ABOUT LACROSSE

Lacrosse was invented by the North American Native Tribes as early as the 12th Century and was the first national sport played in the United States and Canada. There are now a number of disciplines within the game of lacrosse; women’s field, men’s field, sixes and box (indoor).

In the 2022 Women’s World Cup, which was broadcast by ESPN on its networks for the first time, 29 nations participated with over 500 participants and nearly 40,000 tickets sold. England were placed third at the tournament, with two players named to the All-World team.

In the most recent U19 Women’s World Championships in 2019, 22 nations participated (the largest ever for a World Lacrosse U19 Championship, women’s or men’s).

World Lacrosse has recently been recognised by the International Olympic Committee, having been invited by LA28 to make a case for Olympic inclusion of the Sixes game. In the UK, The Fly is a new Sixes tournament that was introduced in 2021 and occurs annually, you can watch footage from the matches here. This is an incredibly exciting time for the sport, with its global membership now being 77 nations across six continents!

 

The Rules

Women’s Field Lacrosse is a non-contact sport played with 9 field players and 1 goalie on each team. The head of the lacrosse stick has a mesh or leather net strung into it that allows the player to hold the ball.

The object of the game is to use your crosse/lacrosse stick to catch, cradle, and pass a solid yellow rubber ball into your opponents’ goal. Defensively, the object is to keep the opposing team from scoring and to dispossess them of the ball through the use of stick checking and body positioning. Women are only required to wear a mouthguard, and have the option to play with protective goggles (at Chiswick Lacrosse, we recommend wearing goggles!)

Women’s games are played in 4 x 15 minute quarters. These 15 minute periods are running time except for the last two minutes, during which time stops when the whistle is blown.

Players are not allowed to intentionally touch the ball with their body to gain an advantage or cover the ball to protect it from being picked up by an opponent. If the game remains tied after the two periods of extra time, the teams will then play 3 minute golden goal overtime periods until one team scores to win the game.

To learn more about the rules, click here.