Immigration Cowboys refuse entry to Iroquois nations...

The most interesting if controversial news which has caught my eye recently is the debatable decision which has ground the Iroquois Nations world championship campaign to a halt. The Iroquois nationals, who are scheduled to play the opening game in world championships have been rejected from entering the UK, as the british consulate refused to acknowledge the team’s Haudenosaunee passports without assurance from the U.S. State Department that the group will be allowed back into the United States.

The 23 man squad and their entourage of family members, supporters, and fans, around 50 in total were expected to depart from the states yesterday evening, however, the most recent updates imply that they may not leave until tonight, if at all! The hope is that the US State Department will have told the consulate that the team and entourage will be allowed to return to the U.S. If that happens, the team will depart for England that evening and start immediate preparation for their first fixture of the world championships. Facing off against England, as part of the very special opening ceremony. An ironic twist towards the underlying symbolism of national and sporting pride which this match, between the creators of our sport and the host nation, will undoubtedly uphold.

The Team had sent their Haudenosaunee passports to the British Consulate in New York and were told they needed to use U.S. or Canadian passports, even though team members have been traveling to and from World Championships for over 2 decades, to several different nations including to England, Australia, Japan and Canada, they have never never before had a problem returning home.

This controversial decision made by the British consulate contradicts everything that this native american confederacy has fought for, hundreds of years. These passports are a representation of these people’s freedom as an independent nation, a nation who’s people are indigenous to the US. Which raises an interesting questions. Why would the British consulate think that these people would not be allowed back into the country to which they are citizens? Why are these people being asked to use an American or Canadian passport when they are completely in there rights to travel as a nation which has been recognized for over 20 years of international Lacrosse and accepted in several countries, including England for that matter.

When asked to do this, Waterman, a spokes person for the Iroquois team said “we cannot do that. We’re our own people. We are a sovereign nation. We already have travel documents and we’re participating in an international tournament, and to participate in an international tournament you have to be a country. We’ve been recognized by this organization as a country with our own citizens, our own sovereignty, our own land, and flag and anthem and we’ve belonged to this organization since around 1990 and we’ve been sending teams out since that time,”

The Haudenosaunee (or Iroquois) Confederacy is comprised of six nations: Onondaga, Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, Tuscarora, and Cayuga. While each nation is a separate entity, they share a collective identity as Haudenosaunee and are issued Haudenosaunee passports, rather than individual nation passports.

According to sources the team are still optimistic that they’ll be leaving tonight, but there are still hurdles to overcome. Waterman continued “There isn’t anyone more proud about this country. This is our home and we would never endanger it. If we had a phone call from the State Department just to reaffirm, ‘Yes, we’re proud of them, we’ll welcome them back,’ it would be nice to know they’d be supportive of us,”

There are many issues which I feel are flagged up within this affair. The british government are so uptight on being politically correct, so why do they not recognize the Iroquois nation as it’s own nation? This issue has cost the iroquois nationals over $23,000, who will be reimbursing them? this is an amateur sport after all, and just as most of the countries that participate in the World Championships, Iroquois are self funded. Was it unethical of the British Government to hold them back despite allowing them in to the country for the same tournament just years back? These people are doing something really positive and they’re doing it at the highest levels, they are the inventors of our sport and are entitle to use the documentation which supports their heritage and allows them to represent there nation at the games. It’s a shame that in this day and age, when we are taught to be proud of who we are, where we come from, and how to accept other peoples cultures within our own societies; and especially where sport is considered to a platform that brings people together as one; that bureaucratic idiocy is allowed to tarnish everything that the world championships stand for...

I hope this topic can inspire debates amongst yourselves, and below are quote’s which members of the Iroquois nations team made which I felt gave a raw, truthful perceptive.

“When you talk about lacrosse, you talk about the lifeblood of the Six Nations. The game is ingrained into our culture our system and our lives,” said Oren Lyons, Onondaga Faithkeeper and a former All-American Lacrosse Goalie.

“This is our game and this is our gift to the world,” Gonnella Frichner said.