The penalty flag (or just "flag") is a yellow cloth used in several field sports including

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 ...

and

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

by game officials to identify and sometimes mark the location of penalties or infractions that occur during regular play. It is usually wrapped around a weight, such as sand or beans so it can be thrown accurately over greater distances and cannot easily be blown away. Many officials previously weighted flags with

ball bearings A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races. The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this ...

, but the practice was largely discontinued after a flag thrown by NFL referee

Jeff Triplette Jeff Triplette (born March 12, 1951) is a retired American football official in the National Football League (NFL) from the 1996 season through the 2017 season. He wore uniform number 42. Personal life Triplette is a retired Army Reserve col ...

struck

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

offensive tackle Orlando Brown Sr. in the eye during a 1999 game, causing a serious injury to Brown. Brown was forced to sit out three seasons because of the eye injury and settled with the NFL for a reported amount of $25 million. NFL penalty flags were colored white until 1965, when the color was changed to yellow. Penalty flags in college football were red until the 1970s, before also being changed to yellow. To mark field position after a change in possession, such as after an

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

or punt, a small bean bag is used to mark where the change of possession took place. These bean bags are typically black, blue, or white; other colors such as orange have occasionally been used. In 2022, the

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 ci ...

changed its flag from orange to yellow. The idea for the penalty flag came from Youngstown State coach Dwight Beede and first used in a game against

Oklahoma City University Oklahoma City University (OCU) is a private university historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The university offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, graduate master's degrees and docto ...

on October 17, 1941. Prior to the use of flags, officials used horns and whistles to signal a penalty. Official adoption of the use of the flag occurred at the 1948 American Football Coaches rules session. The

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 ...

first used flags on September 17, 1948 when the Green Bay Packers played the

Boston Yanks The Boston Yanks were a National Football League team based in Boston, Massachusetts, that played from 1944 to 1948. The team played its home games at Fenway Park. Any games that conflicted with the Boston Red Sox baseball schedule in the Ameri ...

. In October 2013, the NFL planned to use pink penalty flags throughout the month as part of the league's

breast cancer awareness Breast cancer awareness is an effort to raise awareness and reduce the stigma of breast cancer through education on symptoms and treatment. Supporters hope that greater knowledge will lead to earlier detection of breast cancer, which is assoc ...

initiative. This was changed after two weeks, due to confusion with other pink apparel on players and game officials. In some football leagues, coaches are given a challenge flag of similar construction as a penalty flag. The flag is red in American football and yellow in Canadian football, so it contrasts with the officials' penalty flags. This is thrown by a coach when he wishes to contest ( challenge) a referee's decision.

References

External links

Ohio High School Athletic Association
History of the Football Penalty Flag (includes a photo of an early penalty flag) {{Gridiron football penalties Sports equipment American football equipment

See also

References

External links