094 SPORT
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LACROSSE: THE FASTEST GAME ON TWO FEET?
It may be something of a Cinderella amongst all the headline-dominating, sponsorship-grabbing sports, but lacrosse is growing in popularity thanks to increased funding and the legacy of its appeal amongst university students
David Leck
may, though, be a slightly blank look forthcoming should you ask the average person exactly what it is they know about a team sport in which players use a stick to control the ball and to “check” (strike) opposing players causing them to drop it. Lacrosse has boomed in recent years
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with impressive growth in universities feeding through to the creation of more clubs and community programmes. Those involved in delivering and developing the sport are confi dent the trend will continue. Pivotal to that confi dence was a Sport England announcement at the end of last
t’s been dubbed “the fastest game on two feet” and at its best it’s a sport conducted at an adrenalin-fuelled pace that generates excitement in both participant and spectator. There
year awarding £2.8 million of National Lottery and government funding to further develop lacrosse in a four-year period to 2021. Angela Tupper of South East Lacrosse
clearly shares that optimism, citing both an increase in the number of teams that is matched by success on both regional and international levels. “The South East continues to see growth in the number of teams entering the league. There were 18 in the 2012/13 season and that number had risen to 23 last year. This has either come from new clubs starting up or existing ones with an increase in members resulting in them entering more teams,” says Angela. “Last season we implemented a three-
tiered league structure to accommodate demand. We also regularly run a development cup over four or fi ve dates a season that caters for social teams and
acts as a pre-cursor to the main leagues.” “The hard work is paying off,” she adds. “At the World Cup this summer, the South East was well represented in the England team which took bronze in a nail- biting game against Australia.” Joe Burnett is the Chairman of Maidstone Lacrosse Club and, like many of today’s players, took up the sport while at university 12 years ago. “I’d never seen it until then but thought it looked amazing and was instantly interested in having a go,” he says. “Maidstone Lacrosse started in 2008 and the driving force behind it was a few of us wanted to play and didn’t want to travel more than an hour to our nearest club. The majority of our early players had, like me, played at university and wanted to carry on after they’d graduated.”
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