PRAGUE (AFP) — On the side of a football-turned-lacrosse pitch in Prague, the purple banner with white rectangles and a tree immediately catches the eye among the usual national flags.
A Native American woman in a purple sweatshirt watches the ongoing lacrosse battle intently, then turns and says casually: "It's our game back home, you know?"
Charlene Thomas, general manager of the Native-American Haudenosaunee team, had taken her "girls" to Prague for the women's lacrosse World Cup -- the first such event for the team that will only celebrate its first birthday in August.
"We wanted to see our girls have their dream come true and this day, this year has done it for them," said Thomas, a retiree who does her current job as a volunteer.
Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) is a confederacy of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora nations living mostly in upstate New York and the Ontario province in Canada.
It joined the international women's lacrosse federation IFWLA only two years ago, after complying with the Native American tradition.
"We presented our request to the chiefs, and they gave us consent," said Thomas.
Unlike their counterparts in men's lacrosse, the Iroquois Nationals, who have played at four World Cups to date, the women's team was officially established only in August 2008.
When the IFWLA decided Haudenosaunee could play in Prague, the team posted an advertisement looking for a general manager, a head coach, an assistant coach and a trainer.
Kathy Smith, chairwoman of the Haudenosaunee Nation Women's Lacrosse Board, said the coaches then chose the team out of 50 girls, an extremely low player base compared with powerhouses such as the US or Australia, the World Cup finalists.
"We have three on the team now who are not Haudenosaunee, but they have to be a native person from some other community -- so they're all Native Americans," said Smith.
It was only natural for Haudenosaunee to join the IFWLA, which has in the meantime merged with the men's association ILF to form a brand new body, the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL).
"We have recognised ourselves as a sovereign nation -- we have never been conquered, we have never been defeated," said Smith.
The Haudenosaunee proudly claim their right to the game which has a long tradition -- the Creator invented lacrosse "when he was making mother Earth and at the end of his duties he wanted to make some fun time," said Thomas.
"We say it's the Creator's game because he gave it to the men to play to entertain him. When we play the game we always know the Creator's watching. That's why it's very important that we play in a good way," added Smith.
Over time, lacrosse has also taken on the role of a "medicine game" played to heal sick people and quell feuds, she said.
Ondrej Mika, the head coordinator with the World Cup organising committee, agreed Haudenosaunee's presence at the tournament was justified.
"This is a historic matter because it's originally their game. The women's team has been together for a short time but it's a game of their ancestors so they have this historic claim," he added.
Thomas, who has a daughter and relatives on the team, said she wanted Haudenosaunee above all to "get our foot in the door" in the tournament.
"Our plans are to keep on going from this point on. I think now that we're in we want to build our organisation," Thomas said.
For the Prague tournament, Haudenosaunee was placed in a group with other World Cup newcomers Austria and Denmark, whom they trashed with an impressive overall score of 36-2.
But they lost the key game for a spot in the eight-team playoffs to Ireland.
"We were outmuscled. We showed up weaker," said Haudenosaunee attacker Lindsay Doxtator, who had hoped to end up among the top eight teams before the tournament.
"It was hard work. We've only been together for maybe a year, while the rest of the teams here have been together for at least four years," added the 26-year-old.
Mika said Haudenosaunee were not the odds-on favourite in the tournament, but "to tell the truth, I would expect them to be a bit higher, although they are not a team from the very top."
Backed by a small but loud group of fans, Haudenosaunee in the end took the eleventh place after winning two of their three final matches.
"It's a learning experience -- this has opened the eyes of many players who are learning the hard way," said Thomas, who however said the result was "disappointing."
"We're going to have to work hard."
In any case, the Creator will be watching.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
