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The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.
Merge with North American Football Articles?
Since it is basically just a name for an existing article, perhaps we should consider incorporating its contents more directly with the entries for the variants it describes. - Plasticbadge02:36, 10 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Disagree - I suggest merging football (american) with this one as gridiron is the proper name for the sport. Football shall hence be known as the former (within the United States) soccer. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 157.242.212.88 (talk) 2007-01-16T00:51:15 (UTC)
Disagree - I believe this needs to be a separate article, as it is the principle name for the game in Australia and New Zealand. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jai Raj (talk • contribs) 2007-02-05T12:08:37 (UTC)
Agree - Being the most popular name in some countries doesn't justify a separate article. It just means we need to redirect the other names. How about a redirect from 'Gridiron football' to Football#North American football codes, with some language from here moved to that section, mentioning the 'gridiron'? The Monster03:36, 11 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Disagree - Countries outside the US and Canada refer to the game as Gridiron, not American football. The term American football gives the connotation that the game is exclusive to the United States alone. Also, patriotic gridiron fans from non North American countries do not like to call the game American, due to current world politics and they try to distance this international sport from a specific country. Breno07:56, 11 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
I added in a link to a picture of the old stadium that had been broken. Its just a drawing (I'm not sure what the original was), but it shows the field pattern better than any actual photos I could find. Dangermouse2918:10, 5 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I Think You Have the History of the Term Wrong
At present, I don't have a reference, but I've seen this in several places where the history of American football is discussed. Briefly, in the early days of the forward pass, the passer had to be more than 5 yards laterally away from the spot where the ball was snapped. Lines parallel to the sidelines were added to enforce this rule. Since the yardlines were already present, the field took on the appearance of a "gridiron". The forward passing rules were soon changed and the lines removed, but the name stuck. Or at least that's how the story goes. 65.24.249.74 (talk) 01:12, 27 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]