That famous Timperley boy and former Altrincham Grammar School pupil Ian Brown (Stone Roses for those not as cool as me) is widely quoted as saying “Manchester has everything except a beach,” and except for a few feeble attempts to create a canal side playa in Castlefield, Manchester still lacks a beach.

It does, however, have a whole lot more since Ian Brown thought it had everything.

Since the 1980s and particularly since the IRA bomb attack on Manchester in June 1996 Manchester has been a dynamic and growing city and although today a visit to the city centre means you have to navigate your way around a building site, it is all in the name of impressive progress.

Manchester has been a town since Roman times but it was in the late 18th and early 19th century that it emerged as a dramatic city –the first of the modern era. Prof. Asa Briggs identified Manchester as the 'shock city' of the 1840s (Chicago was the shock city of the 1890s and Los Angeles the shock city of the 1930s).

Manchester was the world’s first industrial city and as a consequence a centre for radical and dynamic politics. Manchester was a centre for the Free Trade movement, Anti-Corn Laws agitation, it has a notable place in left wing politics in that Friedrich Engels spent many years in the city and it greatly influenced his work “The Condition of the Working Class in England”.

Manchester has always been reluctant to accept that it should bow its head to economic and financial pressures. Victorian Manchester had real confidence and the entrepreneurs of the time saw the construction of many impressive buildings some of which remain and some unfortunately have been lost.

At the height of the 1930’s depression, Manchester City Council demonstrated their confidence in the future of the city by investing in that future by building two iconic buildings in the Town Hall Extension (a classic) and the Central Library, one of the country’s great Libraries.

Modern Manchester is a city with ambition.

Why Manchester?

Lonely Planet has just produced a list of the 10 cities over the world that you should plan to visit in 2016. The list includes places in Europe including Rome and Dublin and places in S America, USA, Australia and Malaysia and of course Manchester. Given that the Rough Guide has produced a similar list and it includes Hull there are clearly questions about the veracity of such lists (the only place to appear on both lists is Nashville in US).

The Lonely Planet states that Manchester is indisputably the UK’s second city though to the real Mancunians that is an argument between London and Birmingham.

However one thing is certain Manchester has an awful lot going for it! Having spent the last 17 years living in the city centre I can certainly vouch for that. The city centre population has grown enormously in that time and that growth continues heading towards 50,000, whilst Greater Manchester with its population of 2.7m is the largest urban area outside Greater London.

The city is a centre for professional services with prominent Law and Accountancy firms, Architects and engineers, IT companies and a large banking sector. The relocation of some BBC activities to Salford Quays and the creation of Media City has led to an explosion in related media activity.

Manchester has the largest student population in Europe at over 80,000 and in Manchester University one of the top universities in the UK with genuine aspirations to be amongst the top 50 universities in the world. With a £1.6billion development programme and such a large student body the University is going to be a major driver of the Manchester economy in the years to come.

It is still perhaps a little surprising to think of Manchester as a tourist destination but with over 15,000 hotel rooms and more every month it seems there are plenty of places to lay your head (try getting a room when either United or City are at home!).

AA Gill said that Manchester had no decent restaurants because it was a drinking city not an eating city. That has certainly changed and although the city is definitely a party city (rather than a drinking
one which is probably one of the reasons that its Universities receive more applications than anywhere else) there are also plenty of great restaurants to suite every budget and taste. More open every week to keep pace with the city’s growing population and its soaring reputation as a destination.

There is certainly plenty to do and see in Manchester.

There are world class museums and galleries such as The Imperial War Museum, the Peoples ‘History Museum, The National Football Museum, The Museum of Science and Industry, the Manchester Museum, Manchester Art Gallery, the Whitworth Gallery, and the Lowry.

Manchester is a wonderful centre for classical and popular music. In Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music there is top class musical education is delivered. The Halle, the BBC Philharmonic, the Manchester Concert Orchestra and the Manchester Camerata are all internationally acclaimed orchestras.

The part that Manchester has played in the rise of British popular music is undeniable and even I have heard of The Hollies, Herman’s Hermits, the Bee Gees, Stone Roses, The Smiths, New Order, Morrissey, Simply Red, Oasis the list goes on.

Manchester also has the venues to showcase these musical talents with the Bridgewater Hall, Arena, Apollo, Band on the wall, Ritz and more.

Manchester is also the leading centre for regional theatre with the Opera House, the Palace, the Lowry, the Royal Exchange, the Contact, MMU Theatre and the recently opened Home.

The Manchester International Festival is acclaimed throughout the world. Manchester is determined to maintain the high profile it has in the cultural world and building work has just started on the Factory which is a £78m theatre and arts venue on the site of the former Granada studios which will hold up to 5,000 people and provide a permanent venue for the International Festival.

However, perhaps the jewel in the Manchester crown is its place as one of the World’s great sporting cities. Maybe not quite Philadelphia, probably Melbourne, but nowhere else can hold a candle – certainly nowhere in the UK or anywhere in Europe.

Manchester has a huge number of sports played at professional and semi-professional level and many others played to a high level and at recreational level.

Clearly soccer is king with United and City leading the way. Professional Rugby Union (Sale Sharks) and Rugby League (Wigan, Salford and Leigh) are at the head of significant professional, semi-pro and amateur teams. Top class cricket is represented by Lancashire with a myriad of amateur clubs in the region.

Other team sports such as netball, basketball, and ice hockey are represented by semi –professional teams in the Thunder, the Giants and 2 in the Storm and the Phoenix. In Speedway Manchester is home to the iconic Belle Vue Aces owned by lacrosseman David Gordon.

