OUR EMMELINE
Last Friday was an historic one for Manchester with the unveiling of the statue of Emmeline Pankhurst, the leader of the suffragettes in St Peter’s Square. This was the first female statue to be erected in Manchester since Queen Victoria in Piccadilly Gardens over 100 years ago.
Emmeline was born in Moss Side (that was when Moss Side was distinctly middle class and the residents known as “Moss Side Toffs”.) She was born into a family which was politically active, particularly her father and mother, so it was no surprise that she followed in her family’s footsteps.
She met her husband, Richard Pankhurst, through her political involvement and it was a love match despite the fact that he was 20 years older than her. They were a political partnership and were active for 20 years before he died suddenly leaving her a widow in 1897.
Emmeline became more active and more militant working with her daughters Christobel and Sylvia.
The active militancy of the Pankhursts and their supporters did not endear them to everyone but was a real driving force for women’s suffrage. The first women voted in elections on the 14th December 1919. So clearly the date of the unveiling was of great symbolic significance.
The ceremony was an emotional event with some 6,000 people packing St Peters Square. (It also interests me to note the bias of media coverage. 6,000 was a figure quoted by the BBC, despite their tendency to right wing bias, by the MEN and by the Guardian. On the other hand the misogynist Tory press like the Telegraph and Sun limited the crowd to “hundreds”, never wishing to give a female event its real significance.
There were two marches to St Peter’s Square starting from the Pankhurst house on Nelson Street and from The People’s History Museum. Given that the marches included over 1,000 Primary School children and also included perhaps another 2-2,500 adults and there was a large crowd packed into St Peter’s Square then the figure for the crowd of 6,000 is certainly possible.
For those who endured 2 hours in the freezing cold there was plenty going on. Before the Marchers arrived there were some excellent films on the Big Screens showing the campaign to support the statue and the making of the sculpture. There was also an excellent film titled “Emmeline Pankhurst; the Making of a Militant.
The main event started with the inspirational “Sisters are Doin’it for themselves “recorded by the late Aretha Franklin and Annie Lennox.
After a welcome from the event host Naga Munchetty the Manchester Community Choir delivered vibrant renditions of “Nana was a Suffragette” by Jules Gibb the first Director of the Community Choir, followed by “The Pankhurst Anthem” by Helen Pankhurst, Emmeline’s Great Grand Daughter and finally “Your the Voice”, by Andy Quta and others.
There followed a number of unexpectedly high quality short speeches including from Helen Pankhurst, Emmeline’s Great Grand Daughter, Councillor Sarah Judge the Lead Member for Women and Fatima Shahid, a schoolgirl from Newall Green, Wythenshawe.
After the unveiling of the statue the sculptor, Helen Reeves gave her feelings about her involvement with the project and the ceremony ended with a reprise of the Pankhurst Anthem by the soloist Eleanor Hull accompanied by the Royal Northern College of Music Brass Ensemble.
The crowd drifted away to the strains of Suffragette City (can understand the appropriateness of the title though less sure of the relevance of the lyric) by the late David Bowie knowing that they had been a part of some special Manchester history.
The Director of the film Peterloo was asked what he thought the people of Peterloo would think if they were projected into the future. His reply if it was to the 1950s they would have been impressed by progress but if it was 2018 then there would be dismay.
Similarly, if the same had happened to Emmeline Pankhurst she would have been pleased at some of the progress but dismayed at the rate of progress in the last 30 years. At the current rate of progress it will take women a further 108 years to achieve equality. Which means that girls born in 2018 will not see an equal society. I think that the Pankhursts would have been devastated to find that women who had the privilege of universal suffrage chose not to exercise their vote. As Labour Party members they would equally be appalled that women voted for a party who opposed any extension of human rights.
In Michelle Obama’s memoir she said she could not understand how any woman could bring herself to vote for Donald Trump. Similarly it is difficult to understand how any woman could bring themselves to vote for the current Tory Government, despite the Tories providing the country’s only two women Prime Ministers, dreadful though they both were.

