ne of the most famous historical lacrosse games was a match played between the Montréal Lacrosse Club and the Caughnawaga Indians in 1842. The game was scheduled to provide entertainment for the Prince of Wales on his visit to Canada.

It is important to understand the significance of this event - it was the first game between Natives and Whites to take place in years. Up until then, games were not permitted because of an incident that had taken place almost 80 years before.

In 1763, the Ojibway tribe staged a lacrosse game in order to gain entry to Fort Michilimackinac. Once inside, they massacred a group of off-guard English soldiers and captured the fort. For almost a century after this, lacrosse was played only by the natives. This match scheduled for the Prince appealed to people precisely because it was exciting and controversial. There were no qualms about the fact that the game was being played purely for the sake of spectacle.

If it was spectacle they wanted, it was spectacle they got. The Prince sat on a throne surrounded by wigwams filled with native children cheering on the game. The games began with a match between two native groups. But the Prince stopped it so that he could watch the natives battle the whites. The natives entered the field wearing tights, a feather in the cap, and painted faces. Three games were played, the natives won the first two, and after a strange dispute in the third game, the final match was awarded automatically to the white team.

After this initial match took place, it was not uncommon for native teams to be sent overseas to entertain Royalty. Once a team made up of Caughnawaga Indians went to England and played a match for Queen Victoria. These exported matches brought the sport popularity in Bristol, Cheshire, Lancashire, London, Manchester, and Yorkshire, and the English Lacrosse Union was organized in 1892.

mong Native Americans, there were many versions of what we now call lacrosse. The Iroquois called their version of the game "baggataway," while the Cherokees called the sport "the little brother of war" [because it was considered excellent military training]. A team consisted of hundreds, even thousands, of players, often an entire village or tribe. The goals were often miles apart, and a game might last as long as three days. Since most players couldn't get anywhere near the ball, they concentrated on using the stick to injure opponents. And since wagers were frequently made on the outcome of matches between tribes, it could raise or lower a tribe's fortunes.

According to most accounts, the first Europeans to see the game played were French explorers. They thought that the stick resembled a bishop's crozier -'la crosse', in French- and so the sport was re-christened.

The first step toward turning lacrosse into an organized sport came when the Montréal Lacrosse Club, founded in 1856, developed the first written rules.

In 1867, George Beers, now known as "the father of lacrosse," rewrote those rules with specifically named positions. He replaced the hair-stuffed deer-skin ball with a hard rubber ball, and designed a stick that was better suited for catching and throwing the ball more accurately. A strong Canadian nationalist, Beers saw lacrosse as a way to encourage fitness and bravery among the young men of the new nation. In the 1800s lacrosse became the official summer sport of Canada. But being the dedicated promoter that he was, Beers gave rise to the continuing misconception that lacrosse is the national game of Canada.

If lacrosse is not Canada's national game by law, it can be said that by 1889 its popularity was so great that it was thought of as such. It enjoyed sustained growth through the 1880s, spreading from coast to coast, and by 1900 its position in the hearts of Canadians seemed secure. But several factors led to its decline: other sports drew more support from the universities; it was considered too savage; there was not enough leadership; there were unpredictable weather conditions in many parts of the country; and there was a shift-of-focus in sports coverage, as the reporters turned to the more glamorous game of baseball coming in from the US. As the country started to lose interest, so did the primary patrons, who were now more inclined to sponsor more profitable sports [rugby, hockey, and football]. The number of teams was cut to four, and while this worked as a short-term solution, even the most loyal fans eventually lost interest. At the start of World War I lacrosse was all but a dead sport. Although it has reemerged and regained a certain popularity, it has never fully recovered.

The game is now mainly played on the West Coast and in Ontario. There are all sorts of versions of lacrosse today. Although the basic game and objective appears to be the same in all games, men's lacrosse differs from women's, which both differ again from box and field lacrosse. There are many factors that distinguish the different forms of the game: the number of players; the type of stick used; the layout of the field; and the placement of the boundaries, to name a few.