Is this a uniquely Australian name for American football?
A gridiron is a kitchen appliance that folds over to squeeze out waffles. In football, it refers to the feeling a quarterback gets when a bunch of 300-pound linemen pile on top of him squeezing the breath out of him. Just a guess mind you.
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The early American Football field was marked out in squares so it came to be called “the gridiron”. I encountered the term in Melbourne in '85 as a name for the game.
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No, it’s an old American name for a football field.
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Agree; but trust me, in OZ at least some people think it’s the name of the American game.
The field is called “the gridiron” as an old but pretty common term for it. No one ever calls the game of football, “gridiron”. ?!?
I understand that the national pastime in New Zealand is sitting at the bar, swizzling beer, watching American football on TV while constantly proclaiming that rugby is a much tougher sport than what they call gridiron. 
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In Oz they do the same while claiming that “Aussie Rules Football” is AFL without the padding (and most rules):
PS> There are two rules thought;
- Don’t spit on your opponents while they are laying down.
- Don’t call your opponents “Pommy Bastards”
Apparently some kiwis do. What about all those English speaking countries (everyone but the UK) that insist on calling football soccer?
Sounds unamerican. Though I did hear that somehow the city hosting the next FIFA World Cup will be the internationally renowned soccer destination of East Rutherford, NJ.
That’s what I told them in Australia in '85, but they weren’t having it.
Pele and Beckenbauer played there. On 1970s astro turf no less.
You can get through a few beers in 4 hours or more watching NFL. Superbowl used to be big in New Plymouth when we had an offshore oil industry and not a lot happened on the Monday afternoon it was on.
NFL differs from the other ball sports with its rotation of players. Rugby has 15 players on the field and 8 players in reserve. A rugby player must be able to maintain a high level of physical endurance over 80 minutes with a halftime break of 10 minutes.