2010 World Lacrosse Championship

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The 2010 FIL World Lacrosse Championship will be held between 15 July and 24 July 2010. They are the premier international men's Lacrosse tournament, and will take place in Manchester, United Kingdom. A record 30 Nations are expected to compete at the event, nine more than the 2006 World Championships, which were held in London, Ontario.

From its inception in 1967 through the 2006 event, the World Lacrosse Championships were sanctioned by the International Lacrosse Federation (ILF). In 2008, the ILF merged with the former governing body for women's lacrosse, the International Federation of Women's Lacrosse Associations (IFWLA), to form the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL). From the 2010 World Championships, all future World Championships will be sanctioned by FIL.

This will be the third time that the tournament has been hosted in Manchester, having hosted the 1978 and 1994 World Championships. Canada are the defending champions having defeated the United States 15-10 in the 2006 Final.

The events are being held at the Armitage Centre, Manchester University’s sports grounds.

World Lacrosse Festival

For the first time in the history of the World Lacrosse Championships, a FIL World Lacrosse Festival has been sanctioned to run alongside the FIL World Championships.

The Festival will run from Saturday 17th July to Thursday 22nd July 2010 and is an open tournament which will be comprised of touring and club teams and will be played at the same venue as the World Championships. So far, over 64 elite Lacrosse teams from all over the world have signed up to the Festival.

In addition to this a Community event will kick off the Championships and host local Primary, Secondary and Club teams.

Round Robin

For the round-robin phase of the tournament, nations will be separated into nine divisions, according to strength. Due to the increase in participants, three new groups have been created since the 2006 World Lacrosse Championships. Each of the thirty nations are eligible to win the championship.

Blue Division

Blue division features the six strongest lacrosse nations: Australia, Canada, England, Iroquois Nationals, Japan, and USA. The playing schedule for the Blue Division is as follows:

Blue Division	Canada	Iroqouis	Australia	England	Japan
USA	July 17th	July 18th	July 16th	July 18th	July 20th
Canada		July 19th	July 18th	July 20th	July 16th
Iroquois			July 20th	July 15th	July 17th
Australia				July 17th	July 19th
England					July 18th

Ticketing

It was announced on Monday 1st February that the highly anticipated Day tickets for the round robin stages of the 2010 World Lacrosse Championships were being made available for sale, launching with a special offer of buy 10 and get one free.

Stadium Day Tickets secure seats in the stadium, at the Armitage Centre, for a whole day. The round robin day tickets will cost £20 for the stadium pitch or £10 for the outer pitches. The Stadium pitch will host the Blue (top) division with all other divisions playing on the outer 3 pitches.

Tickets are sold through the official website of the 2010 World Lacrosse Championships[1]

Official Mascot

Full-length version of Chester.

Chester the Bulldog was chosen by fans in competitions organised on Facebook

A competition was organised, with voters being able to decide on which character the mascot will be. The mascot was a choice of either a British Bulldog or a Rhino.

The English Lacrosse Association offered a Season Ticket to the Championships for the winner worth £150 and allows entry to watch all 200+ games being held at the University of Manchester Armitage Centre this July including the final.

David Shuttleworth, English Lacrosse Association CEO said, “Both these animals would make a great choice of mascot, both represent differing mental and physical attributes of a top lacrosse player. Rhinos have very thick skin and seem impervious to pain; they will crush anything that gets in their path with devastating speed. Bulldogs have long been associated with the British qualities of determination and grit and fighting until the end. “

“Both mascots would help to make the Championships a success, but we have been urging fans to “be a part of it” from day one, so what better way for individuals to create a lasting impression on the championships?”

The voting was done through the 2010 World Lacrosse Championships Facebook and Twitter sites which were linked to from the official website of the World Lacrosse Championships.

Voting for the mascot ran from the 30th of December, 2009 until the 10th of January, 2010, when it was announced that the Bulldog had won, with just short of 2000 fans voting.

A second competition was announced, commencing from January 22nd, with another season ticket on offer, allowing fans to pick the name of the official mascot. Voters were given a choice between three mascot names, Crash, Manny, and Chester. The vote closed on the 1st February 2010, with a landslide victory for Chester, through 67% of fans selecting the name.

Chester took part in Sport Relief's Manchester Mile event on 21st March 2010 and is expected to compete at the annual Mascot Gold Cup.

See also

• Lacrosse
• Federation of International Lacrosse, the unified governing body for world lacrosse founded in 2008
• World Lacrosse Championship

External links

• International Lacrosse Federation
• Official Website for 2010 World Lacrosse Championships