It is a sad day in the World of Lacrosse as the Iroquois team was denied entry into England for the World Cup of Lacrosse held in Mancester from July 15th to the 24th. Germany will take the place of the Iroquois (First Nations) team, as the Iroquois were not able to travel from the USA without an American passport.
Lacrosse Roots and Rights
Roots and Rights
The Iroquois team is a group of First Nations players that come from their independent land on Native Reserves between New York and Ontario. The Iroquois team is the only tribal nation of the 30 countries participating at the Championships in England. It was an honor for all lacrosse teams to have the Iroquois Nation play the tournament as the Iroquois founded and played Lacrosse over 1000 years ago.
Passport Problems
American Security
Devastation must have hit the souls of the Iroquois players as they were denied to board the plane to England. As the American airports have made new harsher rules, the Iroquois players were not allowed to travel with their Indigenous passports. The airport did not consider their passports to be legal documents up to date with homeland security rules.
Indigenous Identity
Waiting to Play
The Iroquois players have the chance to get American passports so that they can fly and participate in these World Championships in other countries, however they choose not to do so for the pride of their identity. The players have stated that they would rather not play any tournament than apply for an American passport because they aren’t American and they only wish to use their Indigenous passports that have allowed them to travel since the 1970s.
Iroquois in 2014
Team is Together
A group of First Nations Leaders is working to update their Indigenous passports to work with the new rules, but unfortunately it won’t get the Iroquois team to England to play any lacrosse games. The Iroquois team will have to wait another 4 years before they can try to win the World Cup of Lacrosse.
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