# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/41 "2012-07-12T06:38:00Z")
[Polo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polo) was invented in Persia, although the modern game was popularized in the British Empire thanks to the British Imperials. Before that, it was popular in China and India, and throughout central Asia. I don’t know if it’s a _major_ sport, although there’s a hell of a lot of money in it, but it’s certainly a _global_ sport. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/42 "2012-07-12T08:56:18Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > 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. [A near identical](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_rules_football) sport is big in Ireland as well, it’s just called [Gaelic football](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaelic_football) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/43 "2012-07-12T17:36:03Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > [A near identical](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_rules_football) sport is big in Ireland as well, it’s just called [Gaelic football](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaelic_football) International Rules is the hybrid game played between Australian and Irish teams. Some Irish Gaelic players (which is popular amongst Irish ex-pats in other countries) have made the transfer to playing Aussie Rules in Australia. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/44 "2012-07-13T10:15:33Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > Are there other sports as popular as football within other countries, but exclusive to those countries? This isn’t confined to one country, but to a region. [Sepak Takraw](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepak_takraw) is a sport very popular in southeast Asia (Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, etc) and virtually unheard of outside that area. I don’t know much about the sport, other than what I’ve read on the net. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/45 "2012-07-13T17:49:31Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > 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. In terms of garnering more British fan interest doesn’t American football have a problem due to the near-absolute stranglehold of popularity soccer (football) has in the UK? Unlike in North America, where the seasons of four different team sports divide up the year, the soccer season lasts about 9 to 10 months when you take everything into account. That doesn’t leave a lot of time on the calendar for another team sport to get the interest of a substantial number of British fans. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/46 "2012-07-13T18:03:31Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > In terms of garnering more British fan interest doesn’t American football have a problem due to the near-absolute stranglehold of popularity soccer (football) has in the UK? Yes, I think that is true, and Amrican football is some way to the back of a long queue. Just today, I had some time to kill and perused the sports pages of all the major UK newspapers. This is a time when (a) we are building up to the Olympics, (b) British competitors are having unprecedented success in the Tour de France, and (c) no significant football competitions are imminent or taking place. And the sports pages were nevertheless dominated by off-season soccer news, such as transfer gossip. The more upmarket papers did have the Tour de France among their lead stories, admittedly. In the tabloids, it gets a couple of paragraphs, some pages in. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/47 "2012-07-13T22:35:41Z")
[Sailing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_(sport)) and [rowing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowing_(sport)) are worldwide sports, and have been around since before there was a UK or US. ---
**Author:** ![Sherry\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Sherry\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherry_Burke)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/48 "2012-07-14T09:44:32Z")
Art work or information of any tennis-like movie games have not been found, but a few Persia circumstances relationship from conventional Natural natural cotton times are described as proof. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/49 "2012-07-14T14:01:54Z")
> [@Sherry\_Burke](#): > > Art work or information of any tennis-like movie games have not been found, but a few Persia circumstances relationship from conventional Natural natural cotton times are described as proof. I’ve reported this as it seems nonsensical and spammy. Apologies in advance if that is not the case. ---
**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 14, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/50 "2012-07-14T14:07:09Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I’ve reported this as it seems nonsensical and spammy. Apologies in advance if that is not the case. Check the post history. What is this bot trying to achieve, I wonder? ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376/51 "2012-07-14T16:33:29Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Check the post history. What is this bot trying to achieve, I wonder? Weird isn’t it? On reflection, it is perhaps a damming indictment of some posters here that I wasn’t _totally_ certain at first that it was nonsense. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-all-the-major-global-sports-played-today-invented-by-brits-or-americans/627376.md?page=2)