History of Flag Football

Flag Football is a non-contact version of traditional American football where players shed their pads and instead wear flags that are pulled in exchange for being tackled. The sport was birthed out of convenience and safety, with only flags needed to play and a safer non-contact format, and is still being played for many of the same reasons today.

The earliest forms of flag didn’t use flags at all, and was essentially “touch” football. The earliest recorded games were known to have been played in the early 1930’s with leagues popping up throughout the northeast United States on college campuses. With World War II, the sport became even more popular on military bases as a way for the troops to blow off steam without risking major injury, and this is where the use of flags is believed to have originated in the 1940’s as the sport began to spread throughout the military.

With troops returning home from war, recreational flag football leagues began to take root with a game somewhat resembling the game played today. The National Touch Football League was started in the 60’s, with the first National Championship game played in 1971.

Soon after, intramural flag football began to pop up on college campuses with the University of New Orleans holding it’s first Collegiate Intramural flag football tournament in the late 1970’s, and with it’s success the National Collegiate Flag Football Championships were born.

In 1998, the USFTL (United States Flag & Touch League) was founded in Cleveland, Ohio by Michael Cihon, who is still currently running the organization. Their goal of unifying flag football rules and the sport in general is a process that FlagSpin is actively working towards as well.