Lowlands, in the beginning

I suppose it all started with a disaster, literally. The E-lacrosse Amsterdam tournament in 2003 was a
great success. E-Lacrosse tried in 2004 to recreate their success in 2004 and failed dismally. None of
the American teams came and only two from England. Whether this had anything to do with 9-11 or
foreign exchange rates we will never know, but their absents was sorely missed. The Germans also
failed to show. The venue for both events was Hurley in Amstelveen. They only added to the
problems by digging up the main pitch and turning the complex into a large building site. There were
some plus points. I met Eddy Dopper, co-organizer of E-Lacrosse, for the first time and a guy named
Chris White. Chris was playing for Gin ‘n Juice, a touring team made up of players from all over
England. He also played for the Walcountian Blues which by chance was a team I had help set up in
England. Lacrosse players all over the world are adaptable to all situations thrown at them and duly
made the best of a bad situation. Lacrosse was played and everyone involved had a good time, on
and off the pitch. I mentioned to Chris that the Lions had a team but opposition was difficult to come
by. In turn Chris told me that he and a number of players from the Blues were starting a new team in
East Grinstead. This opportunity was too good to miss and I invited the new boys from East Grinstead
to come to Amsterdam the next year for a game. The subject was discussed at the following training
where it was obvious to us that coming to Holland for one game was not viable and the Lions playing
East Grinstead twice over the same weekend was not the best use of the time. It was decided to
invite two other teams to join us and the Lowlands Tournament was born. The invitations went out
to Maastricht Lamas and UtrechtDevils, the only other teams in the Netherlands at the time. They
both accepted the challenge.

Saturday 26th February 2005 2.30pm at Athena in Watergrafsmeer , Amsterdam the first face off took
place. In a close game which could have gone either way East Grinstead were the eventual winners
over the Lions. The game between the Lamas and the Devils was a more one sided game and the
more experienced men from Maastricht, including steady Eddy Dopper won through to the final. As I
remember there were a few beers downed after the game but everyone did go to bed on time to
prepare for the finals, at least that is what they told me. The next day arrived with blue skies, bitterly
cold and 3cms snow covering the pitch. The lines were cleared and the finals began, well sort of.
Utrecht had not realized that the tournament was over two days and were unavailable to play on the
Sunday. The Lions consequently took third place and we arranged a scrimmage game. The final was a
very good game and the Lamas were too much for East Grinstead.

The highlights for me were many. Seeing old friends and making new ones. Arrtu Sesselaar trying to
body check Steve Cattle, twice, and bouncing of will stick in my mind forever. My game plan being
published on the East Grinstead website a week before the game was a tribute EGLC’s expertise in
espionage. Lastly the ‘can do’ attitude of everyone involved with the event. The bad points were
when Kris Gotch injured his knee in our last training before the tournament. One which he never
really recovered from. And the fact that we had to wait a whole year for the next Lowlands.

Cheers
Ray Birch, Coach Amsterdam Lions