NEW YORK - July 12, 2010 - A team of Iroquois lacrosse players was stuck in the city yesterday, barred from flying to a tournament in England because the U.S. does not recognize its special passports.

"The boys are ready and we've been trying to reassure them we'll somehow or other make it out," said the team's executive director, Percy Abrams.

The Iroquois Nationals - who hail from upstate New York and Canada - have passports issued by the Haudenosaunee, a confederacy of six Iroquois nations.

They have been traveling with the documents for 20 years and expected to use them to fly from Kennedy Airport to Manchester, England on Sunday, team officials said.

On Thursday, the British Consulate told the team it would not issue visas because the U.S. said it would not let players back into the country on the native passports.

The team's 23 members convened in the city anyway; sharing rooms at the Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan, ready to leave if and hwen the snafu is resolved.

They are due to play England Thursday night in the opening match of the World Lacrosse Championship, held every four years.

"Time is running out," said Abrams. "Unless things happen quickly in the next 24 hours it's going to be very difficult to make the game."