Game today against Spain was forfeited; medal hopes dim if Saturday game against Hong Kong is missed.
View full sizeThe Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team takes to the field to play an exhibition game in Centre Island, N.Y., Thursday. The team remains in New York and have missed their first two games at the World Lacrosse Championships in England while British authorities refuse to honor their Iroquois-issued passports.New York City -- Noon came and went without the Iroquois Nationals hearing any new decision from British officials on whether the team would be allowed to fly to England for the World Lacrosse Championships on Haudenosaunee passports.
At 12:30 p.m., a half hour after they had expected news, team officials were getting legal advice on whom to turn to next to get travel visas, General Manager Ansley Jemison said.
The team still hopes to go and has made tentative plans for a 7 p.m. flight for Europe in case of a breakthrough, Jemison said.
But the team's window of opportunity is closing, he said. Stalled in New York, the Nationals had to forfeit a match with Spain scheduled for noon local time in Manchester. If they can't make their next game, scheduled for 6 p.m. Manchester time Saturday against Hong Kong, the Nationals -- currently fourth-ranked in the world -- might lose out on any chance to win a medal, Jemison said.
No decision has been reached on how long to remain in New York, he said.
New York has been the Nationals' unexpected home all week while team and government officials disputed the travel document issue.
The Nationals insist on traveling under their national passport as a matter of sovereignty and national identity. The British wanted assurance the United States would let them back into the country when they left Britain. The U.S. government at first required Nationals members to use U.S. passports. The State Department agreed Wednesday to grant a one-time waiver. Instead of resolving the issue, the British insisted on U.S. or Canadian passports.
That position has not changed, Erin Taylor, a spokeswoman at the British Consulate in New York, said by email at 12:36 p.m.: Team members must present travel documents her government considers valid, plus U.S. or Canadian passports, she said.
Ron Balls, chairman of the men's competition committee for the sponsoring Federation of International Lacrosse, said by email minutes later that the Nationals has forfeited the Spain game but that he had heard nothing further about the team's plans.
"We are having to look at this constantly," Balls said.