Lacrosse Australia Eye Protection Policy

In September 2018 Lacrosse Australia (LA) mandated the wearing of Approved Eye Protection from 1 January 2019, for the LA U18 National Championship and U15 National Tournament.

In 2020 the LA Board endorsed the LA Eye Protection Policy to increase the safety of athletes who are involved in or compete at LA programs and events. The endorsed 2020 policy outlined a staged approach to introduce mandatory eye protection for LA High Performance Athletes, LA Programs and LA Senior Events (aged events already required eye protection equipment). Following feedback, engagement and discussion with LA High Performance athletes the LA has decided to amend the LA Eye Protection policy’s implementation dates. The Eye Protection Policy will now be implemented on the 1 January 2023 (all stages). This means any female player involved or competing in LA programs and LA Events will be required to wear approved eye protection equipment in 2023.

The decision by the LA Board to delay the policy implementation was made following reflection on feedback from LA High Performance athletes.  LA High Performance athletes raised concerns that a large proportion of the High Performance athletes have not had adequate time to experience and adapt to the use of eye protection due to the interrupted training blocks, events and competitions in 2020 and in 2021. With the decision to delay the policy implementation till 2023 all athletes will now have 18 months to begin to experience, adapt and become confident in wearing eye protection equipment at training and during competition.

For complete clarity the LA would like outline and acknowledge that the LA By-Laws regarding mandatory eye protection for LA aged events will remain the same for the rest of 2021 and 2022.

Please visit our Governance & Documents page to access the amended LA Eye Protection Policy.