USC Women’s Lacrosse is set to include an Indigenous salute and land recognition statement before their match on March 31, according to an Instagram post on Wednesday. However, the decision to include a land recognition element in the opening ceremony has elicited mixed reactions on social media.
People have raised questions about why the particular date of Easter Sunday was chosen to honor and acknowledge Indigenous people and their land.
Heated discussions and discourse have emerged on the TrojansLax Instagram post reacting to the announcement. Some believe it is a directed shot towards them.
One Instagram user commented saying “What’s up with that? Was this an intentional dig at Christians? On Easter Sunday. [sic]” Another added, “On Easter though?”
While other people argued “C’mon guys who cares...fight on…[sic],” and wrote “Thank you for the land acknowledgement.”
Another user questioned the scheduling decision made by the school, “SC screws up again. Stupid move. Baseball is being played starting Thursday and ends on Saturday. [sic] This could have been played on Friday or Saturday.”
Three more college lacrosse games are set to be played on Easter Sunday, Central Michigan’s women’s lacrosse will travel to Youngstown State; as for men’s lacrosse, the University of Maryland will play against Penn State.
Another Instagram user commented, “Lacrosse was created by indigenous Native Americans for those not aware.”
According to the World Lacrosse website, the governing body for the sport has explained that it was first started by the Indigenous people in 12th century North America. The game was played in open areas and involved any number of players estimated between 100 to 100,000 participants. They used sticks that had nets at the end of them to catch the wooden balls.
The website states that lacrosse, “began as stickball, a Native American contest played by tribal warriors for training, recreation, medicinal and religious reasons.”
One Instagram user argued that sporting events on holidays are nothing new, looked towards the sporting side of the debate commenting, “You guys. [sic] It’s just a game. Who cares if it’s on Easter? People play football every year on Thanksgiving and you don’t seem to have this same energy.”
This is the ninth time the USC women’s lacrosse team is set to play at the Coliseum this year. The team will play once more at the 77,500-seat area this season against Colorado State on April 21st and will host the senior day celebration.
Due to renovations at Soni McAlister Field, the USC lacrosse teams play the majority of their games at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
The team will come into the Sunday matchup ranked 21st in the country with an 8-3 record.