Egon
I mean you can make a game out of it, but it isn't a universally agreed upon ruleset. Rock and stick throwing is play, it's fun, it's not bound by rules. You can make some up, but that's just for your group. It won't translate to other groups.
English kinda sucks in that the word "game" both describes games and just regular child's play.
Edit: also *you're lmao, I win, rockstickthingheads btfo again
Good list, but you're missing out on one integral part (except for hockey) which is terrain. Basketball requires a hard and smooth surface, like asphalt or wood. Rugby requires a soft surface like grass, don't know if it requires a soft surface with two-hand touch. Tennis requires a hard surface. So on and so forth.
Any sport that is restricted to a specific surface gets a minus point in my book. To me, this is what really brings the game up in my eyes.
After that it's complexity: How easy is it to learn the rules of the game (not talking at a fully competitive level, just the simplified backyard variant) the easier it is to pick up, the better.
To me it's the combination of these factors that make football so good: You can play it anywhere, it's incredibly easy to pick up (but can still scale in complexity) and it doesn't require anything other than a sphere.
Does Ozempic do anything other than make you not hungry?
No I've since realised a flaw which makes me right once again. Rock and stick throwing isn't a game with points, its just fun, so it's disqualified from the discussion.
This statistic is skewed by Toddler-Agitator Larry who is shot by a toddler 50 times a year and should be ignored as a statistical outlier
Would be cool if tag was a national sport tbh
No this doesn't bring football up from 1 item as I've just explained. This silly discussion is becoming weirdly real for some reason, so I'm gonna disengage
You don't need a physical goal, you can just agree on where the goal is. You can mark it in dirt or grass or with piles of coats and if you're playing in an alley you can just agree that either end of the alley is a goal. You can also make do with just one goal, though that gets kinda weird and usually ends in arguments.
I'll give you that maybe the thing you're throwing at then doesn't qualify either, so we can remove half an item (I'm leaving it as half an item because the thing you're throwing at, has to be somewhat fun to throw at. It can't be anything)
Rocks and sticks at things.
Three things needed.
Football
One thing needed. Rockstickthingheads btfo
Football is the game of the people. It's not something I personally found fun as a child, but I get it. All you need is a ball, thats it. You can play it anywhere with any amount of people.