The Haudenosaunee Nationals, founded in 1983 and based in Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario, are the only Indigenous sports organisation that competes internationally.
Both the men’s and women’s divisions are pushing to be included in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, but the International Olympic Committee does not yet recognize the Haudenosaunee as representing a sovereign state. “I definitely think they should be at the Olympics,” says Challen Rogers, the captain of Toronto Rock who counts Kwakwaka’wakw ancestry among his heritage. “They are the creators of the game.”
