# Were all the major global sports played today invented by Brits or Americans? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 6, 2012, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376 "2012-07-06T01:49:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/21 "2012-07-06T19:18:21Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > What exactly do you think they used to do at the original Olympic Games? Sit around and wonder ‘oh, if only we could come up with some sport to play’? Please remind me of the team sports that were played at the original Olympics. ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/22 "2012-07-06T19:45:26Z")
I’m here to ask a slightly different question from the OP. Was _any_ global sport invented in the US? The only one I can think of is Basketball, and that by a Canadian. As to the people saying hockey originated in Canada - field hockey, or hockey, as the rest of the world knows it, is by far the older sport and originated in England. And I’d wager it’s much more global than ice hockey too. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2012, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/23 "2012-07-06T19:55:22Z")
> [@bldysabba](#): > > I’m here to ask a slightly different question from the OP. Was _any_ global sport invented in the US? The only one I can think of is Basketball, and that by a Canadian. As to the people saying hockey originated in Canada - field hockey, or hockey, as the rest of the world knows it, is by far the older sport and originated in England. And I’d wager it’s much more global than ice hockey too. Skateboarding? Frisbee? Seriously, it depends on how you define “global” and “sport”. The OP requires “major” too, which probably limits it to sports that have already been mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/24 "2012-07-06T20:15:47Z")
> [@bldysabba](#): > > I’m here to ask a slightly different question from the OP. Was _any_ global sport invented in the US? The only one I can think of is Basketball, and that by a Canadian. As to the people saying hockey originated in Canada - field hockey, or hockey, as the rest of the world knows it, is by far the older sport and originated in England. And I’d wager it’s much more global than ice hockey too. Volleyball? Which is actually rather more popular outside the US now than it is here ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/25 "2012-07-06T20:28:59Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > [I gather that the NFL is gaining popularity in the UK.](http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/american-football/16635797) Last time I was in London, my cab driver from the airport went on at great length with his predictions of who was going to the Super Bowl. There’s nothing in that article that says that NFL football is gaining in popularity. The Rams are not playing in England because there is demand for it, they’re playing there to try to create a demand. > [@straight\_man](#): > > They also had an off-season league in Europe for a while, which I gather did get a reasonable amount of attention at the time. Anyway, based off of the sheer budgets, it’s still a big thing. It was a spectacular failure. ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/26 "2012-07-06T20:50:11Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > 1. Golf? Come now, everybody knows that golf was invented by [the hobbits.](http://www.golfblogger.com/index.php/golf/comments/how_a_hobbit_invented_golf/) ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/27 "2012-07-06T20:51:56Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > There’s nothing in that article that says that NFL football is gaining in popularity. The Rams are not playing in England because there is demand for it, they’re playing there to try to create a demand. > > It was a spectacular failure. It’s not gaining in popularity, no, but it’s not a complete flop, either. American football’s status in the UK is stable - it is a minority interest, but it’s not like it’s some obscure sport that nobody’s heard of. The popularity of the NFL games held in London testifies to that. What happened was that there was basically no coverage of American football at all until the 1980s, when one of the networks started showing it. The novelty value made it something of a fad for a while. After that, it declined to a more sustainable level, and now, with far more channels available, it gets a reasonable amount of coverage and has a small but keen following. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2012, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/28 "2012-07-06T21:05:10Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > It was a spectacular failure. WLAF / NFL Europe essentially existed for two reasons: 1. To try to build interest in American / NFL football in Europe 2. To act as a developmental league for marginal / prospect NFL players On the first reason: some franchises did reasonably well, but others couldn’t draw fans, and franchises folded or moved pretty regularly. By the end, the league was almost exclusively based in Germany (and I’ve always suspected that at least part of the popularity in Germany was due to U.S. servicemen stationed there). On the second reason: there were a couple of examples of players who parlayed their time in NFL Europe to becoming noteworthy players in the NFL, such as Kurt Warner. However, I suspect that there weren’t enough of those for the NFL to believe that continuing to operate (and fund) the European league was worthwhile. ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/29 "2012-07-06T21:09:45Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > Please remind me of the team sports that were played at the original Olympics. What do you want, man? First you don’t specify team sports in the OP, then you come back and say you should have specified them, but that individual sports should also be considered. