Tag:sport=american_football
 sport = american_football
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A sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. 
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| Group: sports |
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| Status: de facto |
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American football is a team ball sport with similarities to rugby and to other sports known as "football".
In the U.S. this sport is known simply as "football" however this word is clearly too ambiguous for use as a tag. We should be more precise with this full tag sport=american_football.
Note also that this sport is not only played in America. The tag is perfectly valid elsewhere in the world. The sport is sometimes called "gridiron" due to its characteristic playing field, which is marked with a series of parallel lines resembling a gridiron. Canadian football, sport=canadian_football, is played on a similar gridiron pitch (see below for mapper-visible distinctions).
How to map
Add this tag to any place where a field has been setup for playing American football.
The tag sport=american_football (all lowercase with an underscore) should be combined with a physical tag:
Additional tags
- surface=*, usually one of:
American vs. Canadian football fields
sport=american_football and sport=canadian_football fields are similar at a glance but have some differences that should be obvious on the ground or from higher resolution aerial imagery:
| sport=american_football | sport=canadian_football | |
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| Length | 100 yards "50" yardline at the center |
110 yards "C" at the center with two "50" yardlines on either side |
| Goal posts | At the back of the endzones | At the front of the endzones |
| Endzone | 10 yards deep | 20 yards deep |
| Diagram | 
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The Canadian field is also wider (65 yards vs. 53 1/3 yards for American) and has different hash mark placement, however these relative dimensions aren't as obvious. See Comparison of American and Canadian football#Playing area on Wikipedia for a fuller description.
Fairfield High School Marching Band practice fieldStatistically, a gridiron field in the US is probably American football, whereas one in Canada is probably Canadian football. However, full-size gridiron markings on a parking lot or other paved surface are probably a practice field for a school marching band (sport=marching_band? music=marching_band?).