LACROSSE HAS SOME GREAT PEOPLE AND HOPEFULLY WE HAVE TURNED A CORNER
Lacrosse has always been a sport which has over-performed –until the last couple of the years.
At the elite level England has managed to retain its place amongst the top 6 nations in the World whilst the lacrosse playing Nations have grown exponentially. This has mainly been due to the fact that the relatively small lacrosse community around Manchester. It is unrealistic, probably, to think that we are likely to become capable of beating the big three from North America. Beating Australia is a legitimate target.
The really important area of lacrosse, particularly the Men’s game, is the community club. It is where the young players are introduced to the game, where they grow up and hopefully move up to elite play.
When school lacrosse, certainly in the Manchester area, died then it became incumbent to the clubs to pick up the baton. English Lacrosse introduced POP lacrosse and then set up the Local Development Officer programme to provide the people to introduce lacrosse into schools and colleges.
Over some 20 years lacrosse has enjoyed steady growth in clubs and in Universities. However, over the last couple of years progress has stalled.
At club level the end of the LDO programme because of difficulties with immigration has rapidly fed through to the numbers, particularly boys, coming into the sport.
The evidence is obvious with the proliferation of combination teams because clubs do not have the numbers to field their own team. The ultimate end of this trend is that the club system which is at the heart of our game will deteriorate.
The other factor that concerns me is that the standard of play is declining. I spend most of my lacrosse life watching U12 lacrosse and despite some good coaching; standards are not what they were a few years ago. Part of the problem is that competition for athletes from other sports (particularly soccer, rugby and hockey) is severe. In my view a problem that is unique to Lacrosse is that it is a difficult sport to master. The lacrosse skills are a challenge to learn and without some basic skills you cannot play a game. If I give you a football you will be able to kick it; if I throw a netball to you will probably catch it; if I give you a hockey stick and roll a ball towards you will be able to hit it; if you have a rugby ball you can generally ignore it as you need to use your size and strength to get in a position where you can win a kickable penalty.
An advantage that lacrosse does have over other sports is that mastering the skills can give a person personal satisfaction and the fact that it is “backyard“ game which means you only need a wall or a rebounder to practice on your own.
2018 has been an awful year for the country and my cure all of lacrosse has not been working. The game seemed to be in serious decline.
In the past lacrosse, particularly in the Manchester area, the game has been able to benefit from the contribution of a host of very capable and committed people. Names that come to mind are Norman Barber, Bill Baird, Geoff Paulson, Mike Dunham, Sam Hall, Norman Galloway, David Walkden, Mick Moore, David Gordon, John Bardsley, Roger Ambler, John Partt, Keith Whitehead, Greg Caplin, Ron Balls (one of the best administrators I have ever met), Frank McClinton -I am sure there have been many more. Junior Club Lacrosse was driven by iconic figures such as Les Grainger (Stockport), Spencer Bancroft (Mellor) and Ted Donnet (South Manchester).
It is easy to say these people are irreplaceable, and for some time I have felt they are!!
The ability of Manchester Lacrosse to deliver is evidenced by the successful hosting of the Men’s World Championships in 1978, 1994 and 2010 and the Men’s and Women’s European Championships in 1999. The withdrawal from the hosting of 2018 was a disgrace.
The creation of NWLA was in my view a bit of a side show and what the National Lacrosse Committee does I am not sure. Does anyone know? People are always more important in a successful venture than structures.
The importance of Manchester to English Lacrosse is inarguable. Since 1974 all the England based players who have played in World Championships have come from Manchester.
In the last few weeks my gloom has been lifted by some light at the end of the tunnel and I am fairly confident that it is not a train. There seems to be a number of areas and initiatives where there are signs of activity with good people involved and which create a base for the game to go forward.

Competitive Structure
Manchester Lacrosse has been sustained over the years by a well organised and structured League programme. Nothing was perfect. For example for some 5 or so years in the late 1970s Timperley were trapped in the 2nd Division. The teams at the top of the 2nd Division were generally Cheadle, Stockport, Mellor or Heaton Mersey and none of these teams could be promoted as they had teams in the 1st Division. Although Timperley could not go up more seriously the bottom team in 1st Division could not go down to a more suitable level of competition.
For years there have been discussions regarding the league and there have been a variety of reorganisation restructuring proposals . Without exception these have been rejected by the players because of the effect that the changes would have on this club or that clubs B team or even C team (how many of those do we have now?)
This season, Nick Hewitt, who in my view is a strong and capable league secretary, introduced a radically reformed structure. It is not to everyone’s taste but I think that it has produced some top class competitive games of lacrosse.
I am told that there have been meetings of players to discuss the desired playing structure. I am encouraged that active players have stepped up to have a say in the running of the game. That is very positive and set me thinking as to who we have currently involved in the game who we will be remembering in 30 year’s time.

