Those of you who are not familiar with FIL, will learn everything about the Federation of International Lacrosse in this article. It is responsible for the international Lacrosse and organizes, for example, the World Lacrosse Championships. Members of the association, what the FIL organizes and plans can be found here in this article.
What is FIL?
FIL is the Federation of International Lacrosse and was founded in August 2008 as kind of a fusion between international men’s lacrosse associations and international women’s acrosse associations. The headquatered is in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Among other things, they are responsible for the World Lacrosse Championships and the Under-19 World Lacrosse Championships for women and men, as well as the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships. The next event will be the FIL Rathbones Women’s Lacrosse World Cup from 12th July until the 22nd July 2017 in Guildford, England.
Predecessor of FIL
On the one hand there was the International Lacrosse Federation, which was founded in 1974. But they just promoted Lacrosse, held the World Lacrosse Championships and so on. On the other hand there was the IFWLA the International Federation of Women’s Lacrosse Associations, which was founded in 1972 and looked after the development of women lacrosse. They organized the Women’s Lacrosse World Championship for example.
By 2007 the men and women lacrosse were organized separately, which led to problems at the Olympic Games. For this reason, the two organizations were combined to the FIL.
Mission statement
The Federation of International Lacrosse is responsible for the integration of all forms of lacrosse and aims to promote a fast and effective leadership in the development of sport around the world.
FIL is the first international association to recognize First Nations on an international level. The Iroquois Nationals, for example, represent the Iroquois Confederation from New York, Ontario, Pennsylvania and Quebec.
Goal of FIL
The aim of the association is to ensure that it is achieved in the long term, that lacrosse is acknowledged and played in all countries around the world, and will return to the Olympics in particular.
Board of Directors
The board of directors of FIL is composed of President Stan Cockerton, a Canadian lacrosse player from Oshawa, Ontario, who is now in the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Then comes the vice president, Steve Stenersen from Baltimore, Maryland, who is also CEO of US Lacrosse. In addition, the Director of Finance Ron Balls from Suffolk England. He played lacrosse himself and was also a strong promoter of the sport in England.
The director of development, Tom Hayes, a gifted lacrosse player from Floral Park, New York, who was inducted in the United States National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. The Director of Women’s Lacrosse is Shelley Maher from Kerang, Victoria, Australia, who has played lacrosse herself and is still active in different ways. As Director of Men’s Lacrosse there are Terry Harding from London, Ontario, Canada who was a lacrosse player, coach and referee himself.
FIL and SportAccord
Since the 25th of May 2012 the Federation of International Lacorsse is a member of the SportAccord and is participating in its General Meeting in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. SportAccord is an umbrella organization for Olympic and non-Olympic international sports associations and organizer of international sports events. Perhaps the FIL will return to the Olympic Games this way.
Members of FIL
There are three different types of members. There are Full Members, then there are the Associate Members and the “Emerging Nations”. Full Members include Australia, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Thailand and many other countries. Associate Members include Argentina, Guatemala, Jamaica, Poland, Singapore and Slovenia. The “Emerging Nations” include Greece, Iceland, India, Pakistan, Namibia, Brazil and South Africa.
