Just how many players are on a lacrosse team depends on where the game is played and by whom. The four versions being field lacrosse, box lacrosse, women’s lacrosse, and Intercrosse vary in the number of players because of many varied factors.
Field lacrosse is played with ten players on each team: three players as attackmen, midfielders, defenders each, plus one goalie. Box lacrosse has teams that consist of five players plus a goalie. The women’s lacrosse is played with a team of twelve players: three attackmen, five midfielders, three defenders, and one goalie. Intercrosse has teams of five including a running goalie.
Lacrosse has developed significantly being the oldest organized sport in North America starting with each team consisting of 100-1000 players to now being played in four diverse ways. Each lacrosse type differs from sticks, fields, rules, players, and equipment.
Field lacrosse
Field lacrosse, also known as men’s outdoor lacrosse, is played with ten players on each team. This is probably the version you think about when you hear the word lacrosse.
The lacrosse field is 110 yards long and 60 yards wide, just like a seven-player soccer field. The game lasts for 60 minutes and every quarter starts with a face-off where one player duels an opponent over the ball from the ground.
In case you aren’t familiar with the basic rules of lacrosse, here comes an overview of the main rules:
Four players must always stay on each side of de midfield. That’s why defensemen and attackmen need to stay on their respective sides of the midfield, while midfielders can cover the full field. All players must wear protective gear such as an elbow guard, a helmet, and gloves because this is a contact sport and body checking is allowed. But be careful because you aren’t allowed to hit anyone with your stick on their back or helmet.
The team with the highest number of goals is the winning team. You get one point for every time you throw the rubber ball into the goal using your stick.The face-off also occurs after a goal. The goalie has the right for a crease, an area around the goal where the players aren’t to touch him or his stick.
Box lacrosse
Box lacrosse, also known as indoor lacrosse, has a significant difference in the number of players from the field lacrosse. It is played indoors in an emptied ice hockey rink or an indoor soccer field. There is a smaller number of players on the team because of the size of the field. These are five players plus one goaltender.
An interesting fact about box lacrosse is that the style of the game is much quicker and one of the reasons for that being the shot clock. The clock has a countdown just like in basketball, but the attacking players only have only 30 seconds to take a shot after gaining possession of the ball.
This version is also more aggressive and that’s why the players wear more gear. Think about ice hockey, then take away the ice, add some lacrosse, and there you have box lacrosse. The size of the field also affects the size of the goal. The goal in box lacrosse is smaller than the one in field lacrosse and the goalie must wear more protective gear. He almost looks like an ice hockey goalie!
Women’s lacrosse
Women’s lacrosse looks quite different at a first glance. It has first of all twelve players and is not a contact sport. This version of lacrosse also has different rules and lines on the field. The field is as big as the one of the field lacrosse, but then there is an 8-meter “fan”, a 12-meter half-circle surrounding the “fan” and the “draw circle” in the middle of the field.
Defenders are not allowed for more than three seconds inside the 8-meter fan if they are not one stick length apart from an opponent. The “draw circle” is where the players start at the beginning of each half. Different from men’s lacrosse is that the women start in midair both already holding the ball between their sticks. It’s followed by an upward twist movement to win the ball over to your team.
This version of lacrosse does not allow body checking and that is why the players are wearing different protective gear. The only equipment worn is a mouthguard and eye-guard. The lacrosse sticks also have a tighter net since a pocket to carry the ball in is not allowed.
Intercrosse
Intercrosse, also known as soft stick lacrosse, is another version of lacrosse with even less contact, number of players, and gear.
No stick or body contact is allowed between the teams of five players. Significantly is also that all genders can play together in the same team and against each other. The sport is played inside on a field that is 130 ft long and 66 ft wide.
Basic rules apply here where the goal is to carry the ball into the goal. The goal has the same size as in box lacrosse, but both the stick and ball are made from different materials. The stick head is completely made of plastic and not of a leather or nylon net like in the other versions. The Ball is also bigger, hollow, softer, and not made of rubber as the other balls are.
Once a team has obtained the ball, it must make a shot within 30 seconds. A player also has only five seconds to carry the ball.
Why is there a difference?
The differences in the number of players, the gear, fields, and rules may differ because of how, when, and by whom they were invented.
Lacross, the idea of carrying a ball with a net on a stick across a field into a goal, is based on a sport that was originally played by Native American communities in 1100 AD. It was played to settle disputes between the tribes and has developed until a version of it was well-established in the 17th century. About a century later, settlers in Montreal started playing and it has since then continued to develop into the sport we know today.
Because it’s such an old sport it has been picked up by different people at different times who have altered the sport in different ways. And that’s why we have these four versions of lacrosse today. Let me explain.
History
The field lacrosse is the version that is most similar of all four to the sport that the Montreal settlers played in the 18th century. The word lacrosse comes from the word la crosse, “the stick” in French. The sport became popular and spread among the English-speaking countries and by 1900 there were dozens of men’s clubs in Canada, the United States, England, Australia, and New Zeeland.
The Box lacrosse originates from Canada. The thought of having a faster lacrosse game was given to Paddy Brennan in the early 1920s. He was a field lacrosse player and referee from Montreal who was annoyed by the fact that balls going out of bound slowed down the game. So why not put the game in a box? After some slow first years the new version of lacrosse then took off and the first professional game was held in 1931. Since then, box lacrosse is even more popular them field lacrosse in Canada and is now a national summer sport there.
Women’s lacrosse was first played in Scotland in 1890. A Scottish headmistress had seen a game of lacrosse in Canada and had brought her experiences back with her to then be adopted by young women. It then developed some more until it was brought to America again where it became the sport we know today.
Intercrosse was first practices in France when new versions appeared in the 1980s. It grew in popularity because it can be played both indoors and outdoors as well as with both genders. It is now still popular in Europe and in schools where it’s played in physical education classes.
Conclusion
A lacrosse team can have from five to twelve players depending on which version you want to play. The fact that lacrosse is such an old sport is what is so fascinating to me. The reason the different number of players has changed throughout the years because of the ideas of people like you and me. Either it’s five people to make a game quicker or ten players to cover a big field. How many players are on a team is up to the people who develop the sport after their needs and wishes. Now we have four main versions of lacrosse, but maybe that will change again?