Iroquois lacrosse team misses game

? There were cheers and hollers aboard the Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team bus on Thursday as the players geared up for a very different encounter than what they had planned for Day 1 of the World Lacrosse Championships in England.

Instead, with the Statue of Liberty in the background, team members got into uniform and filed out of the bus to pose for a gaggle of journalists and repeat their case for a few TV cameras: They should be allowed into England for the games using their Iroquois-issued passports. Why would the British demand they use U.S. and Canadian passports when they don’t consider themselves citizens of those nations?

Meanwhile, negotiators for the team continued to pursue diplomatic channels in the hopes of getting the squad to Manchester, England, in time for its second game, scheduled for Saturday afternoon. The team defaulted on its first game, against England, when it didn’t arrive in time on Thursday.