Flag football is a variant of

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), 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 wi ...

where, 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. The sport has a strong amateur following and several national and international competitions each year sponsored by various associations. In flag football, contact is limited between players. The international governing body for the sport is the International Federation of American Football (IFAF). In 2022, flag football was shortlisted as a proposed discretionary event for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

History

The creation of the game of Flag Football can be attributed to

Porter Wilson Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian regional airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., ...

, who was the man who invented flag-a-tag belts & flags used as equipment to play the sport. The best available records to date point to the early 1940s during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

as the sport's starting point. The game began as a recreational sport created for American military personnel to help them stay fit but was designed in a way that would help prevent them from becoming injured during wartime. At the time it was called "Touch and Tail football", which then became "flag football" after the war ended. The first known

recorded history Recorded history or written history describes the historical events that have been recorded in a written form or other documented communication which are subsequently evaluated by historians using the historical method. For broader world his ...

of flag football can be traced to

Fort Meade, Maryland Fort Meade is a census-designated place (CDP) in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States. The population was 9,327 at the 2010 census. It is the home to the National Security Agency, Central Security Service, United States Cyber Command and t ...

, USA, which is now generally accepted as the sport's birthplace. The first national flag football organization, the

National Touch Football League National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ...

, was formed in the 1960's in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 1971, the league has had a national championship game.

Basic rules

The specific rules of flag football vary widely by league, though all share in common their replication of the rules of traditional US-American football with tackling replaced by flag-pulling. Traditional American football rules are often eliminated or modified to reflect the more recreational nature of the game, the desire to avoid physical contact and injury, and the generally smaller number of participating players per side.

Variations

Japanese team on Beach Flag Football XOKA5210bs (15749928216)

Chiefly, because there is no dominant sanctioning organization for the sport, the game has mutated into many variations: 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, and 4 players on each side;

coed Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

or single-gender; with kicking and punting and with point-after conversions (including some with 1, 2, and 3 point tries) or without; and field sizes that vary from full

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a c ...

(CFL) size,

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

(NFL) size (120 yards long by 53 yards wide), to fields a third that size. An important distinction is whether linemen are allowed to catch passes ("Eligible Linemen") or, as in the NFL / CFL, 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. The ability or inability for the quarterback to advance the ball past the line of scrimmage (LOS) by running is another rule subject to variation by league. The sport is also played on surfaces other than a traditional grass football field, including on sand beaches; beach flag football has previously featured as a discipline at the

Asian Beach Games The Asian Beach Games, also known as ABG, is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games have been organized by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). The Games are described as the second or third largest ...

IFAF Flag Football World Championship

The IFAF Flag Football World Championship is normally conducted every two years.

IFAF Flag Football World Championship 2021

The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) had selected Israel to host the Flag Football World Championships for 2021 IFAF Flag Football World Championship with

World Games The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 d ...

places up for grabs. The Kraft Family Sports Campus in Jerusalem, was originally scheduled to stage the men's and women's events, however, due to expected high winds the games were played at Teddy Stadium. An IFAF event record of 39 men's and women's teams combined, spanning 22 countries, competed at the tournament in Israel. Normally conducted every two years, Denmark was scheduled to host the 2020 edition only for it to be canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The United States retained their men's and women's titles at the International Federation of American Football (IFAF)

World Flag Football Championships In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

in Jerusalem. The US fought back in both finals, against Mexico to successfully defend their world crowns.

Women's gold

Against Mexico in the women's gold-medal match, the Americans scored 12 unanswered points in the second period to seal a 31-21 victory. In the semi-finals the US beat Austria 33-6, and Mexico beat Brazil 47-6 to reach the final.

Men's gold

The US Mens team too rallied from behind against Mexico to a 44-41 victory and retain their world title. A 35-6 win over Panama sent the US through to the final, and Mexico beat Italy 36-35 to join them in the tournament's showpiece contest.

Other nations

Austria defeated Brazil 26-13 to win the women's bronze medal. Panama edged out Italy 45-40 in the men's third-place playoff.

