Associated Press/13WHAM News - Officials from the United Kingdom are refusing to allow the Iroquois lacrosse team to travel without U.S. or Canadian passports, the Associated Press is reporting.
Chief Oren R. Lyons, Honorary Chairman of the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team issued this statement: "We have been informed by the Consulate of the United Kingdom of Great Britain that they will not accept the one-time travel waiver offered by the US State Department authorizing travel using the Haudenosaunee Passport for the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team and its delegation to the Federation of International Lacrosse World Championships starting tomorrow in Manchester, England. We are deeply disappointed, and urge our friends and supporters to reach out to the British government to seek reconsideration in this unprecedented rejection of Haudenosaunee passports as well as the one-time travel waiver issued by the US State Departments as was originally requested by the UK Consulate."
The Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team is still in New York City, hoping to travel to Manchester, England in time to make the Lacrosse Wolrd Championships.
Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. government, at Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's behest, agreed to allow a Native American lacrosse team to travel to England for a world championship competition under passports issued by the Iroquois Confederacy.
But the Canadian government has not done the same thing. The Iroquois Confederacy – Haudenosaunee - is made up of six nations that oversee land that stretches from upstate New York into Ontario, Canada.
The team will miss its first scheduled game on Thursday. It's hoping the tournament allows it to play a different day and time.
Clinton determined that the Iroquois team members did not need U.S. passports to make the trip and granted the players a "one-time-only waiver" to travel on their Iroquois Confederation passports, said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley. The team members regard U.S. government-issued documents as an attack on their identity.
Asked why the department had dropped its opposition, he said, "There was flexibility there to grant this kind of one-time waiver given the unique circumstances of this particular trip."
The team still needs British visas to attend the tournament. The British government said previously it wouldn't give the players visas if they could not guarantee they'd be allowed to go home. A British Consulate spokeswoman couldn't immediately say whether the visas were forthcoming.
U.S. officials previously informed the team that new security rules for international travelers meant that their old passports — low-tech, partly handwritten documents issued by the Iroquois Confederacy of six Indian nations — wouldn't be honored.
"I am relieved that this bureaucratic technicality has been papered over and these young men can go and do what they have trained to do: play lacrosse and compete on the international scene," Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., said Wednesday.
The Iroquois helped invent lacrosse, perhaps as early as 1,000 years ago. Their participation in the once-every-four-year world championship tournament is a rare example of international recognition of their sovereignty.
‘Avatar’ director James Cameron gave the team $50,000 to defray the costs of their three-day delay in New York City. Delta also waived fees.
The team hopes it can travel abroad either Wednesday night or Thursday afternoon.
"We're a team. We're going to stay a team," said General Manager Ansley Jemison.
