The Five Worst Lacrosse Rules Ever

It’s once again time for rule talk. 

Earlier this year, I outlined my five rules that I would change in the NCAA, and I heard from many readers. Some of them agreed with me, while many (many) more disagreed. I generally stand by all of my takes in that article though, and today thought that I would dip my toe back into writing about the rules. 

While issues with the current rules seem obvious, there has been a whole lot of trial and error as the sport has developed. That has led to what in hindsight are some very bizarre rules. Let’s get into the worst lacrosse rules in history. 

Ground Rules 

Let’s set some rules for this article, which is about rules. That rules. 

1. These cannot be current NCAA lacrosse rules, so for example the goal-mouth does not count. I will allow rules that only exist in the World Lacrosse rule book. 
2. I’m going to keep the focus on on-field rules. There have been plenty of bureaucratic disasters throughout the sports history, but we will save those for the board rooms. An example of this was the old NCAA policy that freshmen couldn’t play varsity. Everyone now realizes that was silly. Another example is the NLL mini-game… lol. 
3. It has to be something that had a reasonable impact on the game, so super niche rules do not count. 

And lastly, I am choosing to avoid the two most obvious ones, which is the implementation of the shot clock in the men’s game, and the beginning of the free movement era in women’s lacrosse. 

I consider the shot clock to be the most significant development in the modern game, and it has been unanimously and correctly lauded as a tremendous step in the right direction. It was much needed. As lacrosse has a moment in the national spotlight, the college game is fast, ferocious, and requires teams to have depth. 

The best teams win and the product is incredible. World Lacrosse recently adopted the shot clock, which is an overdue change for the better. 

The same is true for the free movement era in women’s lacrosse, which has been part of the explosive growth of the game, and has led to megastars like Charlotte North and Izzy Scane. If no defenders can stop them, the rules should not hold them back either. The game is faster, more exciting, and (I presume) much more fun to play. Good stuff. 

Ok, so let’s get into some lacrosse rules that weren’t so fun. 

1. No Shot Clock on the Penalty Kill – Canadian Box Lacrosse 

For the more field oriented readers, this was a rule used in Canadian box lacrosse very recently where when a team had the ball on a penalty kill, the shot clock would turn off. 

This led to all sorts of trickery and ugly play. Certain players were famous for their ability to rag the ball in these situations, and more legendary were the alleged sticks (or alterations made to existing sticks) that players would use to make it practically impossible to dislodge the ball. 

Here is an example of Mimico basically killing off a full penalty by ragging the ball. 

Why was this a bad rule? Well for one, it favoured the offending team, which logically does not make sense. If you get a penalty, you should be forced to have to defend a few possessions. 

When defenders realized they couldn’t dislodge the ball, they would eventually get frustrated and take penalties. Obviously this is their own fault, but I’m not sure anyone thought that the lack of a shot-clock was fun to watch. 

Anecdotally, the legend of the penalty kill rag game was Adam Jones, one of the best players in both Jr. A and NLL history. I couldn’t find a video, but his combination of size, skill, and strength made it nearly impossible to strip the ball from him. In essence, this made him both the most important power play player, and the most important member of the penalty kill. 

They say your best penalty killer needs to be the goalie, but with the old rules, that was only partially true.

2. The Air Horn, NCAA

Some of these rules were hard to understand even in principle, and the air horn is on that list. Basically the air horn rule meant that at certain dead balls (for example off a missed shot), an air horn would go off and there was a period of free substitution where the game would stop, and both teams could sub however they wanted. 

Here is a look at it from the 2008 Final Four. Notice how the game stops for 15 seconds, and you can see the Hopkins staff coordinating their substitutions. 

It’s hard to imagine old school lacrosse players, guys who grew up playing on both sides of the ball and in all scenarios, watching this play out. “Let’s stop the game and blow an air horn, so that absolutely everyone can be specialized,” is a hard one to explain.

3. Full Time Keep It In, NCAA

This one is a close cousin of the air horn. When I started watching college lacrosse in the late 2000’s, teams had a certain time frame to get the ball into the opposing box (20 seconds). Then WHENEVER they took the ball out of the box, they had 10 seconds to get it back in. 

