| Sport | Gridiron |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1985 |
| No. of teams | 5 |
| Country |  |
| Official website | gridironsa.com.au |
The Gridiron Association of South Australia (formally the South Australian Gridiron Association until 1990), Gridiron SA, or GASA is the governing body for gridiron (American football) in the state of South Australia, Australia. There are currently five Division One teams registered in the league.
American football, referred to as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with possession of the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with the ball or passing it, while the defense, the team without possession of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs or plays; if they fail, they turn over the football to the defense, but if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs to continue the drive. Points are scored primarily by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins.
South Australia is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of 983,482 square kilometres (379,725 sq mi), it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, and fifth largest by population. It has a total of 1.7 million people, and its population is the second most highly centralised in Australia, after Western Australia, with more than 77 percent of South Australians living in the capital, Adelaide, or its environs. Other population centres in the state are relatively small; Mount Gambier, the second largest centre, has a population of 28,684.
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 26 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.
Contents
The association has had 3 main venues they have used for their games. From 1985-1988 they used Norwood Oval. Then from 1989-1996 they used Thebarton Oval and from 1997 - 2009 they have played their games at the Distinctive Homes Hockey Stadium. In 2010, they returned to Thebarton, before moving to Richmond Oval in 2012. All four venues have TV standard light towers which have allowed night games to be scheduled.
Norwood Oval is a suburban oval in the western end of Norwood, an inner eastern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is owned by Norwood, Payneham & St Peters Council but managed by the Norwood Football Club. Though mainly used for Australian rules football, the oval has been used for a variety of other sporting and community events including baseball, soccer, rugby league and American football. It is the home ground for the Norwood Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and the primary home ground of the Adelaide Crows in AFL Women's (AFLW).
Thebarton Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia currently used for a variety of sports including Australian rules football. It was the home ground of South Australian National Football League (SANFL) club West Torrens between 1922 and 1989, and since 2008 has been the home of the South Australian Amateur Football League (SAAFL) now called the Adelaide Footy League.
The State Hockey Centre, formerly known as the Pines Stadium and Distinctive Homes Hockey Arena (2003–2009), is a 4,000 capacity, government owned outdoor field hockey stadium located in Gepps Cross, a northern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It offers two international-standard wet hockey pitches which are used for both competition and training activities.
