An introduction to Girls Flag Football

For the last 13 years, young women in the state of Florida have been afforded the opportunity to play football – flag football that is – with the chance to compete for a state championship like their male counterparts get to do in traditional tackle football.

However, the lack of Girls Flag Football being covered by a statewide media outlet is coming to an end, starting this season as Florida High School Football takes on giving the other side of football coverage.

We will start simple with our coverage. That means providing comprehensive schedules, some games stories, tournament coverage and providing live scoreboards for teams to report their score each game day. We will also provide weekly rankings during the season and we are also hoping to carry Joe Pinkos’ Power Rankings, something that will give fans both the human opinion as well as the computer opinion.

So how does flag football work compared to traditional tackle football? Take a look below with just some of the similarities and differences with the rules as described as part of the National Intramural-Recreation Association’s Flag Football Rules book. Some rules have been slightly modified by the FHSAA for the use at the high school level.

SIMILARITIES TO TACKLE FOOTBALL

There are many similarities to football when it comes to flag football.

• You can throw the ball
• You can run with the ball
• Interceptions are allowed on defense
• Punting or going for it on 4^th down is allowed
• Punt returns are allowed
• All games have four quarters with 12 minutes clocks as it is in traditional tackle football at the high school level. However, there is a difference that will be explained in the differences.
• Team are allowed three (3) time outs per half.

A lot of the same formations that are used in traditional tackle football are also used in flag football between both offense and defense.

However, here come the differences

DIFFERENCES TO TACKLE FOOTBALL

Just as there are many similarities to tackle football there are just as many things that go the opposite direction for flag football.

• You cannot physically tackle your opponent. Tackles are done by pulling the flags.
• The offensive line and defensive line are nonexistent in flag football as there is no physical tackling. Only the center has to be on the line of scrimmage which is a change from requiring five players to be on the line of scrimmage when the ball is snapped.
• The field is 80 yards long divided up in sections with markings at the 20 yard line, 40 yard line and at the 20 yard line. End zones make up both ends of the field and 10 yards deep on each end.
• At the start of a game there is no kickoff to the receiving team. Instead the ball is placed on the 14 yard line where the team that gets the ball first will start the game at. This also applies after the opposing team scores.
• To gain a first down you must advance the ball past each of the line markers at 20, 40, 20 and the Goal Line.
• Although playing a full four (4) quarters each game is similar to tackle football at the high school level as mentioned above, the clock consistently runs until the last two minutes of each half where a stop clock is utilized for different situations.

SCORING IN FLAG FOOTBALL

Scoring is very similar in flag football as compared to tackle football, but there are some differences when it comes to the extra points.

• Touchdowns are worth six (6) points.
• Teams may go for a point after try where they can either get one (1) point, two (2) points or three (3) points.
• No kicking is allowed for point after try.
• No field goals are allowed to get points if a team fails to get the ball in the end zone after three downs. Team must go for it on fourth down.

As you can see, there is not too much difference to the game other than pure tackling is not allowed. They do warn incidental contact can occur and is something that will never be completely avoided in any game situation.

Now of course, this ain’t all the rules that are followed by flag football, but this describes the common similarities and differences with those of tackle football. If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at football@floridahsfootball.com and we will make sure that we get your question answered!