Haudensosaunee team denied by British authorities

Members of the Iroquois Nationals senior men’s field lacrosse team suffered one of their most disappointing losses. But not on the field. The squad, comprised of players from both Canada and the United States, was considered a medal contender heading into the world field lacrosse tournament, which ran July 10 to July 24 in Manchester, England. But the Iroquois Nationals side never boarded their flights from New York City. As a result, they did not compete in the world tournament. That’s because the British Consulate refused to recognize the team’s Haudenosaunee passports and would not grant travel visas allowing Iroquois Nationals’ members to enter England.

The move stunned team members as people have been travelling the world with Haudenosaunee passports for a few decades.

The Haudenosaunee is an Iroquois confederacy consisting of people from both sides of the border made up of Oneida, Seneca, Mohawk, Tuscarora, Cayuga and Onondaga First Nations.

British officials insisted those on the Iroquois Nationals must travel with either U.S. or Canadian passports as their visa process did not list Haudenosaunee as one of their categories.

Not all team members though had either Canadian or American passports in addition to their Haudensosaunee ones.

“I do know people who carry the (Canadian or U.S.) passports,” said Percy Abrams, the executive director of the Iroquois Nationals’ squad. “But in this instance, we were representing the Haudenosaunee people. They were funding us. And it was one of our duties to carry their passport.” Abrams said American officials did offer to supply passports to U.S.-born players on the team who did not have them.

“We never even got to the point of talks with (officials from) Canada,” Abrams said, adding there were rumors circulating that all team players who did not have them were offered either Canadian or American passports.
The Iroquois Nationals club spent six days in New York City while waiting to see whether their passport fiasco would be sorted out. When it didn’t make it to England on time, the squad forfeited its first game of the tournament.

At that point there were hopes the issue would still be resolved, but when it wasn’t, the team withdrew from the tournament. 

The United States ended up winning the gold medal at the tourney, while Canada took the silver. Australia captured the bronze.

Seeing these results just added to the disappointment for members of the Iroquois Nationals.

“This was our best chance at a medal,” said Delby Powless, a player who helped the club to a fourth-place finish at the 2002 world tournament in Australia and at the 2006 event in London, Ont.

“I’m good friends with a bunch of the guys on the Canadian team and they said we’d easily have won a bronze medal.”

Powless said his friends on the Canadian team were also upset the Iroquois Nationals did not get to compete in Manchester.

“Even they were disappointed we weren’t there because they would have had a better game (against us),” he said. “The teams from Australia, England and Japan were apparently not that good.”

Germany also competed in the highest calibre six-team division at the world tournament. The Germans had originally been placed in another lower-calibre division, but took the Iroquois Nationals’ spot when it was clear they would not be heading overseas.

Though he will only be 34 when the next world field tournament rolls around in 2014, Powless said this was his last chance to win a medal at the event.

“I’m not going to be trying out for it in four years,” he said, adding veteran Iroquois players often allow the younger players the opportunities to compete in prestigious events like the world championships once they have already experienced it themselves.

Abrams was also obviously disappointed his side did not get a chance to see how it would have performed in Manchester.

“I can say we had one of our strongest teams ever,” he said. But whether that would have resulted in a Top 3 finish for the Iroquois Nationals will now never be known.
“Things happen in lacrosse,” Abrams said. “We could have taken the whole thing or maybe not even gotten a medal. It’s hard to speculate.”

Abrams also said the Haudenosaunee government has a committee in place to work on their passports to avoid a similar situation from happening in the future.

“We may very well be travelling on the same passports,” Abrams added.