Brett Bucktooth in Times Square
The Iroquois Nationals will not be playing in the 2010 World Lacrosse Championship. After many days of waiting, there is no resolution in sight for their passport/visa complications.
“We’d rather be playing there than sitting here,” said the team’s captain, Gewas Schindler, 34, who plays attack. “It’s hard to talk about, really.”
American diplomats discussed the case with their British counterparts on Wednesday and Thursday, but the State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley signaled Friday that the team was out of luck.
“From our standpoint, we’ve done what we can do,” Crowley told reporters in Washington. “It would appear to us at this point that the U.K. has made their final determination.”
It is a sad day in lacrosse.
Lacrosse is a great game of honor and respect for the competitors involved… The UK has a lot to learn about the sport. A sad day for the Iroquois Nationals and Lacrosse.