England were awful

@Abstraction Rugby and Cricket for sure.
Can't think of any others, off hand -
Golf, curling, shinty and maybe football were Scottish.
Hockey - no idea
Yacht racing was Dutch I think
Boxing, wrestling etc was universal
Netball, basketball - was that not the USA
Ice hockey was a Scotsman in Canada I think
Hurling - Ireland

@LizOwen I was thinking of UK really - but most of these are England.
Football 1863
Cricket 1787
Rugby 1871 (2 codes of it) 1823 I think it began.
Golf 1502 (Scotland)
Hockey 1860
Rounders 1884
Badminton 1887
Lawn Tennis 1859
Table Tennis 1880
Snooker 1875 (by English in India with nought to do)
Bungee Jumping 1979
Curling 1541 (Scotland)
Darts

@Abstraction I think Edinburgh had the world's first known football club in 1824, with the first rules written in 1833. There were six rules and the document is held in the Scottish football museum.
Shinty has been played in Scotland for about a thousand years, with the game codified around 1870, with hurling the Irish equivalent.
I think Mary Queen of Scots played tennis in Scotland- and billiards and golf. A sporty queen!

@LizOwen It makes sense to me. Melbourne is far more creative than Sydney because we are closer to the pole, have colder winters and get bored. And my DNA tells me, to my surprise, I'm more than 50% Scot, so naturally I now empathise with and celebrate their ingenuity.

@LizOwen :D I love it. 9 torrid years pass. Maybe we better make some rules.
Edinburgh Football Club Meeting. 1 Oct 1833.
A'richt foremaist wee point oan th' agenda o' th' auld reekie fitba dancin meetin.
Ah think we need some rules. Th' polis 'n' th' magistrate an' a' suggested it.
1. Juist th' fitba. Na clubs. Na axes.
2. Na lifting ither player's kilts.
A' in favour say aye.
That's twa. Whit neist?

@Abstraction
Or the later English meeting/
"I say you fellows. These Jock fellows have invented this new sport they called Foot Ball don't you know.
We can't have that, now. You all know we're Eenglish and betta than everybody else in the world. Let's invent it again and pretend we were first.
Pass the cress, Rupert, there's a good fellow.
Naow. Foot ball. We'll be first because we're EEngland.
Any dissenters will be sent to the colonies.

@LizOwen In the end did you know people committed crimes to get to the colonies? They discovered their brother who went 8 years ago now runs his own hotel or something, and they wouldn't have had that chance for social mobility in England. Some of my ancestors came out as convicts and within 1-2 generations were doing quite well for themselves.

@Abstraction I have heard that. Why stay in a class-ridden country with no social mobility and where you have to touch your forelock to an arrogant shit of a landowner when you can live in a much freer country?

@LizOwen Are you Scottish? My old Canadian aunt born in 1800s told me the family story of why our ancestor moved to Canada from Scotland. One of our ancestors got ripped off by his own brother in the early 1800s (asked him to write a cheque when he didn't have his glasses on and emptied his bank account.) So he said to his wife. (and Auntie Ruby did the accent beautifully) 'That's it. We're getting oot. I would'n' breathe the air of the same country as that man.'
This is I think probably most accurate historical account of the invention of golf.
[media=https://youtu.be/_S11eKcyOYY]

@Abstraction No, I'm English. My husband was Scottish, from Dundee.