The World Lacrosse Box Championships (WLBC), formerly known as the World Indoor Lacrosse Championship (WILC), is an international box lacrosse tournament sponsored by World Lacrosse that is held every four years. Since the first tournament in 2003, Canada has won all five gold medals and is undefeated in all games. Canada hosted the first two tournaments in 2003 and 2007, the Czech Republic hosted in 2011, the Onondaga Nation, south of Syracuse, New York, hosted in 2015. The 2019 WILC was held in Langley, British Columbia, Canada.
The winner of the WLBC wins the Cockerton Cup, named for All-American lacrosse player Stan Cockerton.
In August 2023, World Lacrosse announced 2024 World Lacrosse Box Championships for men's and women's box lacrosse will held at September 20–29, 2024, in Utica, New York, United States.
The Nations in 1980 Box Lacrosse was invented in Canada in 1931, and it took a while for the indoor variant to take off outside of its home country. In the 1970s, it had begun to gain popularity in both Australia, due to a myth about its origin down under, and the United States, due to the short-lived NLA, and the idea of an international box tournament began to be spoken about. Tom Davies, the president of the British Columbia Lacrosse Association, was the first to raise the idea in 1974. In 1976, the Commonwealth Games accepted the bid for box lacrosse as a demonstration sport, and it featured in the 1978 Edmonton Games.
In 1980, the BCLA announced, with the backing of the International Lacrosse Federation, that a Nations Cup would be held in July 1980 in Vancouver. This tournament would include 5 teams, national teams from Australia and the US, a First Nations representative team, and two Canadian teams. The Canadian teams would be Canada West, represented by the WLA's Coquitlam Adanacs, and Canada East, represented by Ontario's Brooklin Redmen. Canada West were the round robin champions, having won all 4 games, and advanced to the final. Canada East and the Natives faced each other in the semi-final, and the Natives pulled off the upset, beating Brooklin 13-9. In front of 8,000 fans in the Pacific Coliseum, the Adanacs beat the Natives 16-11 in the final, and were crowned world champion.
The tournament was deemed a success, but the struggles of the American and Australian teams convinced many that non-Canadian teams were not quite ready to compete at the top level. The Nations Cup was never repeated, and another attempt at a Box world championship would not be made until 2003.
Men Champions YearHost sitesHost country Champions Final score Runner-up Third place2003OntarioCanada 21–4 2007HalifaxCanada 15–14 (OT) 2011PragueCzech Republic 13–6 2015Onondaga Reservation, SyracuseIroquois Confederacy12–82019LangleyCanada19–122024UticaUnited States13–7 Haudenosaunee Source:
Medal table
Performance by team Team2003(6)2007(8)2011(8)2015(13)2019(20)2024(28) 5th 6th 6th 8th 9th 11th 14th 19th 27th 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 15th 20th 6th 7th 4th 7th 7th 6th 4th 5th 5th 4th 4th 9th 6th 9th 11th 10th 10th 23rd 18th 21st 28th 8th 7th 6th 11th 7th Haudenosaunee 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 5th 13th 22nd 8th 19th 26th 8th 12th 17th 25th 4th 5th 16th 18th 12th 12th 8th 13th 16th 15th 13th 17th 24th 20th 10th 3rd 3rd 3rd3rd 3rd 2nd 14th
Women Champions YearHost sitesHost country Champions Final score Runner-up Third place2024UticaUnited States United States 10–7 Haudenosaunee
Medal table
Performance by team Team2024(10) 4th 2nd 5th 10th 6th 3rd 9th 8th 7th United States 1st
Performance by tournament
2003 Indoor Championship
A GP W L GF GA PTS5501092910 541100528532636965237565451439102250529980
Final: Canada 21, Iroquois 4 3rd place: United States 15, Scotland 9 5th place: Australia 21, Czech Republic 10
2007 Indoor Championship
A GP W L GF GA PTS33067106 32144274312275123039590 B GP W L GF GA PTS33070166 321324143122243230320440
Final: Canada 15, Iroquois 14, OT 3rd place: United States 17, England 10 5th place: Scotland 14, Australia 8 7th place: Czech Republic 22, Ireland 5
2011 Indoor Championship
A GP W L GF GA PTS3308183321494323122253130315630 B GP W L GF GA PTS33059183 32146172312284413039630
Final: Canada 13, Iroquois 6 3rd place: United States 16, Czech Republic 7 5th place: England 23, Australia 8 7th place: Ireland 17, Slovakia 15 (2 game aggregate)
Source:
2015 Indoor Championship
Blue GP W L GF GA PTS4406720443159303422434724132257140424610 Red GP W L GF GA PTS33049293321372223123940130317510 Green GP W L GF GA PTS32136242 321272923122936131227301
Final: Canada 12, Iroquois 8 3rd place: United States 15, Israel 4 5th place: England 14, Ireland 12 7th place: Czech Republic 20, Australia 11 9th place: Finland 24, Turkey 6 11th place: Germany 13, Serbia 12
Source:
See also Box lacrosse Federation of International Lacrosse Women's Lacrosse World Cup World Lacrosse Men's U20 Championship World Lacrosse Women's U20 Championship World Junior Lacrosse Championship (men) European Box Lacrosse Championships (men)
References
External links Federation of International Lacrosse