Junior Development
The future of the games lies with a successful junior programmes. JSN has some new names but the forum has continued in recent years through the efforts of Alison Cara.
The fundamental objective has to be to expand the current programme to allow each club to field a bona fide full complement of teams. To do this you do not have to be a rocket scientist to realise that you have to move 6-10 players up to the next older age group.
Increasing participation at the younger end of the game has to be the number one priority for the clubs. The Governing Body does not have the resources or capability to do this and in reality, I do not think it is seen as its responsibility.

U19 Lacrosse
To me this is arguably the most important age group.
When you have got a boy who started playing at 5 or 6 through to 16 you don’t want to lose them because they do not feel ready for senior lacrosse and want to play with their mates.
Sunday nights at TLC under the Floodlights has over the years produced some of the most exciting lacrosse around. Sometime it has felt that the clubs do not fully appreciate the importance of U19 lacrosse but the format has survived because of the hard work of Alison Cara.
This year the U19 Programme has it seems been expanded into a longer season. We are seeing more combination teams which is a disappointment as to field a team when a club has access to 4 or even 5 year groups should not be overly difficult.

English Knights
The English Knights Programme has run for a number years under the Leadership of Scott Weddell who is an excellent coach, leader and organiser. The programme is selective and prepares young players in the 16-17 age bracket for a trip to the US to play some top class competitive lacrosse.
(To show how the jigsaw fits together Scott was quoted recently as saying that every English Knight had at some stage of his career been coached by an LDO and many Knights go on to play England U19 and even full England).
The programme is a tribute to Scott and his hard work and dedication.

Events
The main achievement of Manchester Lacrosse in my lifetime has been successfully running 4 major international events. 3 Men’s World Championships and a combined Men’s and Women’s European Championship.
A sport, even a minor one like lacrosse, needs major event to provide high spots for players and spectators.
In recent years the Senior Flags Final has grown from a single match to a weekend Festival featuring every Boy’s and Men’s Final.
Rochdale LC has hosted and staged the event for the last 10(?) years and it is a credit to the club and lacrosse. It is a high spot of the year
The other event is the British National Championships (now the Nick Kehoe Trophy) which has been staged at Wilmslow for around 20 years under the guidance of Clive Perrin. The May Bank Holiday would not be the same without.
A new event this year was Super Sunday which featured 3 games including the 6 Premiership sides. In my view it was a great success with the games live streamed courtesy of UKLacrosse. Should be included in future calendars.

Clubs
The club is the basis of Lacrosse. Strong clubs translate into a strong game.
The collapse of the LDO programme hit clubs around Manchester hard but clubs are now realising that no-one will help them but themselves and now Brooklands and Timperley are running LDOs with Cheadle having someone arriving in January.
We have the basis of a strong club base but there are some clubs who are working hard and others who seem to be struggling to stay afloat.
Many will have read Martin Mochan’s excellent piece on how Mellor go about recruiting. It really says everything and the conclusion must be there is no magic lamp. It is simple but hard work.
I think we have the basis of strong club base and we must start rebuilding before it is too late.
There are 13 clubs in the Manchester which should be a good basis to go forward. It is probably more that in any of the Australian centres of Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth and in fact not far short of the total of all 3 put together.
Going forward requires co-ordinated efforts by clubs to maximise the results and the sharing of experiences.

Officiating
Officials have sometimes been quoted as saying “there would not be a game without us”. Certainly not true I have played in many games where there have been no officials available. Though it is certainly true that a well organised officiating system enhances the playing experience.
Over the years English officials have been prominent in the development of the international officiating and we have produced top class officials who have controlled World Championship games.
Domestically I think that the quality of refereeing is generally good though I do not believe a game of domestic lacrosse needs 3 officials.
I have also strong views about changing the requirement from competent to qualified. It has had a negative effect on the quality of officiating at the junior end of the game.

