Understanding Flag Football Rules

Flag football rules were designed to allow servicemen to play football, while reducing the risk of injury. Today flag football is popular at many levels, including youth, college, and recreational leagues.

Football Rules Created For Safety
The fundamental difference between flag and traditional football is the amount of physical contact. In an effort to create a safer play environment, flag football does away with tackling and limits the amount and types of blocking allowed.

In flag football, each player wears a belt that has two (or three) brightly colored ribbons. The ribbons (or flags) are attached to the belt by Velcro or a plastic socket that allows them to stay secured to the belt, yet are easily pulled from the belt by an opposing player. The player carrying the ball is considered "down" if a flag is pulled from his belt. When a player is down, the ball is considered "dead" and play is halted.

The Basics Of Flag Football
The field used for flag football is typically eighty yards long (divided into four 20-yard zones) and can be a standard width (53 yards) or as narrow as 25 yards. Each end of the field has a 10-yard end zone where scoring takes place. In flag football, an end zone may or may not have a goalpost.

Unique to flag football is the concept of zones. In traditional football, forward progress is defined by yards gained. In flag football, the team in possession of the ball gets four attempts (called downs) to move the ball one 20-yard zone. If the offense succeeds, they are awarded four more downs. If they fail, possession of the ball changes to the other team.

According to most flag football rules, if the ball carrier drops the ball (called a fumble) the ball is considered "dead" and possession of the ball changes to the opposing team.

Flag Football Players
Although rules vary from league to league, flag football teams typically field between 5 and 11 players-the average is 7 or 8. On offense, players are either lineman or backfieldman. Linemen are responsible for blocking and protecting the backfield, while backfieldman may move the ball forward by running with or passing the ball.

Scoring
Scoring is similar to traditional football and allows for the following scoring options:

• Touchdown (6 points) - A touchdown is scored when the team with possession of the ball moves the ball on or across the opponent's goal line.
• Point after attempt (1 or 2 points) - A point after attempt (PAT) follows a touchdown. In leagues that use goalposts, the PAT is scored after a successful kick through the uprights of the goalpost. For leagues without goalposts, the PAT may be a successful pass into the end zone (1 point) or a successful run into the end zone (2 points).
• Safety (2 points) - A safety is scored when a defender downs the ball carrier in the ball carrier's end zone.
• Field goal (3 points) - For leagues that use goalposts, a field goal is a successful kick through the opponent's goalpost that takes place during a series of downs.