The world has changed-again

Spent yesterday afternoon watching England play USA in Prague in the Womens' World Cup. All on the internet . Excellent- is this the end of TV as we know it ?This way of watching games is a must for 2010.

Following their win over Australia at Cobham there is a lot of interest in how England would do against USA. The first half was tremendous with the game tied at 6-6 at the break. In the second half US power prevailed and they ran out 17-8 winners.

In the 1978 Men's World championship England went down by a single goal to USA with Paul Smith playing an epic game. The game was old style 12 a side wooden stick Lacrosse to 10 a side rules. In 1982 I went to the World Championships in Baltimore and within 5 mins knew that the game had changed beyond all recognition . We had entered the era of the plastic stick where defencemen could handle long poles and were athletes who played agressive , all over the field, lacrosse. That process has continued and watching recent visitors Loyola play England agressive lacrosse is played by athletic middies all over the field. This was not the Premiership. Time for 16 man squads?

Yesterday, in Prague , it was very clear that womens Lacrosse is no longer the pretty game that attracted Queeen Victoria. It is all about power, athleticism and all over the field aggression. The US players , brought up D1 College Lacrosse, are taking us to a new game which is fast, exciting , and very , very physical. The world will never be the same again.

It is only next year

In less than 13months we will be into the Manchester Men's World Lacrosse Championship and preparations are going well to make it a great event. We have the venue sorted and are more than hopeful that despite all the budgetry constraints that Man Univ are finalising the arrangements to relay the two ATPs.

We are looking towards 26-30 nations taking part but with Guatemala playing Costa Rica in a few weeks and contact with Mexico and Puerto Rica who knows how many nations we may end up with.

Entries to the FIL Festival are also looking very encouraging with an entry today from Florida into the FIL Elite tournament . We have a capacity of about 60 teams in the Festival and already have 32 signed up so signs are positive.

The big issue as ever is funding for the event.

We have just had an economic impact survey carried out by an independent sports consultancy which anticipates that the economic benfit to the UK economy will be in the region of £6.700,000 and with the right level of support and promotion could be well over £8,000,000, making it the biggest event in Manchester since the Commonwealth Games.

However, the body reponsible for funding major events , UK Sport has refused to fund the World Lacrosse Championships despite providing £250,000 for a netball event in Manchester which is not even an official championship and £150,000 for the Women's Rugby World Championship. The sense of grievance continues to grow and the battle will continue. We have recieved a lot of support from politicians particularly Ann Coffey , Paul Goggins and Graham Brady who are all Manchester based MPs. This week we have recived a message from Grham Brady's office saying he will be putting his full weight behind Lacrosse in the run up to the World Championships.

CAPLIN AND ENGLAND RELISHING LOYOLA CHALLENGE


GREG Caplin, the England manager, and his players are relishing the chance to test themselves against top American college side Loyola Greyhounds next week.

The Division One men's NCAA lacrosse team landed in Edinburgh today (Friday) ahead of a ten-day tour which will see them play fixtures in Scotland, England and Ireland.

And for England, who are building towards next year's 2010 World Cup in Manchester (10-24 July), these two scheduled matches provide the perfect opportunity for the current 45-strong squad to impress before the squad gets cut to around 30 players by October.

"It's going to be a really good test for the players, it's a chance to watch and learn from some of the top American players," revealed Caplin.

"We can learn from the intensity in which they play because they are at the cutting edge of the sport. That experience is worth it's weight in gold."

And with the World Cup little over a year away Caplin and head coach Dave Elwood have resisted the temptation to pick their strongest team to make sure of victory.

Instead England are hoping to give as many players as possible the chance to shine and enhance their claim for a place in the final 28-man team.

"We're looking to cut the squad to about 30 players by October and then pick a final 23-man squad nearer the tournament," added Caplin.

"We're probably going to have five reserves, but we don't have to name our squad until the last night before the event.

"But these two matches are important for us, it's a chance to see how well we're playing.

"We played a couple of matches against a Canadian touring side last month, which was good, but this is probably our first really competitive match for a while.

"It's a good chance for the players to step up and impress us. We played Loyola last time we toured America and we found it to be a very beneficial experience.

"The Americans are always superb and you can watch and learn a lot from them."

Loyola face Scotland at the Peffermill Sports Centre tomorrow with the Scots fielding two different teams, before the US side journey to Cheshire to take on England in two matches at Wilmslow Lacrosse Club.

The first of those games is on Monday 1st June, 6.30pm on grass, followed by an astroturf fixture at the same venue two days later, Wednesday 3rd June, 7.00pm face off.

The Greyhounds complete their tour with a match against an Irish Select team at University City College, Dublin, on Saturday 6th June.

Note to editors - for more information on English Lacrosse visit www.englishlacrosse.co.uk

Also why not visit the official Manchester 2010 World Cup site as the excitement builds ahead of next year's tournament www.2010worldlacrosse.com

And our social networking sites - www.twitter.com/2010_lacrosse, www.2010worldlacrosse.blogspot.com and http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6380164361&ref=ts

The Largest World Lacrosse Championships yet...

It seems like we have been planning the FIL 2010 World Lacrosse Championships for ever.
By we, I mean the two or three people who work at the English Lacrosse Association and the 16 volunteers who sit on various committees. The event has always been far away, not close enough to really worry or add meat to any of the organisational bones. That has now changed. We are nearing the twelve month mark and although we have a logo, venue, website, event management company, additional festival and legacy programme it feels as though we have been cooling out heels with much still to be completed.



For those that don't know the 2010 FIL World Lacrosse Championships is the 10th men's World Lacrosse Championships, and the third Championship to be held in Manchester, UK. Due the explosion of Lacrosse in Europe the Championships will have the most nations ever competing in it - a possible 31 over 10 days!

Though we have received support, of which we are very greatful, from the North West Development Agency, Manchester City Council, Foundation of sport and arts, Harrow and Piggot and Whitfield. The luxury of UK Sport funding, additional event staff and big name sponsors have not been forthcoming. Making the task of creating a viable and memorable event more difficult- but still achievable!