In other news......

[OB..]

If we are going to play the semantics game, then William Webb Ellis "invented" Rugby League as well as American Football, according to that logic.

He didn't even invent rugby. Modern historians agree that whatever he may or may not have done did not convert the game from a kicking one to a running one.

The fundamental difference between Rugby and Soccer is that the former allows handling of the ball, but passing only backwards. That was codified in League years ago, but still has not been in Union.

You persist in your belief in a false interpretation of the law.

American Football, in contrast, allows a single forward throw.

That was seen as an innovation.

OB.., your argument is based on cherry-picking a part of the history of the sport, which according to wikipedia wasn't standardised until the 1956-1970 cold war period globally.

No, it is based on the view that "invention" implies producing something new, rather than developing something existing. There is of course going to be a grey area, but I think it is clear that James Naismith's original idea spawned both basketball and netball.

 

[crossref]

I think it is clear that James Naismith's original idea spawned both basketball and netball.

if you follow that argument then association and rugby football were both invented by the same people, or by inventors unknown, as both are spawned from the same pre-existing game.

to me the origins of most games are lost in time -- it's easy to imagine that people kicked, threw, bounced and batted balls of all descriptions, and ideed threw them through hoops, for 100s of years before anyone had imagined formal sports.

a sport is different from the folk-games from which they all spawned : a sport is no more than its laws/rule and a sport is invented when its laws are codified

 

[OB..]

a sport is invented when its laws are codified

I don't find that a helpful definition. For me invention implies something significantly new as distinct from development of something already in place. Was Rugby Union "invented" when the first printed rules were produced (1845)? I don't think so. Obviously there will be cases where a significant change is involved. Was Rugby League "invented" when they started changing the laws they had taken over from Rugby Union? Not in my view. Did Walter Camp "invent" American Football? Borderline, but arguable.

It is all semantics and therefore not susceptible to scientific dissection.