The Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) has updated the complete schedule and division alignments for the 2014 FIL Men’s World Championship, presented by Trusted Choice, which takes place July 10th – 19th at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado, the “Official Competition City” for the World Championship.
A record 38 nations will participate in this year’s world championship and will play 142 games over 10 days, beginning with a rematch of the last World Championship game.
The Bermuda National Lacrosse Team will begin competing in the Yellow Division against France, Ireland and Uganda.
The tournament opens with the opening ceremony Thursday followed by the host United States team battling Canada. The field is broken into nine divisions, with the top six teams competing in the Blue Division. The other eight divisions all have four teams and are not grouped by world ranking.
Bermuda played in the 2010 World Championships in Manchester, England, in that tournament Bermuda finished 18th out of 29 teams, winning 3 games posting victories over Denmark, Latvia and Norway.
Bermuda used to have a much higher population of ex-patriot workers, which included several Lacrosse players. The interest in the sport allowed followers to enjoy at least a couple of tournaments a year.
However, since the recession, the field Lacrosse population has dwindled and the bulk of the competition is now reserved for weekly indoor games with the bulk of the Bermuda National side coming from players who are Bermudian or have a Bermuda connection but are working off island.