The Iroquois Nationals men's lacrosse team was formed and sanctioned by the Grand Council of the Haudenosaunee in 1983 in preparation of friendlies at the NCAA championship in Baltimore, Maryland. The Nationals lost to
Syracuse Orange 28-5 and
Hobart College 22–14. Prior to the
1984 Summer Olympics, the Nationals held the Jim Thorpe Memorial Games and Pow-Wow, a 6-team event with local and international teams in
Los Angeles. The Nationals achieved their first victory over the national team of England. The following year, using their Haudenosaunee passports, the Nationals traveled and toured England losing only once. After being denied membership by the ILF to compete in the 1986 World Games in Canada, the Iroquois hosted the teams for preliminary games at the
University of Buffalo. In 1988, the IFL accepted the Iroquois as a full member nation. The Iroquois Nationals took part in their first international competition at the 1990 World Lacrosse Championships, finishing fifth. The first FIL sanctioned U17 box lacrosse friendly took place between the Iroquois Nationals and Team Canada during the 2015 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship.
Nike deal In 2006, the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Program signed a partnership with
Nike, Inc. in which Nike will provide the Nationals with their brand uniforms, clothing, footwear, and other equipment. The company is to develop programs to "promote wellness-and-fitness activities in Native American communities throughout the region", and team members may go to speak to local groups. Team members will also assist in testing of sustainable produced sportswear for Nike's research and development of processes to use non-toxic dyes and
biodegradable organic
cotton. Nike is the only Fortune 500 company to have such a relationship with a Native American organization, and the Iroquois Nationals are the only such group.
Passport issues The Nationals were unable to attend and compete in the
2010 World Lacrosse Championship in England as the United Kingdom does not accept their
Iroquois passports. The Nationals were forced to forfeit their three preliminary games. In 2015, the Haudenosaunee Nationals women's under 19 team was forced to withdraw from the 2015 U19 World Lacrosse Championship in Scotland for the same reason.
Name change In 2022, the team formally changed their name from the Iroquois Nationals to the Haudenosaunee Nationals, citing their desire to use the endonym for their people rather than an exonym used historically by enemy tribes and European colonists.
Field lacrosse The
Haudenosaunee Nationals are the national team representing the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. First recognized by the
Federation of International Lacrosse as a full member nation in 1987, the Nationals competed in their first tournament at the
1990 World Lacrosse Championship, finishing fifth.
Results Box lacrosse 2015 WILC The
Iroquois Nationals played host to the
2015 FIL World Indoor Lacrosse Championships for the first time in the tournament's history. The event took place on Haudenosaunee Territories at Tsha’Hon’nonyen’dakhwa’ Onondaga Nation Arena and the
Carrier Dome near Syracuse, as well as the
First Niagara Center in Buffalo September 18–27, 2015. ==See also==