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World Games field. The Irish then withdrew from the competition with a firm request that the Iroquois would take their place. The Iroquois were then instructed to obtain letters from the US and Canadian lacrosse federa- tions, as well as the US and Canadian Olympic Committees, confirming no objections to their participation. Lat- er, the World Games announced that the Iroquois Nationals were part of the competition.
NEW OLYMPIC SPORT Adding la- crosse to the 2028 Olympic Games, now brings about the biggest fight of all. The Iroquois are actively working on establishing a National Olympic Committee, but the IOC only recog- nizes an NOC if that country is recog- nised by more than half of the Unit- ed Nations. The Iroquois are not UN members...
Lyle Thompson, one of the leading figures in lacrosse, recently said: “We are ready to fight for our sovereign- ty in front of the Olympic Commit- tee. We have our land, our own laws, chiefs, and leaders. So it’s important to carry our own flag. Not just for the Haudenosaunee, but for other indig- enous people. We want to be recog- nized as who we are and who we have always been.”
FEAR The Iroquois fear that the IOC is bothered by the idea that allowing them into the Olympics could set a precedent for other marginalised groups to demand inclusion. There- fore, the Iroquois want to focus on the fact that their dream matches all the Olympic values. It’s about competing at the highest level, but also about equality, inclusion, respect, and ex- panding the definition of a nation in the Olympic and sporting world.
Amber Hill the goalkeeper of Haudenosaunee faces up to Tereza Lalakova of Czech Repub- lic during the classification match between Haudenosaunee and Czech Republic during the 2017 FIL Rathbones Women's Lacrosse World Cup in Guildford, England
on each side).
The game is divided into four 8-min- ute quarters and there is a 30-second shot clock.
FLAG FOOTBALL Flag Football, which they say is also pushed by the NFL, is on the contrary a sport without vio- lence, the opposite of the American Football we know.
It is played with five players on a small field, and instead of tackling the opponent, all you have to do is grab one of the two bands of fabric that each player wears around their waist. In some ways it seems like a preparation game for the quarter- backs and wide receivers. It is perfect for school activities.
THE PUBLIC AND MONEY The IOC has, like all sports, an urgent need to find new spaces, new audiences and new money, because contracts expire and to sign new ones, innovations or rather adaptations to reality are nec- essary.
Hence the frantic race to find solu- tions suited to the age of microchips and Artificial Intelligence that we are experiencing.
Including traditional American sports in Los Angeles is normal, also to broaden the audience to region- al and small entities. NBC needs it and that's normal too. Cricket opens new markets with more than a bil- lion viewers, should they ignore it? It would be suicide.
CONCLUSION Sport, not only Olym- pic, is experiencing a sort of identity crisis also because the world is expe- riencing moments of anguish. Some sports managers are taken aback, confused, perhaps overcome by the times they cannot understand.
It's time for us to realise that it's no longer the golden age, where we tread red carpets and exclusive environ- ments, but it's time to return to the field to understand how sport can re- turn to being true culture and inclu- sion, not fake and just words.
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