Today, there are more than 20 million players participating in flag football programs throughout the world. Flag football gives people the opportunity to compete and perform in a game they love. The game gives you the ability to build a bond with teammates and display your skills with one goal in mind: Victory. Flag Football is the game that, not too long ago, Jerome Bettis turned to when trying to rekindle his love for football. Flag Football is a mainstream sport that will only continue to grow. See below for history.
Flag football is a version of American football that is popular across the United States and Europe. The basic rules of the game are similar to those of the professional game, but instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier ("deflagging") to end a down. In most organized play, players wear a belt with flags attached (the number of flags vary from league to league) around the waist. (Click on the "Rules" tab for more details)
The game of American football has been played since the mid 1800's. The first College game occurred between Princeton and Rutgers on Nov. 6 1869. And the professional game has been played in some form since 1895. The game of Touch and Flag Football has been around nearly as long as tackle football. The first remembrance of organized Touch and Tail Football being played was in the 1930's. Flag Football was developed on military bases in the early 1940's as a recreational sport. Recreational leagues soon developed in the late 40's early 50's.
St. Louis is the birthplace of the first national flag football organization - The National Touch Football League. It was formed in the 1960's and has played a national championship game since 1971. It also produced the first standardized rulebook and its Hall of Fame for Flag Football players has been adopted by other national organizations.
Chiefly because there is no dominant sanctioning organization for the sport, the game has mutated into literally dozens of variations: 9-man, 8-man, 7-man, 5-man, and 4-man on a side; with kicking and punting and without; with point-after conversions (including some with 1, 2, and 3 point tries) or without; and field sizes that vary from full NFL size (120 yards long by 53 1/3 yards wide) to fields a third that size.
An important distinction is whether lineman are allowed to catch passes ("Eligible Linemen") or, as in th NFL are not allowed to do so ("Ineligible Linemen"). Flag (and touch) football may also be divided into "contact" or "non-contact", depending on whether or not blocking is allowed; if allowed, blocking is usually restricted to the chest.
Organized flag football leagues follow a number of sets of rules, with variants including:
- 9-man ineligible (with contact),
- 8-man eligible (with or without contact),
- 7-man eligible (with or without contact),
- 6-man eligible (with or without contact),
- 5-man eligible (with or without contact),
- 4-man eligible (with or without contact), and
- 4-man "Air It Out" style.
Certain rules are generic in all of the above styles. they include:
- No fumble recoveries(ball is dead at spot).
- No pushing ballcarrier out of bounds.
- No flag shielding by ballcarrier.
- No diving to advance the ball.
- No ball-stripping.
- No on-sides kicks.
- No charging over a defender by the ballcarrier.
- Bad snaps are dead at the spot.
- Scoring- same points awarded as in NFL.
Eligible Linemen are allowed to catch passes like receivers. This is usually allowed in "8-Man Eligible Flag", "7-Man Touch", "7-Man Screen Flag", and "4-On-4 Flag". "Ineligible Linemen" are not allowed to catch passes, like the linemen in the N.F.L. "9-Man Ineligible" and "8-Man Ineligible" both feature three(3) ineligible linemen, a Center and two tackles.
Antoher defining rule of Flag/Touch football is field size. "9-Man Ineligible", "8-Man Eligible", and "7-Man Touch" all use a regulation 100 X 53 yard field. "8-Man Ineligible" and "7-Man Screen" both use a 80 X 40 yard field. All of the above feature twenty(20) yard "fixed" 1st downs with cones at the 20-40-40-20 yard lines or the 20-40-20 yard lines. "4-On-4 Flag" is played on a 25 X 50 yard field with only one(1) 1st down at the mid-field line.
Not a member yet? 