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THE NOTES I WINTER 2020
LACROSSE Then & Now... “The game was very pretty to watch. It is played with a ball and there is much running.” So was the game of lacrosse described by Queen Victoria in 1876, after watching one of the first exhibition matches to be played in the UK. A wag from St Dunstan’s took a slightly different view, however, describing the game in an 1890 edition of the Chronicle thus: “We none of us like discomfiture and, to our mind, can think of nothing more discomposing (than lacrosse), unless it be our maiden speech on a sudden call to respond at a House Supper.” Notwithstanding this, St Dunstan’s enjoyed great success on the lacrosse field between 1895 and 1939. Modern day lacrosse descends from and resembles games played by various indigenous communities in the eastern half of North America and around the
western Great Lakes. These include games called Dehuntshigwa’es in Cree ('little war') and Tewaaraton in the Mohawk language ('little brother of war'). As the names suggest, the game was used to prepare warriors for hunting and battle, as well as for fun, as part of festivals and to settle tribal differences. Legend has it that it was named lacrosse by French settlers who thought that the stick looked like the staff carried by their Bishops at church, called a crozier. In
French, the crozier is called 'la crosse'. Traditional lacrosse games could last several days, with as many as 100 to 1,000 men from opposing villages or tribes participating. The games were played on open plains, and the goals could range from 500 yards to six miles apart. Michael Mann’s excellent 1992 film The Last of the Mohicans includes a scene featuring traditional lacrosse being played by indigenous Americans. In 1867, William George Beers, a Canadian dentist, codified the game to shorten the length of each game, reduce the number of players, use a redesigned stick and a rubber ball. During the 1860s lacrosse became Canada’s national game. Lacrosse was introduced to England in 1876 by Beers and other Canadians who toured the country playing exhibition matches. A second tour was arranged in 1883, following which the popularity of the game exploded in the UK. St Dunstan’s very first Chronicle records the introduction of lacrosse at St Dunstan’s: “To supply the want of a Lent term game (in 1889), we took up lacrosse, and before the season was over, many of the team gained a fair notion of the game”. As such, St Dunstan’s was one of the very first schools in the UK to play the sport. It was actually the innovation of Charles Stuart St Dunstan’s first Head - who had seen the game played in Canada and was a Images: Top - SDC team 1931, above - Indian ball game, left- SDC team 1891.
