The first rules book for flag football is completed and available for purchase the NFHS said in a release Monday.
The release referred to girls flag football as “the nation’s fastest growing emerging sport.”
The rules book is ready for the “pilot season” for flag football in New Jersey in the spring of 2026.
The completion of the rules book is expected to bring unification to five flag football conferences in New Jersey. Rules regarding field size are slightly different in the Shore Conference than those used in the NJIC, Super Football Conference, Big Central and West Jersey football league.
Fifteen other states and the District of Columbia offer flag as an independent or pilot sport the NFHS said. Sixteen states have already sanctioned flag as a varsity sport.
Two of the key elements of the first rules publication are the number of players on a team and the size of the field. The first book features rules governing the 7-on-7 player game (which New Jersey uses), and provides three options for size of the field, one of which is a regulation 11-player high school football field.
In addition to determining one of the three options for the playing field, there are 18 other rules to be determined by state adoption, including the establishment of rules regarding place kicking for field goals and trys (points after touchdowns).
States utilizing NFHS flag football rules also will have the option, among others, to determine the number of game officials, authorize the use of goals, authorize the use of a kicking tee, authorize the use of hash marks and determine the style of flag to be used and the measurements of the flag
NFHS flag football rules that mirror traditional high school football rules include four 12-minute periods and point values of six points for a touchdown and three points for a field goal, if kicking rules are adopted by the state association.
According to NFHS, the number of participants in girls flag football more than doubled from 2022-23 to 2023-24. A total of 42,955 girls participated in flag football in 2023-24 compared to 20,875 the previous year – a 105 percent increase.
NJSIAA Executive Director Colleen McGuire told NJ Advance Media, flag football will maintain its club status during the pilot program year in 2026. Club status allows student-athletes to play flag football and another varsity sport.
If approved as a varsity sport for the spring on 2027, athletes would be allowed to play only one varsity sport per season.
To purchase the flag football rules book — or football, volleyball, field hockey, swimming and diving, soccer and spirit — visit the NFHS fulfillment site at www.NFHS.com.
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Joe Zedalis covers the Shore Conference for NJ.com. He can be reached at jzedalis@njadvancemedia.com.