Medal table

Olympics

In July 2022, the

(NFL) and the IFAF partnered on a bid for flag football to be included as an optional event during the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Executive VP of football operations

Troy Vincent Troy Darnell Vincent (born June 8, 1970) is a former American football cornerback for the Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo Bills and Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Dolphins as the 7th ...

stated that the sport was "the future of American football", as it was inclusive and had fewer barriers to access. The NFL had sponsored the inclusion of flag football as an invitational event during that month's 2022 World Games—a multi-sport event featuring sports and disciplines not currently contested at the Olympics—in Birmingham, Alabama. The men's tournament was won by the United States, and the women's tournament by Mexico. In August 2022, flag football was shortlisted as one of nine sports advancing to the next phase of the bid process.

North America

NFL Pro Bowl Flag

For the 2023 Pro Bowl, the

will showcase its premier Pro Bowl players and the best of NFL Flag teams from around the country with their skills in a week-long celebration, "The Pro Bowl Games", featuring a new format spotlighting Flag Football.

NFL Flag

The

and its teams have promoted and sponsored flag football leagues in the United States as a youth sport under the branding NFL Flag; in 2020,

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...

quarterback

Russell Wilson Russell Carrington Wilson (born November 29, 1988) is an American football quarterback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He previously played his first 10 seasons for the Seattle Seahawks. Wilson is widely regarded ...

became a chairman and co-owner of NFL Flag, as part of efforts by the NFL to expand its promotion of the sport into other territories. The program has also placed a particular focus on expanding women's flag football, due to gridiron football having predominantly been played by men.

American Flag Football League

On June 28, 2017, the inaugural game for the newly formed

American Flag Football League The American Flag Football League is a semi-professional flag football league started in 2017. The league was founded by Jeff Lewis in May 2017. Lewis spent nine months building the league, getting investors, setting the rules, and finding players ...

was played. The league plans to launch eight league-owned teams for 2018.

Canadian Flag Football League

The Canadian Flag Football League (CFFL) was established in 2019 and runs Canada's CFFL National Championship. The league is affiliated with Football Canada, the national governing body for football in Canada and its variants. The winners of the CFFL National Championship also gain the opportunity to represent Canada in international competition. The league's major objective is to help integrate existing adult flag leagues on a nationwide basis. Depending on the region, teams compete in their Regional Championships, either Eastern, Western, or Central. The top two teams from each division will advance to the national championship. There are three divisions for the CFFL: male, female, and mixed.

Varsity sport

America

In May 2020, the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

(NAIA), in partnership with the NFL, announced the addition of flag football as a varsity sport for female student-athletes. The NAIA became the first collegiate governing body to sanction the sport at the varsity level. Women's flag began during the 2020–21 season as an emerging sport with at least 15 teams, and the NAIA and NFL also expected an upgrade of the sport to an invitational level sport by 2022 with at least 25 teams.

International

International Woman's Flag Football Association

The

International Woman's Flag Football Association The International Women's Flag Football Association (IWFFA) is the umbrella organization for female flag football around the world. The organization prides itself on being owned and operated by women whose motto is, "women should run their own spo ...

, otherwise known as the IWFFA, hosts 8 on 8 flag football tournaments and flag football trainings across the world with participants from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

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Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, Iceland, Scotland and several other nations. The organization is the largest organization for women and girls in the sport of flag football. The most active tournament is held each February in

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, called the Kelly McGillis Classic where over 90 women and girls teams participate in 8 on 8, semi - blocking contact flag football. There are no restrictions to for girls and women to play.

International Federation of American Football

The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) organizes the IFAF Flag Football World Championship every two years since 2002.

International Flag Football Festival

The International Flag Football Festival (IFFF) organizes the World Cup of Flag Football featuring teams from the

and several other nations.

United Kingdom

Flag football competition in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

is 5-a-side and organized by The British American Football Association (BAFA). At a senior level as of 2021, there are fifty eight teams divided into six divisions, Highland (North Division), Northern (West Division), Southern (East Division), Northern (East Division), Southern (Wales Division), and Southern (West Division) with the top teams qualifying for playoffs at the end of the season. As of 2021 the league will also run The Youth Flag Football League (YFFL) and organize teams competing at under 17, under 14, and non-competitive under 11. Flag matches in the UK are played with five players on each side with no contact, and are officiated according to the IFAF flag football rules with a few minor variations. The U17s and U14s compete in the National Youth Flag Football League, which runs from April to August, with teams battling it out to qualify for National Finals Day and ultimately be crowned National Champions. The U11s take part in various regional festivals throughout the year.

BAFA National Flag finals

References

External links

United States Flag & Touch Football League
{{Team sports Sports originating in the United States Variations of American football