The Iroquois nation may have invented lacrosse, but the national team wasn’t allowed into the U.K. to take part in an international tournament because British authorities insisted the Iroquois players use American or Canadian passports. Problem is the Iroquois don’t recognize the U.S. or Canada.

The U.S. normally refuses to acknowledge Iroquois travel documents but in this instance had the good sense to issue a waiver.

The Guardian:

For the last three decades, the Iroquois have travelled using their own documents, as agreed by the US, Britain, Canada and other nations. But the US, under new stringent travel rules, insisted that they now use US passports, which the Iroquois do not recognise.

The US state department, intent on ending the embarrassing standoff, cleared the way for the team to travel yesterday after the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, ordered them to be given a one-off waiver.

[…] But a British diplomat said last night that the tightening of rules on travel that applied in the US post-9/11 also applied in Britain.

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