Lacrossethepond
Lacrossethepond is the brainchild of Sam Russell and his father. Its purpose is to facilitate the attendance at UK Universities by US Lacrosse players.
Relatively the cost of post graduate degrees from UK Universities is considerably lower than the fees charged in US.
Having been involved in bringing US graduates to coach and play in UK for more than 35 years the motivation is not to particularly play lacrosse but to experience living in a foreign country and travelling to Europe.
I think that there are few downsides in bringing US players to England. They certainly raise the standards of play which is important.
From the clubs’ point of view there can, I think, be too much of a good thing but if we now have 15 man squads then 3 US players does not I think block the progress of home grown players.

Dave Hallows / Syracuse / Lockerbie
In December 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie killing all 259 people on board. Debris from the plane fell on the small town of Lockerbie killing a further 11 people.
Amongst those on the plane were 35 students from Syracuse University. Since the crash Syracuse University have maintained links with the town with two pupils from Lockerbie Academy going each year to study at Syracuse.
In Spring 1989 I was contacted by Roy Simmons Jr the Coach of Syracuse Univ Lacrosse team with a view to him bringing the then star studded Syracuse team to Scotland (including Paul and Gary Gait, Tom Marachek, Matt Palumb, Paul Carcatera, (later to play for England in 1998) and others). Although there were no lacrosse players on the plane there was a wish to create stronger links between Syracuse and Lockerbie.
Roy worked closely with English Lacrosse Association and the visit took place in January 1990 mainly to Manchester but there was a side trip to Lockerbie where the squad delivered coaching sessions to local youngsters.
In Manchester, Syracuse who had been unbeaten for some two years, suffered their first defeat at the hands of England at Didsbury. The England victory was driven by Dave Hallows who dominated the midfield like a colossus with probably the best individual performance ever from an England player. Against a team which contained some of the legends of lacrosse Dave was the stand out.
He achieved a degree of lacrosse celebrity by being featured as the cover photo on the first edition of Lacrossetalk magazine.
In the 30 years since then Dave has maintained his love of the game and is arguably the most active person on social media. He is also probably the most knowledgeable person in English Lacrosse
He is our window on the world and going forward he has an invaluable role to play in spreading the Lacrosse message through social media.

Girl’s Club Lacrosse
Many years ago the men’s clubs around Manchester were just what it says on the tin. Men’s clubs!
However, when girls started to show an interest the answer was to let them play boy’s lacrosse.
In recent years club lacrosse has started to grow. In last Sunday’s Xmas 8s hosted by Timperley there were 26 teams and there are now 7 clubs running girls programme. A further 3 have previously run girls’ teams and can hopefully be persuaded to do again.
Having boy’s and girl’s programmes at a club it seems to me is a big plus if only because it facilitates family involvement with brothers and sisters often playing.

Centurion Lacrosse Club
The Centurion LC is a club for old and not so old players who want to support and remain in touch with lacrosse.
In recent years the Club has been the prime mover in encouraging the growth of men’s university Lacrosse, particularly by funding starter equipment.
The club now manages a significant development fund of close on £1M so has an important role to play in the future growth of the game.

Equipment Suppliers
In the olden days lacrosse sticks were made of wood and either came from Hattersley’s in Eccles or from Canada and were available from Tyldesley and Holbrook on Deansgate for 3/6 (old money 1956).
The plastic stick first appeared in the 1970’s and in response to sourcing and distribution issues was the formation by the late Rick Griffiths and the owner of Tyldesley , Bob Cooke of Peak Sports was a start to solve the growing equipment challenges. Helmets, gloves, arm pads, shoulder pads and even rib pads are now all in a lacrosse players kit bags.
Today we are fortunate to have very professional retailers in Northern Soul, UKLacrosse, Hattersley’s and new kids on the block Pioneer who all have a lot of lacrosse knowledge and have made a full range of lacrosse equipment readily available .
And as with most things these days you can shop on line. But it does mean that availability of equipment is not a constraint on growth.

Summary
To me I am in an optimistic frame of mind. We have lots going for us and the people who have to ability and commitment to take the game forward.