Canberra Griffins Lacrosse teams beat NSW for first time in annual championship

The Canberra Griffins lacrosse team has won the annual ‘battle in the capital’ championship against the NSW state representative side for the first time.

The achievement is all the more remarkable considering the sport has only been played on a formal basis in the ACT since 2018.

Lacrosse is a field sport in which players use a stick with a net at the end of it to move and pass a rubber ball from one end of an oval to another to score goals.

“It originated from First Nations people in North America as a way to settle disputes and was a spiritual ritual to heal communities,” says Canberra club president Samantha McClelland.

“It’s been played in Australia for more than 100 years, mainly in Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia, but didn’t have much presence here.

“We were just a few people who’d played together in other states and got together through social media and decided to have a run … we established this Canberra club in 2018. We wanted to see something happen here in lieu of us having a league.”

A State of Origin-style series against NSW kicked off in July 2020, with two visiting men’s and women’s teams playing a four-match tournament against Canberra. Predictably, NSW thrashed their inexperienced opponents in every match.

But this year, the ACT team won three out of the four games at the Majura Sports Fields in Ainslie – emerging victorious in both the women’s matches and one of the men’s.

“It shows the progress and development we’ve been able to do here over the past four years,” Ms McClelland said.

“NSW has had lacrosse established for longer than we have, since the 1990s. We’re a small club, and we’ve got a rag-tag group of inexperienced and older players that’s been taking on NSW for a while. This is the first time we’ve won.

“Our next game is at the University of NSW on 31 August, so there’s a chance for retribution. There’s also an event against Queensland and NSW on the Gold Coast called the East Coast Cup in October.”

Canberra is also starting to produce its own superstars.

“We’re proud of Emily Harwood, who has been selected to play for Australia in the World U20s Box Lacrosse tournament happening in Buffalo, New York, in August. Emily came to Canberra as an experienced player from South Australia and has been coaching our women’s team,” Ms McClelland said.

The club president, a 29-year-old public servant, wants to see the sport grow in Canberra.

“We’d like to get the universities involved, get a feeder system from schools and eventually start our own domestic league,” she said.

“We play the Olympic-style Sixes format. It’s like a faster version of the sport that’s been included in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

“The conventional version has 10 players, but Sixes is a sped-up version, almost like Rugby Sevens.

“The game suits players of all shapes and sizes. The stick is a real equaliser. We always welcome new players to come along and give the sport a try and we provide all the equipment.”

Anyone interested in giving lacrosse a try can message the club through Facebook or show up at their weekly training session at Telopea Park on a Monday at 6:30 pm.