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2012, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/30 "2012-07-06T21:21:55Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > What do you want, man? First you don’t specify team sports in the OP, then you come back and say you should have specified them, but that individual sports should also be considered. :smack: Well he also said “major” and “global”. I would guess that chariot racing and Pankration don’t cut it. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/31 "2012-07-08T10:53:10Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Yes, but it can be argued that viewership of it in most other countries is driven by curiosity / interest in the biggest U.S. sporting event (which is arguably as much of a spectacle as it is a game), rather than interest in the sport itself. In Australia we have the Melbourne Cup, a horse race. People pretend to be interested in horse racing for that one day of the year, because that’s what every one else is doing. Yet another excuse to drink too probably. The Super Bowl is like that, albeit on a much, much smaller scale. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/32 "2012-07-08T12:05:51Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > True, but I think the immense popularity within North America combined with the sheer revenue it generates allows it to be included in global sport discussions. Isn’t the Super Bowl broadcast all over the world? Are there other sports as popular as football within other countries, but exclusive to those countries? Yeah, but it is very late at night. It’s entertaining to the extent that a popular performer will be strangling the back catalogue for 15 minutes. Top sport, that. Prince was great though. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/33 "2012-07-08T16:48:10Z")
Native Americans invented lacrosse. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/34 "2012-07-11T18:34:02Z")
Kind of surprised this hasn’t come up yet. Motorsport is the most popular live spectator sport in the world (thanks to NASCAR). Two of the three major forms - point-to-point racing, and rallying- originated in France. Circuit racing originated in England. ---
**Author:** ![bleibtreu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bleibtreu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleibtreu)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/35 "2012-07-11T20:03:25Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Kind of surprised this hasn’t come up yet. Motorsport… It has come up. Post #5. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/36 "2012-07-12T05:15:05Z")
> [@Tanbarkie](#): > > Come now, everybody knows that golf was invented by [the hobbits.](http://www.golfblogger.com/index.php/golf/comments/how_a_hobbit_invented_golf/) I heard somewhere (not sure how accurate) that New Zealand has the most golf courses per capita of any nation in the world. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/37 "2012-07-12T05:17:57Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > Which is a shame. American Football is THE team sport and underappreciated by many 🙂 Some of us say that it’s overappreciation is only outshone by NASCAR:D ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/38 "2012-07-12T05:20:32Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Basketball was invented by James Naismith, who was born Canadian but when he invented the sport was living and working in the USA, a country he would spend the rest of his life in. In any sense that matters it’s an American sport. > > I would point out that people are mostly thinking of team sports and forgetting many of the world’s major individual sports. > > Boxing dates back to Greek times; modern boxing was mostly codified in Great Britain. > > **Golf is a Scottish invention.** > > Actually, if you think about it, the world’s sports inventors are obviously the British, not the Americans. Even major American sports like baseball and football are descended from British games. That’s not neccessarily true either - although the world’s oldest golf club is scottish ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/39 "2012-07-12T05:22:22Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > Are there other sports as popular as football within other countries, but exclusive to those countries? My best guess here would be Australian Rules Football. To the best of my knowledge it’s not played to any significant extent outside Oz. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/40 "2012-07-12T05:52:26Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > Hmmm.. > > 1. Soccer - origins in China? Games involving a ball have been played all over the place. Including in Europe, even though they might bear no ressemblance to modern sports (an example could be having two teams from different villages, and the team that could bring back the ball by whatever mean necesssary to its own village would win). Soccer, Rugby, etc… are all descendants of one version or another of those sports. I think tennis is of French origin (from the “[jeu de paume](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeu_de_paume)”) that used to be popular since the renaissance, and whose name imply it was itself derived from a game played without a racket, like the basque pelota, this probably making it a distant cousin of baseball. I don’t think it’s really possible to define where a game was “invented” since there’s always a predecessor. Except if you mean the point in time and the place where a set of rules similar to what is used today has been formalized. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376.md?page=3)