With help from the National Football League’s (NFL) Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers, girls flag football reached the requirements to be a sanctioned sport. The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc. (PIAA) approved the sport as of Wednesday, Sept. 18.
“We’re thrilled that we can offer another opportunity for girls to participate in interscholastic athletics,” PIAA President Francis Majikes said.
For a sport to be officially sanctioned, it needs to meet multiple requirements and adopt rules and safety standards for the way the sport is played. The sport needs to reach at least 100 active teams across the state to be considered by the PIAA for sanctioning.
In 2022, the Philadelphia Eagles started a girls flag football league that included a total of 16 teams with an objective to five years. In 2023, the Eagles Girls Flag League had a total of 38 teams and reached a total of 65 teams in 2024. This year, girls flag football has rapidly expanded and is on course to becoming a sanctioned sport.
The first season of the Steelers Girls Flag League only contained six total teams. Since then, girls flag football has been on the rise causing the league to increase to 36 teams. This brought the total number to 101 teams across Pennsylvania, which brought PIAA to vote for sanctioning.
Along with the NFL girls flag football league, they also have the official NFL flag football league across the U.S. This organization contains over 1,800 leagues and over 700,000 youth athletes. Across the 50 states, the coed league has ages 5-17 playing together.
Around the community, there are a few organizations that have a range of sports and leagues for youth. One of the leagues that all the organizations contain is NFL flag football. The Lower Macungie Youth Association (LMYA) flag football leagues are co-ed leagues with players from all ages. Lower Macungie Middle School student, Julia Paung plays in the fall flag season for U14 as a running back and wide receiver.
“I love physical contact, so it’s nice to have a sport to play with contact. It’s just like with tackle, girls don’t really play that. Flag is a good other decision if you want to play football, it’s very fun,” Paung said.
At Emmaus High School, for girls flag football to be officially recognized as an eligible varsity sport, there are school-specific requirements that must be met. The sport must be registered as a club first for it to progress then if enough girls show interest, coaches are needed before converting into a varsity sport.
In January 2025, the National Federations of High School Associations (NFHS) will release a rulebook for the sport and in 2025-26 the sports structure will also be released.
“It has been great working with the Eagles to accomplish a successful ruling that will now give young girls the chance to compete at a state level,” Steelers President, Art Rooney II said. “We look forward to seeing how girls’ flag football continues to grow in Pennsylvania and worldwide.”
