P.E. Flag Football Rules and Expectations

History: •Flag football is believed to have begun in the U.S. military during WWII to prevent injury to military personnel playing football.

•Fort Meade in Maryland has the first recorded history of flag football and is generally accepted as its birthplace.

Flag Football Rules : •All players must have flags positioned at the sides of their body. •All players must have shirts tucked into their shorts. •Team flag colors will be pre-determined and posted on the board in the locker room. •All games begin with a kickoff using the kicking tee from the 20 yard line (yellow marker). •Any kickoff landing out-of-bounds results in a re-kick from the 20 yard line (yellow marker). •A kick off landing in the end zone results in a touchback on the 20 yard line. •Teams have four downs to score a TD, and may punt the ball on the 4 th down. •Teams must declare if they are punting the ball. (No blocked punts are permitted) •A warm up will be completed at the beginning of every class period. •No blocking, tackling or holding the ball carrier. •Defensive players must maintain contact with the ground. •Ball carriers may not employ a straight - arm or body contact.

Length of Game: •Two teams will be playing each other an entire class period. There will be three fields of play

Offensive Rules: •Teams must have a QB, Center, and Wide Receiver on every play •A huddle must be used between offensive plays. (except inside 2 minutes to play in the game) •A forward pass that falls incomplete is spotted where the pass was thrown from. •All players are eligible to receive a pass from the quarterback. •A team must change the QB after every touchdown. •Players are not allowed to flag guard. The play is over at the spot of the flag guard.

Defensive Rules : •Defensive teams are allowed to play man-to-man coverage or zone – coverage (area). •Players must allow the offensive 5 seconds before rushing the passer (5 count) •The ball is downed or the player is tackled when one flag is detached from the belt or the ball carrier loses his or her flag.

First Downs: •Each team has four chances to move the ball to the half way marker (large cone). •If a team is not successful at moving the ball from one zone to the next in four downs, the ball is awarded to the opponents on the spot where the last stoppage of play occurred.

Timeouts: •Each team is allowed two time outs per game.

Scoring: •Touchdown = 6pts. •Safety = 2pts. •No field goals

Penalties: •Pass Interference = 10 steps •Illegal Pass Rush = 5 steps •A penalty cannot result in a touchdown or safety. The ball will be placed on the 1 yard line in this instance.

Fumbled Ball: •A fumbled ball at any time is considered a dead ball and belongs to the team that committed the fumble. •A fumbled ball is a loss of that down. •A fumbled forward pass is considered a incomplete pass.

Passing: •All players on both teams are eligible to catch a passes. •Forward passes may be thrown from any point back of the line of scrimmage. •Any number of passes may be thrown in a series of downs. •Lateral passes may be thrown anywhere on the field.

* See Football Field Diagram on next page

Half way / first down

Kick off Receiving Team