Lacrosse is returning to the Olympics after 80 years and is big deal in one part of Greater Manchester

Stockport Lacrosse Club was founded in 1876, the year after a visit from two teams from Canada. One of these consisted of white players, and the other from players of Native American heritage. 

The club started playing games in this year, with records showing the first season being 1876-77. The first club captain, Henry Bell, also owned the biggest brewery in the town. 

In Stockport the game of lacrosse started off as a rich man’s sport, and was seen as the winter sport to keep off-season cricketers busy. Between 1895 and 1904 the club was the team to beat, with the first team winning the Northern Flags - the FA Cup of Lacrosse - nine times and the English Championship on eight occasions. 

John Hilditch, Stockport Cricket Club Secretary, and Vicky Bell who is Chair of Stockport Lacrosse, spoke to ManchesterWorld about the history of the club and where it stands in 2024.  

“Lacrosse is historically a Native American game,” Vicky said.” It comes from the Iroquois tribe that is on the American/ Canadian border- this is where it originated. This is why it is huge in the USA. 

“The teams came over to play exhibition games across the country, and during a game at Longsight cricket club a number of Stockport rugby players were stuck on the train. They watched the game. One of their team mates got injured and died playing rugby, which turned them off the sport.”

The need for a new winter sport is what attracted Stockport cricketers to the idea of Lacrosse, as John said: “They were looking for a new winter sport to replace rugby, and I got the impression there was a gap between them deciding to stop playing rugby and start playing lacrosse. The club at Stockport wasn’t the first, there were clubs in Manchester, but Stockport is the only one still playing continuously.”

During the early years of the 20th century Stockport welcomed teams from Toronto and Ottawa. This second side were considered the best in the world and in 1907 they drew 4-4 against Stockport in a match said to be one of the best to ever be played in the UK.  

The Second World War had a particular impact on the club, with many members either killed or wounded in the fighting or had become too old to play. After the war the committee met to discuss the future of the club, and these conversations ended with an agreement for an amalgamation with Birch Lacrosse Club, who were experiencing the same plight. 

On the impact of the global conflicts in the 20th century, Vicky said: “The two World Wars were massive, in terms of all league games were suspended and only friendlies were made. During the wars and afterwards, because there were casualties, a lot of players got aged out of the sport. There was then a period where no new players were coming through. It’s had peaks and troughs over the years.”

The club has a settled home in the leafy area of the borough, but this wasn't always the case - and Stockport County Football Club had a role to play in this. 

John said: “We didn’t start playing here initially until about 1904. By 1928/ 29 we were still here but between this time and 1962 there were a lot of comings and goings. At one point we were at Woodbank. Part of the reason we came back in 1962 was because the season prior Stockport County had been using the lacrosse pitch to train on and they ended up refusing to pay anything for this. The cricket club chucked them off and that’s when they wanted lacrosse back.”

Lacrosse was an official sport at the Olympic Games of 1904 and 1908, and was last an exhibition game in the 1948 games. In the 2028 games in Los Angeles, Lacrosse will end an 80 year absence. This will also be the first time women will play the sport at the Olympics

Vicky said: “Our ladies section was only set up 30 years ago. We’ve now got one senior ladies team and we play at all the junior age groups. The men and women teams play for flags, which are like the FA Cup of Lacrosse. Stockport is the most successful club for this, we’ve won flags 25 times. We’ve got a husband and wife in the teams, and also a brother and sister.”

The relationship between the cricket and lacrosse clubs didn’t get off to the best of starts, but things progressed quickly according to John. 

“In 1962 the cricket club invited lacrosse back to play, however the lacrosse club said they would only come back if they were given fundamental weight to make decisions on the club. This was agreed and the current structure was created by them. Some people blame lacrosse for the downfall of the cricket element from this day onward. Part of this is because the cricket club used to pay their players, and used to pay them travelling expenses. 

“When lacrosse became part of the committee, they then stopped this as it was too expensive. This is what some people suggest was the demise of the cricket side of the club, and this resulted in a change of leagues. This kicked things off and when the set up of the club changed.”

Stockport Lacrosse Club has a strong partnership with teams in North America, and over the years there have been home and away tours against some of these sides. The Stockport Metros Lacrosse Club is a touring programme which was set up by Les Grainger back in 1976. 

Starting as a one off, the club has since toured and hosted sides from Baltimore, Philadelphia and plenty of others. The exchange is still going strong, and in many ways highlights the partnership between this part of Greater Manchester and the historical American side to the sport. 

The quality of youth players have benefited from being in the Metros programme, and John said that the coaches at the club still get a buzz when they see a talent being produced. 

“Like with most sports, every now and again a child will come through with extraordinary talent for the game. To find those people, you need hundreds of other kids, and we do get excited when we find one. We get a few where the coaches come to us and go ‘they are a natural’ so we do get that. But it is a game for everybody. 

Vicky added: “It’s not a game where individual talent is enough. You can make an impact at the younger age groups but at senior levels you need to be able to work in a team to be successful.”