The Olympic years: 1904, 1908 and three demonstrations.

Two medal tournaments and three demonstrations

Olympedia, the Olympic historians' database, says lacrosse was a full medal sport, for men only, at St. Louis in 1904 and London in 1908, and a demonstration sport at Amsterdam in 1928, Los Angeles in 1932 and London in 1948. The Canadian Olympic Committee and World Lacrosse give the same list. No page on these tournaments from the IOC's own site was found, so the details below come from Olympedia, the national bodies and the halls of fame.

St. Louis, 1904

Olympedia dates the 1904 tournament to 2 to 7 July 1904 at Francis Field, Washington University, St. Louis. It was a single-elimination event with 36 players from two countries.

Olympedia records the first-round game on 2 July as St. Louis AAA 2, Mohawk Indians 2, and the final on 7 July as Winnipeg Shamrocks 8, St. Louis AAA 2. It notes that a planned best-of-three final was abandoned after the lopsided first game, and that a further Winnipeg win over St. Louis, 6 to 1 on 6 July, may or may not count as an Olympic match.

The Mohawk team

Olympedia says the Mohawk team was largely unknown until research by Bill Mallon in 1981, that some sources call it an Iroquois team, and that it was probably from the Brantford, Ontario, area. The Canadian Olympic Committee says the 1904 bronze medallists, a team from near Brantford, are now recognised as Haudenosaunee. American Indian magazine, published by the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, says Iroquois players competed in 1904 but that history has largely left out their part. The historian Allan Downey notes 1904 as the one exception to the Haudenosaunee's absence from official field championships for more than a century; that exclusion is described on Montreal and the first rules.

A historian's blog, Steve Holroyd's Crosse Check, is reported in a search summary to argue that much of what has been written about the 1904 tournament, including the Mohawk game's result, is wrong. The article itself was not read, so its argument is unconfirmed.

The Brooklyn Crescents

Another team was entered and did not play, and the reason is given two ways. Olympedia says the Eastern Lacrosse Association banned the Brooklyn Crescents in June 1904 for using professional players, too late for a replacement. Wikipedia, seen only as a search summary, is reported to say they arrived too late and were disqualified. This site follows Olympedia and notes the Wikipedia version.

London, 1908

Olympedia says the 1908 tournament was a single match, played at 13:00 on 24 October 1908 at the White City Stadium in London after South Africa withdrew. Canada beat Great Britain 14 to 10. Because the Canadian and English games differed, the match used compromise rules: an enlarged goal crease that opponents could not enter, a ball of intermediate weight, and four quarters instead of two halves.

The Canadian Olympic Committee says Canada holds three Olympic lacrosse medals, two gold and one bronze, more than any other country.

Amsterdam, 1928

The Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame's account of 1928 says three teams took part: Canada, represented by the New Westminster club; the United States; and England. Each won one game, lost one and scored 12 goals. The United States proposed a playoff and Canada agreed, but England refused, and the organisers declared all three joint gold medallists.

That "joint gold" is the Hall of Fame's description. Demonstration events did not award official Olympic medals, and no IOC record of the 1928 event was found to confirm the account. USA Lacrosse's magazine says Johns Hopkins won a six-team U.S. tryout and represented the United States.

Los Angeles, 1932

USA Lacrosse's magazine (Paul Ohanian, 17 October 2023) says only the United States and Canada took part after England and Australia withdrew, and that the United States won the three-game series 2 to 1, with every game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Johns Hopkins again represented the United States after beating Maryland in the final of the U.S. trials.

The Onondaga Nation says an Onondaga team lost a 1932 playoff to Johns Hopkins for the right to represent the United States. A 2023 Onondaga Nation post adds that Canada's teams that year included an All-Star team from Six Nations; no second source confirms that detail.

How big were the crowds?

The attendance figures do not agree, so this site gives them only with their sources:

• USA Lacrosse says the first game, on 7 August 1932, drew an estimated 80,000 or more, and the series about 145,000 in total.
• The Onondaga Nation says 75,000 at the Coliseum.
• The Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame's timeline says crowds of about 75,000, and separately about 80,000 for a Johns Hopkins game against Canada.

London, 1948

USA Lacrosse says the United States and Great Britain played a single match at Wembley Stadium that ended 5 to 5. The United States was represented by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, chosen by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association without a qualifying event. The Hall of Fame's timeline also says only England and the United States took part.

Between the Games

World Lacrosse says women's field lacrosse at The World Games in 2017 was the sport's first appearance at a multi-sport event since the 1948 Olympics. Two smaller appearances rest on the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame's timeline alone and are unconfirmed: box lacrosse as a demonstration sport at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, and field lacrosse at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria. American Indian magazine says the Iroquois Nationals beat England in a tribute game at a cultural event staged around the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

The return: Los Angeles 2028

The IOC says the 141st IOC Session in Mumbai, on 16 October 2023, approved lacrosse (sixes) as one of five additional sports for LA28, proposed by the Los Angeles organisers for that edition only. The IOC describes it as a return to the Games. World Lacrosse said on 12 November 2025 that lacrosse will be played from 24 to 29 July 2028 at Exposition Park Stadium in Los Angeles, with six men's and six women's teams in the sixes format, and that the schedule may change. USA Lacrosse notes that 2028 will be the Olympic debut of women's lacrosse.

The steps from recognition to inclusion are on the Olympic path, qualification and the 2028 tournament on lacrosse at the Olympics, and the question of whether the Haudenosaunee can compete under their own flag on the Haudenosaunee Nationals.