Croquet

- a game which, like tennis, was invented in mediæval France, and,incidentally, gave its name to another originally-French game now called cricket -
became popular in the English-speaking world in the 1860s,
because it was the first sport that women could play
on the same terms as, and against, men.

It is one of the few sports that can be played while drinking,
texting and smoking (though not all at once)
or eating bread and caviar or honey. 
I have played it fewer than five times,
though it is the only sport that I have ever enjoyed.
Here is a photo of a famous criminal
who probably played it for money.

Billy the Kid (left). Click to enlarge.