So referees were continuously counting off throughout the game, and teams were perpetually having to navigate the clock. In hindsight, the lengths that the NCAA went to avoid a shot clock seem ironic. Why worry if a team wanted to carry the ball around the midline when you could just implement a possession clock?

But it all seems obvious in hindsight. Regardless, I am sure the officials were happy to be done with this one, which seemed like a royal pain in the you-know-what to officiate. 

This video from the 2008 semi-final game showcases this rule. There wasn’t any specific instance where it came up, but notice the referees keeping the count with their arm for pretty much the entire game.

4. Nine Poles, NCAA

When I was in college, we would practice a drill where the offence would play 6v6 against six long poles. The idea was to force players to dodge harder and not rely on winning matchups. As the slowest player on the field for my entire career, I did not think this was very much fun. 

There was a time when this was actually the norm, as the current limit on long sticks came in sometime during the late 80’s. This video from the 1984 championship game between Hopkins and Syracuse shows the Blue Jays using six long-sticks on the field. 

Hall of Fame coach Jack Emmer and Army used this rule to their benefit, and would actually sub 9 long-sticks onto the field before dead ball situations and set up their ride. You’ve heard of a ten-man, but this was even tougher. 

I came across this truly unbelievable sequence from the 1984 semi-final between Syracuse and Army, which will look like a different sport to a young fan. While clearing the ball, Army goes offside. In today’s game, Syracuse would be up and out in a second, and Army would have to scramble back (Syracuse would likely score in the confusion). Instead, they blew the air horn, allowing Army to do a full substitution. 

Army puts their 9 long sticks on the field, and you can hear the commentator referring to Syracuse clearing just 50%. But amazingly, Syracuse gets the ball down the field basically instantly, misses a pass, and then scores in the uncertainty. What a wild, wild sequence. 

Note: Start the below video at the 2:31 mark if it does not start there already.

Don’t get me wrong, this rule sounds kind of fun if (A) you are one of the nine long-sticks on the field, (B) you love chaos or (C) you love watching people get slashed. Based on the comments from last time, some of you readers fall into that category. In that case, you’re welcome for finding the Youtube links to the 80’s.

For myself, I can only comment on what it was like playing offence against six poles, but the ride would be a joke, and a sick, sick joke at that. 

In an era where all the rule changes have been made with the idea of increasing offence, it is hard to imagine them being twisted so far in the defences favour. 

5. One For One Substitutions, World Lacrosse 

I hesitated to include this one because I actually kind of like it. In World Lacrosse, there is no free substitution, even in deadball scenarios. What this means is that players have to substitute one for one, even when the play is not active. 

The related rule is that penalties don’t start until the offending player reaches the penalty box and touches a knee down. So if you take a penalty, you have to sprint off the field to start the penalty time. This is actually a funny punishment in addition to the penalty. In addition to sending the players to the box, the referees basically can subject the player to a windsprint. 

This leads to particularly chaotic scenarios when penalties are called… as the offending player sprints off, and teams try to substitute their man up and down units. To cap it all, the ball can be blown in quickly, so opportunistic teams can take advantage of it. 

Is this bizarre? I think that’s fair to say, as it seems fair that teams should be allowed to set their lineups after penalties. But is it kind of fun? I think so. But nonetheless, it caps off our list of weird lacrosse rules.

Honourable Mentions 

Lastly, I wanted to rifle through some others that just missed the list.

1. Allowing faceoff men to carry the ball in the back of the stick – this just felt wrong, and against the spirit of the game. I think the NCAA got it right making it illegal. 
2. In world lacrosse, certain infractions and game scenarios result in faceoffs occurring in random spots around the field. I didn’t include this one above because I actually think it’s fun. Bizarre? Certainly 
3. In minor box lacrosse, there was a rule that when the goalie got hit in the head, their team would receive possession. This was meant to discourage headshots I suppose, but in reality made it advantageous for goaltenders to get their helmet on the ball. No thanks. 
4. In the OJLL, it was practice for a while that teams could pay a fine to reduce games off suspensions. LOL. 
5. Having women’s players drop their sticks after every goal objectively makes no sense to me. But seeing the players chuck their sticks after every goal is kind of awesome in my opinion. Bad rule but fun outcome.

Agree with my list? Hate it? Let me know in the comments below!

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