History of Lacrosse

By Michael Groll


Lacrosse was started orginaly by Native Americans in the 1700's. The sport was given it's modern name by a French missionary Jean De Brebeuf. It was brought back to Europe where rules and equipment started to develope and change. Men's lacrosse became more of a contact sport with checks and body pads. As time went on the popularity in the U.S. grew with settlers. The sport grew changing every so often. Lacrosse is now played on every level but isn't as popular as other sports nation wide.

Important Dates and Popularity

1834- Caughnawaga Indians made the news paper in Montreal as spectators watched them play

1843- first game between Indians and non-indian teams

1856- Montreal Lacrosse Club developed first written rules

1879- The U.S. ameture lacrosse club was formed and adopted the Canadian rules

1882- seven colleges created the first intercollegiate Lacrosse Association in the U.s.

1932- Lacrosse was demonstrated at the Olympics

1933- first U.S. woman's lacrosse association formed

1960- developed the first minor lacrosse clubs

1968- first pro league formed in the U.S. with 8 teams


when- Lacrosse has been popular for years but became really popular around the 1870's after the sport had become more developed

where- Lacrosse started being popular in North America specifically the East-coast then Europe and then the rest of the world

why- It is a fast paced contact sport it is extremely fun to watch and play, it got a lot of attention when it was seen at the Olympics

how- the fast paced sport that comes in most people's off season has traveled by people talking they learn how much fun the intense sport is and want to try it themselves

Current Role On Society

Economic impact: lacrosse has the lowest paid pro athletes only making 10-25 thousand a season. I didn't find a specific number but what I saw on a few websites was that the mll can make anywhere from 2.5-4 million depending on the season. The sport gets minimal media coverage and not that many ratings. I looked and couldn't find anything about the amount college and down brings in

Cultural and social impact: lacrosse is played by mostly middle to upper class athletes. The sport is also not very diverse with the majority being white. The NCAA has a large push to diversify and being attention to women's lacrosse.

Political impact: I looked and didn't really find anything other than a few politicians wanting more equality with women's and men's lacrosse and to diversify all sports not just lacrosse.

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