The eminent boxing journalist Steve Bunce (married to former AEWLA CEO Jacqui Bunce) has said that many people when asked which city is the world’s top boxing city would say Las Vegas when it is actually Manchester. Certainly a big fight night will easily fill the 20,000 seats at the Arena or even the 50,000 at the Eitihad.

Individual sports such as squash, martial arts, tennis, athletics, swimming and at the top of the pile cycling are all part of the Manchester scene.

Even at the bottom of the pile where you can find sports liked Hockey and Lacrosse there is the opportunity around Manchester to play at the highest standard.

On the back of two failed Olympic bids for the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games and the very successful hosting of the Commonwealth Games in 2002 the city now possesses a basket of world class sporting facilities including the Commonwealth Games Stadium (now the Eitihad Stadium and the home of Manchester City.

It is perhaps worth noting that the Manchester stadium cost around £112m compared to the £750m that the new Wembley Stadium cost and the £600m+ that the 2012 Olympic Stadium cost. When it comes to London money is no object.

Manchster also boasts the Aquatics Centre, the Arena, the Velodrome, the National Squash Centre, Regional Tennis, Bowls and Athletics centres.

There used to be a Regional Hockey Centre until England Hockey and the city council fell out and it will soon be the National Speedway Stadium and the new home of the Belle Vue Aces. A huge success for David Gordon who was a prominent figure in the organisation of the 2010 Lacrosse World Championships.

Manchester has always encouraged National Governing Bodies to site themselves in Manchester and currently Cycling, Squash, Taekwondo, and Mountaineering and of course Lacrosse are all based in the city.

Manchester is, following the success of the Commonwealth Games , also keen to attract major events to the city not only for the boost that these give to the city’s profile but also for the economic boost these events bring.

Lacrosse has been a regular host of major Lacrosse events in Manchester since the 1978 World Championships followed by a repeat but bigger and better event in 1994 with the appearance for the first time of Japan and a Development Tournament which for the first time saw the Czech Republic, Germany, Scotland, Sweden and Wales take the field.

In 1999 Manchester hosted the Men’s and Women’s European Championships. In 2010 Manchester was again was the host for one of the best and most successful World Championships to date. Recognising the success of 2010 and the suitability of Manchester as a host city the FIL (Federation of International Lacrosse) gave the city and English Lacrosse a huge vote of confidence by awarding the English Lacrosse Association the right to host the 2018 World Championships.

The purpose of this somewhat rambling eulogy on Manchester is to show the quality city that Manchester has become and to start to explain the enormous opportunity which exists to take Lacrosse to the next level and make it into a major sport in the UK and to establish Manchester as a regular host of major events.

Since the first World Championships in 1967 the game has been dominated by North America and 50 years later it still is. The Elite World Championship Blue Division is dominated by North American based teams with only Australia and England representing the rest of the world. The fact that Scotland have muscled their way into this group edging out Japan reflects the strength of their Scotland qualified American players rather than the strength of the game in Scotland.

In all the major country’s there are recognised “Lacrosse Cities “. The current world champions, Canada, draw their international players from either Vancouver or Toronto despite Lacrosse now being played in every province. In the US the best Lacrosse, be it Team USA or the Iroquois is still played in the east coast cities of Baltimore, Philadelphia New York and Syracuse. This is despite the game now being played all over US the East coast rules.

I was speaking to Dwayne Hicks recently and he runs lacrosse programmes in the Detroit area and says there is a lot of Lacrosse in the Midwest but you assemble what you think is a very good youth all star team and take it East for a tournament and get crushed.

In Australia the “Lacrosse cities”are Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth and although I understand there is some Lacrosse in Sydney and Hobart it is the big 3 who produce the players.

In England and in Europe, the “Lacrosse City” is Manchester. Manchester has the traditions which produce the players who keep England in the Blue division (along with a few qualified North Americans). Since 1974 and until recent years the only players from outside Manchester who has made it into the England team had to move to Manchester to play his Lacrosse.

We are fortunate that Manchester is a city which, despite austerity and cuts is committed to supporting sport. The city council has committed to supporting the 2018 and has put some £100K of funding into the event. It is also committed to creating a Centre for Lacrosse in the city.

We are fortunate that despite the crippling cuts inflicted on it by the government the city retains its traditional 'can do' attitude.

Les Dawson observed that, “There is an energy about Manchester that seems lacking in other cities, and if you see what the pigeons can do to a statue in Albert Square the birds have it too.”

It has continued to develop its basket of top class facilities and currently being built in the Belle Vue Sports Village are the National Speedway Stadium (the product of 8 years hard work by David Gordon) and an Elite 2,000 seat stadium for Basketball and Netball.

For the game of Lacrosse to take advantage of the opportunities it is essential that the game in Manchester gets behind the 2018 organisation and that it works to make a Lacrosse Centre the reality it surely should be.

There will inevitably be the cry that the game is too Manchester centric but that is just the way it is. We have recently been greatly boosted by the explosion in University Lacrosse and the standards are rising rapidly with players coming through to play in the top leagues but it is a huge further leap to make it to international Lacrosse. It would be fair to say that development in UK and Europe is at least 20 years behind North America and even there the traditional Lacrosse centres are still dominant.

The position of Manchester should be seen as a strength of the game and used to go forward but it will be at least 20 years before the growth of the game sees top class players produced from all over the country.