Contact details urgently required for the Centurion Historian club
As most of you know Caulfield Lacrosse Club turns 100 in 2009. To celebrate this we are holding numerous events through out the 2009 season. We have one small problem though, we have lost contact with a lot of old players. If you know any past players & members of Caulfield let us know where they are as we would love for them to join us in the festivities. All details can be sent to Sally Campbell who is compiling historian details for the social committee and the centurion committee.
The origin of the game of lacrosse is literally lost in the mists of time. The first historical reference is to 874 AD, when the Icelanders played a version of the game called "knattliekr". Around the 1Ith century Vikings played their version in Scandinavia, although perhaps more closely connected to the modern game was "baggataway", first played some 300-400 years ago by the Indian tribes of the St Lawrence valley along the USA-Canada border. The Indians/native Americans used to play as few as five or as many as some hundred on a team, with goals several kilometres apart. Rules were virtually non-existent and as the game was a kind of battle alternative, rules were probably unnecessary. Some idea of the activity can be obtained from the engraving pictured at the end this article, which depicts a keenly contested game between the Choctaw and Caddo tribes of Canada. "Racquets" used were made of wood and deer-hide, the luckless deer often supplying material for the ball as well. Frenchmen, who first saw baggataway played, called it "lacrosse" after the similarity of the netted stick to a bishop's crosse. In 1763, the chief Pontiac and the Ojlbwa Indians used a game of baggataway as a means of distracting English soldiers of the Fort Michil Mackinac (in Canada). The Indians then set about massacring the soldiers and their relatives, finally capturing the fort. This was scarcely a brilliant public relations exercise for the game. Not surprisingly, many years were to pass before the whites took up the game (albeit with a set of proper rules in place). The first record of a white team winning at lacrosse against an Indian team was in 1851 (in Montreal). In 1867, lacrosse was introduced to USA and England. In 1874, a Canadian, Lambton Mount who had settled in Australia, demonstrated lacrosse to some local lads one afternoon, in a Fawkner Park, with hickory lacrosse sticks, and the game was away in Australia. Within five years, four clubs had been formed in Victoria, the first club founded being Melbourne. Ultimately, Melbourne would supply two office bearers, namely K. L. Murray and H. Graham (a Test Cricketer), to the Committee of the newly formed Caulfield Lacrosse Club. The Club first met on Saturday, May 5, 1891. It is thought that Caulfield was then not based at Caulfield Park, its present location, but near the racecourse at what is now Glen Huntly Park. The Club had almost immediate playing success, winning a premiership (in A grade) in 1892, then again in 1893 and 1894. Yet, in 1897 Caulfield disbanded, apparently due to lack of numbers. However, in 1909, pleasingly the Club reformed, and has competed in the Victorian Lacrosse Association, every year since, at junior and senior level at Caulfield Park. In that time the club has won six A grade (Stage League equivalent) premierships, and started off many a youngster's sporting career. Caulfield Lacrosse Club became incorporated in 1984, and in late 1990, the Club absorbed the Caulfield Women's Lacrosse Club (which had started as a separate entity some 17 years previously, tasting ultimate A grade success in 1985). This move has paid dividends, helping everyone. Lacrosse is recognised as the fastest field game played, and Caulfield has produced some of the game's finest exponents. Many Caulfield players, coaches and officials, over the years, have represented Victoria and Australia in both men's and women's competition. In 1992, we had more than 30 junior and senior state representatives, in all capacities. One of the previous men's Australian coaches played all of his junior and much of his senior lacrosse at Caulfield. Since then, 1992 onwards, Caulfield has had numerous state and national representatives proudly representing the club. The Club continues to be based at the picturesque Caulfield Park and continues to launch many young sporting careers, while fostering senior ones, over the Saturday (men's) and Sundays (women's) of the winter months (Apr - Sept). Anyone with additional club history or information that may be of interest should contact brianh2468@gmail.com Your contribution will be truly appreciated.