The 2010 World Lacrosse Championship was held between 15–24 July. This international men's field lacrosse tournament organized by the Federation of International Lacrosse took place in Manchester, United Kingdom. This was the third time that the tournament was played in Greater Manchester, after the 1978 and 1994 championships.
The United States captured their ninth gold medal, defeating Canada 12–10 in the championship game. Paul Rabil of Team USA was named tournament MVP. Australia earned its fourth-straight bronze medal by defeating Japan 16 –9.
A record 29 nations competed at the event, eight more than the 2006 WLC in London, Ontario. The 101 games were held at the Armitage Centre, Manchester University's sports grounds.
For the first time, a FIL World Lacrosse Festival ran alongside the world championships from 17 to 22 July. 48 teams from around the world competed in 8 divisions from U16 to Grand Masters.
Iroquois passport controversy
The Iroquois Nationals' participation in the championships was prevented in a dispute over their passports. The team sought to travel on Haudenosaunee passports, but the United Kingdom government would not allow it because of increased passport security requirements. The United States Department of State initially also refused to allow the passports, but later granted the team a one-time waiver to travel to the tournament. However, the U.K. would not issue the team visas.
Initially, the Iroquois were hoping to be able to travel, and agreed to forfeit their first game against England. Because it was the opening game of the tournament, organizers arranged for the host team to play Germany in an exhibition match instead. However, just before game time, the FIL decided to move Germany to the Blue Division and the Iroquois to the Plum Division, making the England-Germany match an official one. The Iroquois team did not officially withdraw from the tournament, and would have been allowed to play its remaining games should it have resolved its passport difficulties in time. On 18 July, the FIL announced that the competition schedule had progressed too far to allow Iroquois to compete in the tournament. Each of the other three Plum Division teams were given 1–0 forfeit victories over the Iroquois team.
Pool play For pool play, nations were separated into seven divisions according to strength, the top six teams were placed in the Blue Division, and the other teams were put in six divisions of four. Each of the thirty nations were eligible to win the championship. Each division played round-robin games for ranking to determine which tournament brackets they would be placed in.
Blue Division The Blue Division originally consisted of the top six teams from the 2006 World Lacrosse Championship, but Germany was moved up to replace the missing Iroquois team. The first and second place teams from the Blue Division advanced to the tournament semifinals. The third and fourth place teams advanced to the quarterfinals. The fifth and sixth place teams were placed into the 5th through 8th place classification bracket.
Canada's 10–9 win over the United States marked the first time that the American team lost a preliminary round game in any world championship, and only its third loss overall. Both teams ended up advancing to the semifinals.
Japan, Australia, and England all finished 2–3 in the Blue Division and 1–1 in head-to-head matches against each other. All three games between the teams were close, with two going into overtime. Japan and Australia advanced to the quarterfinals based on goal differential in those matches.
15 July 201012–316 July 201017–421–517 July 201015–910–8 (OT)9–1018 July 201013–12 (OT)Germany 4–2219–519 July 2010Germany 4–239–1117–520 July 20105–1922–417–6 Key to colours in division tablesSix division winners and top two runners-upadvanced to the upper bracketFour remaining runners-up and top four third-placed teamsadvanced to the middle bracketTwo remaining third-placed teams and six last placed teamsadvanced to the lower bracket
Orange Division
16 July 2010Slovakia 10–4Ireland 21–317 July 2010Switzerland 10–6Slovakia 4–2318 July 2010South Korea 6–7Switzerland 3–16
Plum Division
16 July 20100–1Hong Kong 10–817 July 2010Norway 8–11Hong Kong 1–0 18 July 2010Norway 1–0 16–14 Iroquois forfeited their three games due to not being able to travel to the tournament.
Yellow Division
16 July 2010Bermuda 2–16Finland 14–217 July 2010Poland 15–5Bermuda 5–1118 July 2010Poland 11–12 (OT)Denmark 8–11
Red Division
16 July 2010Italy 3–17Sweden 20–217 July 2010Sweden 16–3Mexico 1–2118 July 2010Mexico 3–12Czech Republic 9–6
Turquoise Division
16 July 2010New Zealand 18–320–417 July 2010New Zealand 8–18France 6–1618 July 2010France 2–19Latvia 5–11
Grey Division
16 July 2010Argentina 5–16Netherlands 9–1017 July 2010Argentina 3–29Austria 0–1918 July 2010Wales 20–3Austria 5–17
Intermediate Round Starting on 19 July, all teams except for the Blue Division moved to one of three intermediate brackets: either the upper, middle, or lower bracket.
Upper bracket The upper bracket included the six first-place finishers from each division as well as the top two second-place finishers. These teams were still eligible for the World Championship and could have finished anywhere from 1st to 16th in the tournament. By winning two games in the upper bracket, Scotland and Netherlands advanced to the quarterfinals.
Middle bracket The middle bracket included the remaining four second-place finishers and the top four third-place finishers. These teams could have finished anywhere from 9th to 24th in the final rankings.
Lower bracket The lower bracket included the remaining two third-place finishers and the six fourth-place finishers. These teams could have finished no higher than 17th in the final rankings.
Play-in games
On 21 July, Finland beat Poland 13–7 to advance to the 9th–12th place bracket, sending Poland to the 13th–16th place bracket. Italy beat Switzerland 7–6 to advance to the 17th–20th place bracket, while Switzerland entered the 21st–24th place bracket.
Championship bracket
Classification brackets
5th to 8th place
9th to 12th place
13th to 16th place
17th to 20th place
21st to 24th place
25th to 28th place
Final standings
Rank Team Record 6–1 6–1 4–4 4 3–5 5 4–3 6 1–6 7 6–2 8 5–3 9 6–1 10 4–3 11 5–2 12 5–3 13 5–2 14 5–3 15 5–2 16 3–4 17 5–2 18 3–4 19 5–3 20 2–5 21 5–2 22 3–4 23 3–5 24 1–6 25 3–4 26 1–5 27 2–5 28 0–6 29 0–5 – 0–3
Awards All World Team The Federation of International Lacrosse named an All World Team at the conclusion of the championship, along with four other individual awards.
Goalkeeper Chris Sanderson
Defence Brodie Merrill Ryan McClay Kyle Sweeney
Midfield Paul Rabil Max Seibald Leigh Perham
Attack John Grant, Jr. Brendan Mundorf Mike Leveille
Best Positional Players Chris Sanderson - Goalkeeper Brodie Merrill - Defence Paul Rabil - Midfield John Grant, Jr. - Attack
Tournament MVP Paul Rabil - Midfield
See also World Lacrosse, the unified governing body for world lacrosse World Lacrosse Championship Field lacrosse
References
External links Official Website (archived), mirror Lacrosse World Championships 2010 at Activity Workshop Federation of International Lacrosse