A graduate of Springfield College, Patrick Van Amburgh avidly follows a range of sports, including football, basketball, and baseball. Patrick Van Amburgh formerly coached football at the high school level, and he currently plays flag football during his free time.

1. Differences
between Flag and
Tackle Football
PATRICK VAN AMBURGH

2. Introduction
A graduate of Springfield College, Patrick Van Amburgh avidly follows a
range of sports, including football, basketball, and baseball. Patrick Van
Amburgh formerly coached football at the high school level, and he
currently plays flag football during his free time.
Flag football differs from conventional tackle football in many ways,
including some that are not obvious immediately. The clearest
difference is that flag football prohibits much of the physical contact
that conventional football requires. As opposed to tackling opposing
players to “down” them and end the play, flag football requires players
to remove flags from the belt of members of the opposing team to end
the play.
Within the sport of flag football, leagues differ from one another
regarding some rules.

3. Football
While some leagues prohibit any direct contact between opposing team
members, others allow players to “block” one another in an attempt to
protect the quarterback from defenders or to open running lanes for
the player with the ball. In some leagues, linemen are allowed to catch
passes, while others retain the conventional football rule prohibiting
linemen from doing so. A third difference involves the field itself. A
standard flag football field is 80 yards long with 10-yard end zones, but
some leagues choose to use smaller fields.