What You Should Know About Flag Football Flags
Way back in the day, when football was in its early childhood, amateurs around the country were challenged to play the game, but wanted to get away from the usual broken bones, lacerations, and dislocations associated with the full-blown version of the sport. There soon developed the sport played on playgrounds and sandlots around the world known as touch football.
However, along with touch football came arguments, fights, and other major disagreements over the validity of the ball carrier being downed by an opponent. Then in the early Sixties a variation of touch football came into being. It involved all the players taking a pair of colored socks, each team deciding on the color of the socks used for their team, placing the toe end of the sock up under the belt on each side of the waist, and voila, flag football and flag football flags were born.
Flag football permits the teams to play a heads-up form of football that moves away from much of the brutality of the sport, and instead focuses on the finesse and strategy of the game. The methodology of quickness and avoidance become the hallmarks of play for the ball carrier.
Flag football has enjoyed a growth that takes it to practically every continent on the planet. The socks were quickly replaced in 1962 when Gene Steinkamp invented the first flag football belt. He patented his invention and soon was manufacturing them by the name of Rip Flag®. The company is still in business and has a website whereby the belt and flags can be ordered. The website is www.ripflag.com.
A sports manufacturer named Flag-A-Tag invented another type of flag football flags called the ‘Sonic Boom Flag’. The ‘Sonic Boom Flag’ produces an audible noise at the point when the flag is pulled, thus denoting the downing of the ball carrier. It is also quite popular, especially among younger flag football players.
The basic budget for procuring flag football flags should run just a little less than $2.00 per player for a system that has detachable flags and belts utilizing the hook and loop fasteners. For Flag-A-Tag systems the cost is a little more running at an average of just short of $5.00 per player.
Walmart, Target, K-mart, and Dick’s Sporting Goods Stores are all good resources to buying flag football flags and belts. If you are of a mind to make your own flag football flags and belt sets, you should see the accompanying article by the same author.