2010 World Lacrosse Championship





The 2010 FIL World Lacrosse Championship was held between 15–24 July 2010. The premier international men's lacrosse tournament took place in Manchester, United Kingdom. A record 29 nations (not including the Iroquois team, which registered but did not compete because of passport issues) competed at the event, eight more than the 2006 World Lacrosse Championships, which were held in London, Ontario.

From its inception in 1967 through the 2006 event, the World Lacrosse Championships were sanctioned by the International Lacrosse Federation (ILF). In 2008, the ILF merged with the former governing body for women's lacrosse, the International Federation of Women's Lacrosse Associations (IFWLA), to form the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL). From the 2010 World Championships, all future World Championships will be sanctioned by FIL.

This was the third time that the tournament was hosted by Manchester, having hosted the 1978 and 1994 World Championships. The United States captured their ninth gold medal, defeating Canada 12–10 in the championship game on 24 July 2010. Paul Rabil of Team USA was named tournament MVP.

The events were held at the Armitage Centre, Manchester University’s sports grounds.

Iroquois Controversy
The Iroquois Nationals' participation in the championships was threatened in a dispute over passports. The team sought to travel on their Haudenosaunee passports, but the British government demanded evidence that the United States would allow the Iroquois to travel and return. Even after the United States Department of State gave the team a one-time waiver, the British government denied entry to the team, saying the Iroquois passports were unacceptable.

As a result, the Iroquois would have had to forfeit their opening match against England, with the host team playing Germany in an exhibition match instead. However, FIL decided to move Germany to the Blue Division and the Iroquois to the Plum Division, making the England-Germany match an official one. The Iroquois team did not officially withdraw from the tournament, and would have been allowed to play its remaining games should it have resolved its passport difficulties. However, on 18 July, the FIL announced that the competition schedule had progressed too far to allow Iroquois to compete in the tournament. Each of the other three Plum Division teams were given 1–0 forfeit victories over the Iroquois team.

World Lacrosse Festival
For the first time in the history of the World Lacrosse Championships, a FIL World Lacrosse Festival had been sanctioned to run alongside the FIL World Championships.

The Festival ran from Saturday 17 July to Thursday 22 July 2010 and was an open tournament between touring and club teams. It was played at the same venue as the World Championships. 64 elite touring teams are expected to compete in the Festival.

In addition to this, a Community event kicked off the Championships and hosted local Primary, Secondary and Club teams.

Ticketing
Tickets were divided into Stadium tickets, giving access to the main pitch where the blue division matches will be played, and Venue tickets, which only give access to the outer pitches.

For the round robin phase, day tickets cost £22 for the stadium or £11 for the outer pitches. There are also so-called "Final four" tickets for the last four days of the competition, including the semi-finals and final game, costing £99. A standard season ticket for the stadium, covering all blue division games, costs £171.

Tickets are sold through the official website of the 2010 World Lacrosse Championships

Official mascot
A competition was organised, with voters being able to decide on which character the mascot will be. The mascot was a choice of either a British Bulldog or a Rhino.

The English Lacrosse Association offered a Season Ticket to the Championships for the winner worth $197 and allows entry to watch every game of the tournament including the final.

David Shuttleworth, English Lacrosse Association CEO said, "Both these animals would make a great choice of mascot, both represent differing mental and physical attributes of a top lacrosse player. Rhinos have very thick skin and seem impervious to pain; they will crush anything that gets in their path with devastating speed. Bulldogs have long been associated with the British qualities of determination and grit and fighting until the end."

The voting was done through the 2010 World Lacrosse Championships Facebook page which was linked to from the official website of the World Lacrosse Championships.

After the bulldog won, a second competition was announced to name it. Voters were given a choice between three mascot names, Crash, Manny, and Chester with Chester becoming the final name.

Chester took part in Sport Relief's Manchester Mile event on 21 March 2010 and is expected to compete at the annual Mascot Gold Cup.

Pool play

 * ''All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

For the pool play phase of the tournament, nations were separated into seven groups according to strength: six groups of four and one group of six (Blue). Due to the increase in participants, three new groups had been created since the 2006 World Lacrosse Championships. Each of the thirty nations were eligible to win the championship. Each group would play a small round robin where each team plays each other team in their group. Then all teams except for the blue group would advance to a second round and are placed in either a top, middle, or lower bracket based on their performance within their group.

Blue division
The Blue Division originally consisted of the top six teams from the 2006 World Lacrosse Championship, but Germany was moved into this group to replace the missing Iroquois team. The first and second place teams from the Blue Division advanced to the tournament semifinals. The third and fourth place teams from the Blue had to compete in "play-in games" (essentially quarterfinals) against teams that advanced from the Top Bracket of the lower divisions. The fifth and sixth place teams from the Blue were eliminated from championship contention and instead took part in games to determine their final placement.

Canada's 10-9 win over the United States marked the first time that the American team lost a preliminary round game in any world championship, and only its third loss overall. Both teams ended up advancing to the semifinals.

Japan, Australia, and England all finished 2–3 in the Blue Division and 1–1 in head-to-head matches against each other. Japan and Australia advanced to the play-in games based on goal differential in head-to-head matches.

Intermediate Round
Starting on 19 July, all teams except for the Blue Division moved to one of three new brackets: an Upper bracket, a Middle bracket or Lower bracket.

Upper bracket
The Upper bracket included the first-place finishers from each division as well as the top 2 second-place finishers (identified as B1 and B2). These teams were still eligible for the World Championship and could have finished anywhere from 1st to 16th in the tournament. The two survivors of the Upper bracket advanced to "play-in games" against the third and fourth place teams from the Blue Division, while the winners moved on to the semifinals.

Middle bracket
The middle bracket includes the remaining four second-place finishers (identified as B3, B4, B5, and B6) and the top 4 third-place finishers (identified as C1, C2, C3, and C4). These teams could have finished anywhere from 9th to 24th in the final rankings.

Lower bracket
The lower bracket included the remaining two third-place finishers (identified as C5 and C6) and the fourth-place finishers. These teams could have finished no higher than 17th in the final rankings. Mexico, as loser of this bracket, finished 29th.

1st–4th Place Bracket
Winners advanced to semifinals versus top two teams from the Blue Division. Losers competed in the 5th–8th place bracket along with fifth and sixth place teams from the Blue Division.

9th–12th Place Bracket
Winner advanced to the 9th–12th place bracket. Loser competed in the 13th–16th place bracket.

17th–20th Place Bracket
Winner advanced to 17th–20th place bracket. Loser competed in 21st–24th place bracket.