclusion or a diversity consideration”.

The Best England Lacrosse Away Destinations: USA

We’ve only been back from Israel for a few weeks and we’re gearing up for our second long-haul trip to another of the best England Lacrosse away destinations.

Uncle Sam, the States, the Land of Opportunity, or just plain old America, whatever you call the big mass of land just across the Atlantic Ocean from us, the United States of America is one heck of a place and is where some of the best lacrosse in the world is played.

In fact, it is where, thanks to the Native American communities that live there, the fastest sport on two feet was born.

It’s fair to say England teams have had a lot of fun across the pond over the years and we’ve picked two memorable moments for you to delve a little deeper into.

Travel with us around four and a half thousand miles and pretend, for a few minutes at least, you’re back in America ready to play or watch some quality lacrosse…

1982 Men’s World Lacrosse Championship

This fourth edition of the Men's World Lacrosse Championship was the first time the USA hosted the tournament and the city the whole lacrosse world was looking towards was Baltimore, Maryland on the east coast of the country.

This was a tough tournament for England to say the least; only four teams participated (England, Australia, USA, Canada) and it was always going to be tough for England to overcome these great lacrosse powerhouses.

Despite their best efforts, England finished bottom of the pile having picked up no points from their three games, being comprehensively beaten in each (5-25 vs Australia, 8-26 vs Canada, 9-26 vs USA).

One tiny glimmer of light from this 1982 tournament was that England defender, Jeff Mounkley, was chosen as part of the All World Team.

Arguably one of the greatest English defenders of all time, Mounkley continued the tradition of England defenders making the All World Team that Steve Bevington began four years earlier at the 1978 Men’s World Lacrosse championship.

Although England finished fourth, this edition of the competition paved the way for future tournaments culminating in the 2018 Championship in which 46 teams took part!

You can watch the semi-final between Australia and USA above.

2005 Women’s World Lacrosse Championship

This seventh edition of the Women’s World Lacrosse Championship was also held in Maryland but this time it was the city of Annapolis that welcomed the world of lacrosse through its doors.

Anyone who remembers this 2005 competition will understand why we’ve chosen this as one of England’s most memorable visits to the USA as they finished third out of 10 teams.

As seems to be a consistent trend, England were drawn in a tough top division for the pool stages containing USA, Australia, Canada, and Wales.

The first game vs USA gave the England team some real hope they could compete at the highest level as they lost 5-13, a relatively close score.

An 11-6 win in their second game over Canada and a 6-2 win over close rivals Wales bookended a 4-14 loss to Australia and saw England book themselves a Classification Play-off game vs Germany.

To say this play-off game was a routine win is a bit of an understatement as England saw off Germany 22-0 to make it through to the quarter-finals where they would play Wales for the second time in the competition.

A tight and feisty contest led to a low-scoring game that finished 6-5 to England and set up a huge semi-final against USA.

Now, this was always going to be difficult but to be within one game of a World Championship final was exciting and despite a 3-13 loss in the end, it gave England real confidence they could come away with a bronze medal in the third place game vs Canada.

Filled with adrenaline after their semi-final and with a win against Canada already earlier in the competition, England went in to the third-place game determined to bring home the bronze medal.

And that’s exactly what they did as they stunned a really good Canadian team defeating them 11-8.

This would be England’s third bronze medal in a row at World Championships and this tournament was also notable as one of only two World Championships at which USA failed to win gold!

You can watch some of the final between Australia and USA above.

There you have it, a little trip down memory lane. There are so many great occasions we’ve had in USA that we could write an entire book (now there’s an idea!) but we reckon these trips are two of the most memorable.

Where will we travel to next? Once we’ve got over the terrible jet-lag we’ll be back on our virtual plane to yet another best England Lacrosse away destination!