World Games 2022

[Olympian1010 8,297]

 

[John Foyne 41]

An article was released last week by Around The Rings (http://aroundtherings.com/site/A__100337/Title__American-Football-Invited-to-Birmingham-2022/292/Articles) which claimed that American Football was headed to the World Games. The article, as you can read above, was super unclear and didn't mention and IF. Well this morning things got a little more clear as the World Games tweeted out that American Flag Football would be welcomed as the fourth invitational sport. 

 

I guess delaying the games by a year, gave the BLOC some more time to prepare and replace Wheelchair Basketball which was taken off the website last year with no explanation. Apparently, the flag football tournament will be run by the new IFAF, which has ties to USA Football and the NFL. 8 mens and womens teams will compete, with the US getting an automatic bid. The other 14 slots will be decided via qualification. 

 

Good and Bad. I think everyone wanted to see 11 on 11 American Football at the Birmingham games. However, 11 on 11 is just a huge mess to organize with the number of players on each team and travel logistics are a nightmare. If American Football has any shot at ever being in an Olympic Programme it would be through the Flag version of the game, which is popular in other countries, and other nations can be more competitive. However, I believe, and so do most Americans, that flag football isn't that entertaining and almost looked down upon in American culture. 

 

https://twg2022.com/2020/flagfootball-nfl/

 

[Olympian1010 8,297]

Partnership with the NFL could prove to be a good PR move. I’m a little excited to see what top international flag football looks like. I never played tackle football, but I did play 5 years of flag football growing up. I think it’s a fun sport.

[Olympian1010 8,297]

Iroquois Nation are leading calls to boycott the Lacrosse tournament at the 2022 World Games: https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1096677/world-games-petition-iroquois-nationals
 

They met the qualification criteria, but were not invited by the IWGA since they do not constitute a sovereign nation. This could create a mini crisis for the World Games 2022, since the Iroquois people were the ones who invented and shared the sport with the rest of the world. They are a full member of the Lacrosse IF, and they participate at all the major events. Personally, I don’t see an issue with inviting them to compete. Obviously this is a special circumstance that is limited to Lacrosse, so I think the IWGA should be a little lenient here, especially given the history of native people’s in the US.

[Vojthas 949]

9 hours ago, Olympian1010 said:

Personally, I don’t see an issue with inviting them to compete. Obviously this is a special circumstance that is limited to Lacrosse

Not so special if you think of:

- united Ireland team in rugby or field hockey

- England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in football (and the above mentioned)

- or in curling

 

The rules are obvious for everyone. Scotland starts as at the Olympics, England also does so I don't see problems with that. Invite the Iroqouis team to the demonstration game with the winner of TWG tournament would be smart enough for me.

[Olympian1010 8,297]

Yay! 

 

[Olympian1010 8,297]

Ireland has voluntarily rejected it’s quota place in men’s lacrosse, so that the Haudenosanee Nation may compete. Article: https://worldlacrosse.sport/article/ireland-lacrosse-voluntarily-withdraws-from-twg-2022/

 

Fantastic act of sportsmanship. You should be proud of your boys @OlympicIRL. I sincerely hope that FIL/IWGA/BIR2022 come up with a way to let both teams compete.

[Gianlu33 6,008]

2 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

Ireland has voluntarily rejected it’s quota place in men’s lacrosse, so that the Haudenosanee Nation may compete. Article: https://worldlacrosse.sport/article/ireland-lacrosse-voluntarily-withdraws-from-twg-2022/

 

Fantastic act of sportsmanship. You should be proud of your boys @OlympicIRL. I sincerely hope that FIL/IWGA/BIR2022 come up with a way to let both teams compete.

They can compete if they haven't a NOC? I think - and hope - that they can't.

[Olympian1010 8,297]

On 04/09/2020 at 15:13, Gianlu33 said:

They can compete if they haven't a NOC? I think - and hope - that they can't.

As this is a special case, the FIL/IWGA came to a special agreement.

 

The Gods of the Haudenosanee (Iroquois) people gifted the sport of Lacrosse to them. In turn, the Haudenosanee gifted the game to the rest of the world. The Haudenosanee are the spiritual keepers of the sport, much the same way as Scotland is with Curling, Japan with Judo, and Korea with Taekwondo. 
 

Recapping the posts from above: The Haudenosanee were originally not invited to the World Games, since they do not have an NOC. Their players then created a petition asking the other nations to boycott the Games, which received wide support in the Lacrosse community. The IWGA/FIL then decided that the Haudenosanee could compete if they had met the qualification requirements (which they easily had), as this was a special case. Ireland the decided (voluntarily) to reject their place at the Games, so the Haudenosanee could compete.

[Olympian1010 8,297]

The Haudenosanee Nation has accepted the quota place rejected by Ireland.