Lacrosse Rules in 1882.
"LACROSSE is the national ball game of Canada, as ductions of Japan. Relief or raised so on the cricket is of England and base ball of the United States of America. The aborigines had the game before the discovery of the New World, and different Indian tribes played it in different manners, generally with much roughness and violence. The present name was given it by French Canadians, owing to the resemblance of the curved netted stick, the chief implement used in the pastime, to a o: crozier or crosse. men gradually took up the game it became more refined. In 1867 the National Lacrosse Association was formed, and drew up a recognized code of rules. Lacrosse cannot be aptly compared to hockey or football, since striking or even touching the ball with the hands or feet is inadmissible. The crosse somewhat resembles a racket bat. It is a stick with one end curved, and the hook so formed is fitted with network, which must not bag. The ball is of india-rubber, from 8 to 9 inches in circumference. The other requisites are a level piece of turf about 200 by 100 yards, and the goals. These may be any distance apart, according to agreement and the space available. Each goal is composed of two flag posts, 6 feet high and a like distance apart. The usual number of players is twelve on each side, and the captains station them somewhat as in football. A game is scored by one side driving the ball between their opponents, goal posts, and a match is three games out of five. There is no “off side’’ as in football, and the chief feat of the player is to catch the ball on the network of the crosse, dodge his opponents by running as far as practicable, and then throw the ball to one of his own side who is nearer the enemy's goal. A game is commenced by the ball being placed on the ground midway between the two goals and a player from each side “facing '' for it with the crosse till one of them succeeds in sending it on the way to the opposite goal. After each game goals are changed. During winter the game is played by skaters on the ice, or on the snow with the aid of snow-shoes. A native Indian team introduced the pastime into England in 1867; several amateur clubs were formed; and a set of rules wasdrawn up by an English Lacrosse Association on February 12, 1868. They differ somewhat from the Canadian regulations,—the goal posts being 7 feet apart with tape across the top, and a match being decided by the number of ol. won during a specified time. The pastime, however, never took deep root in England, so many other old-established games of ball being more popular, and is now but little practised."
Encyclopædia Britannica