Gridiron_football

An American gridiron football field. The Canadian field differs slightly in dimensions and design, but is essentially similar. The numbers on the field indicate the number of yards to the nearest end zone.

Gridiron football (or more commonly, just "gridiron") is a term used in some countries outside North America to refer to both American football and Canadian football, two closely related games directly descended from rugby football. The term refers to the sport\'s characteristic field of play, which is marked with a series of parallel lines resembling a gridiron.

According to certain early rules of American football, some fields were painted with square-like "grids" of demarcation. The ball would be snapped in the grid in which it was downed on the previous play. This was abandoned in favor of the system of yard lines and hash marks now used. An example of a field that was painted with such a grid pattern is the old Archbold Stadium at Syracuse University, which has since been torn down.Archbold Stadium, from at Syracuse University Archives. Retrieved 9 October 2007.

The word gridiron alone may refer either to the field or to the sport; however, in North America it is mostly used in reference to the field, usually in a somewhat figurative or poetic sense. In some other English-speaking countries—particularly Australia and New Zealand—it is the primary term used to refer to the sport, differentiating it from other forms of football such as Australian football, association football (soccer), rugby league, and rugby unionGridiron comes to Australia . Other nations, such as the United Kingdom, use the term American football.

References

• Football, gridiron, from Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 9 October 2007.
• Gridiron comes to Australia, from 7:30 Report. Retrieved 9 October 2007.

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