Lists of British Inventions - Sports Innovations

Sports Innovations

Scots have been instrumental in the invention and early development of several sports:

• several modern athletics events, i.e. shot put and the hammer throw, derive from Highland Games and earlier 12th century Scotland
• Curling
• Gaelic handball The modern game of handball is first recorded in Scotland in 1427, when King James I an ardent handball player had his men block up a cellar window in his palace courtyard that was interfering with his game.
• Cycling, invention of the pedal-cycle
• Golf (see Golf in Scotland)
• Shinty The history of Shinty as a non-standardised sport pre-dates Scotland the Nation. The rules were standardised in the 19th century by Archibald Chisholm
• Rugby sevens: Ned Haig and David Sanderson (1883)