The Israel Lacrosse Association (ILA; ), or Israel Lacrosse, is the official governing body of lacrosse in Israel, and is a member of World Lacrosse and the European Lacrosse Federation.
History The Israel Lacrosse Association was founded to develop and promote lacrosse within Israel and strives to offer lacrosse to Israelis of all ages. Israel Lacrosse was founded in 2010 by Scott Neiss who previously served as an executive for the National Lacrosse League, along with William Beroza and Howard Borkan.Israel Lacrosse Granted FIL Membership It was officially granted associate membership by the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL; later renamed as World Lacrosse) in April 2011. ILA became part of the European Lacrosse Federation in 2012.
The program started with players and staff born in North America but with links to Israel. But there has been efforts from the federation to develop players born in Israel for both the men's and women's national team programs.
Israel was given the hosting rights for the 2018 World Lacrosse Championship, after the original hosts Manchester, England withdrew.
Israel Premier Lacrosse League
The Israel Premier Lacrosse League (IPLL) is the premier lacrosse league in Israel, which debuted in 2015.Israel Premier Lacrosse League Set for 2015 Launch The league competes during summer months only, in an attempt to attract players from abroad to participate.
International competition Israel fields men's, indoor, and women's national teams, which compete at both European and World levels.
European Lacrosse Championships
In 2016, Israel's men's team won the Silver Medal, placing second in a field of 24, England won the gold 7-6 in regulation play. This was Israel's first medal in international play.
YearResult 2012 8th place 2016 2nd place
World Lacrosse Championships
In its first-ever appearance, for the Men's 2014 World Lacrosse Championship in Denver, Israel finished in 7th place out of 38 nations. Four years later, with the 2018 World Lacrosse Championship held in Netanya, Israel, Israel again finished in 7th place, this time out of 46 nations. YearResult 2014 7th place 2018 7th place 2023 7th place
Women's European Lacrosse Championships
YearResult 2015 4th place 2019 2nd place
Women's Lacrosse World Cup
YearResult 2013 8th place 2017 6th place 2022 6th place 2026 3rd place
IIJL World Junior Lacrosse Championship
YearResult 2015 12th place 2019 4th place 2022 4th place 2023 3rd place
Shabbat policy The ILA has a consistent position of not playing or scheduling games during Shabbat. Israel Lacrosse released a statement saying: “As a new sport to Israel it is imperative . . . we cannot ignore that reasonably large percentage of our nations’ people, our teams’ players and our associations’ members would be offended if we took the field on Shabbat." The organization has stated that the policy is a national identity issue, not a religious issue.
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