Girls flag football could be coming as a high school varsity sport in South Carolina
The South Carolina Independent Schools Association is exploring adding girls flag football as a varsity sport next season.
SCISA Athletic Director Mike Fanning sent out an email to schools on Wednesday to discuss the possibility.
“We fully realize that not all schools will want to play all sports. That is not a problem,” Fanning wrote in the email. “Let us be committed to explore new areas of opportunities and experiences for our students. This could even have the effect to draw degrees of separation once again between your school and your programs and other schools in your community. Let me know your thoughts.”
If approved, it will be the second major change coming to SCISA. The organization announced in February it would be expanding to four classifications for the first time in 40 years. There are about 125 schools in SCISA with 75 or so that offer some type of athletics.
At this time, there has been no proposal to add girls flag football to S.C. public schools.
Currently, Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Florida and Nevada are the only states that have girls flag football as a varsity sport. Georgia, Florida and Nevada have state championships each year. Florida has had it for 20 years and it has grown to 284 teams participating in the Sunshine State League with two state championships crowned.
Some of the states that have flag football have received backing from the NFL. The Atlanta Falcons and owner Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation funded the efforts in Gwinnett County in 2018 and 400 girls from the county’s 19 played the fall of 2018 with the state championship held in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the Falcons. The following year, five more counties started playing.
The Carolina Panthers are helping start a girls flag football league for Charlotte-area schools this spring. There will be 19 teams participating in the club sports league along with Charlotte Catholic. The Panthers are providing $50,000 to help launch the program along with balls and flags and school resources. The NFL team also partnered with Nike to help get custom uniforms for the girls to wear.
Flag football is played in some colleges as a varsity sport. In 2020, the NFL said that 15 colleges have committed to adding a women’s flag football program and it started in 2021. This comes just one month after the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), National Football League (NFL), and Reigning Champs Experiences (RCX) came together to introduce women’s flag football into college sports.
Flag football would be played in the fall/winter season with the first practice on Oct. 31 and games on Nov. 10. A state championship would be Dec. 29.
Some of the rules include:
▪ Each team must have at least seven players to start. A game could be finished with six players.
▪ The field dimensions shall be a minimum of 35- and a maximum of 40-yards wide and 100 yards long. Conescor yellow bands will be utilized to mark sidelines (if on an 11-man field).
▪ The game will be two 20-minute halves.
▪ Each team will have 25 seconds to snap the ball.
▪ The quarterback has an 8-second “pass clock.” If a pass is not thrown within the 8-seconds, the play is dead, the down is consumed, and the ball is returned to the line of scrimmage.
▪ Players shall wear a soft pliable and non-abrasive protective headgear; mouthpieces are mandatory for all players and must cover all teeth.
▪ Scoring is six points per touchdown with extra point ranging from 1-3 points depending on where the extra point is snapped. Extra points from 5-yard line will be worth 1 point, 2 points from the 10 and 3 points from the 20.
This story was originally published March 23, 2022 at 1:55 PM.
