Buffalo News
Sean Kirst
For representatives of the Haudenosaunee Nationals men’s 21-and-under lacrosse team – arriving in Ireland earlier this week for world championship competition in Limerick – the warm feelings began only moments after the team was on the tarmac in Dublin.
Irish customs officials formally acknowledged and accepted Haudenosaunee passports that represent the people of the Six Nations, providing an international courtesy that Nationals board member Rex Lyons said has not been offered with such grace and respect at other destinations in the past. In 2010, in the most prominent example, a team consisting of players from the Six Nations was unable to compete in the lacrosse world championships in Great Britain because those passports were not accepted.
“They treated us the way anyone would hope to be treated,” Lyons said of officials from the Republic of Ireland.