Pennsylvania declares girls’ flag football as sanctioned high school sport

(NEW YORK) — Pennsylvania officially recognized flag football as a sanctioned girls’ high school sport in an announcement made by Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc. (PIAA), on Wednesday.

The girls’ flag football was made an official state-sanctioned high school sport after the sport met the requirement to have had at least 100 participating teams across the state, according to a press release.

The figure was achieved in April with the help of the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers, which launched girls’ flag football leagues in 2022.

“This is not just an important day for the Eagles and Steelers, but for the sport of football and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Eagles Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie said in the release. “When we launched our Girls Flag Football League in 2022, we set an ambitious five-year goal to get the sport sanctioned in our state. Now, here we are three seasons later and two years ahead of schedule. The sport’s organic growth is a credit to the participants, administrators, coaches, officials, and parents who helped raise the profile of Girls Flag Football.”

He continued, “We thank the PIAA for their leadership in recognizing a sport that has the power to unlock new pathways and opportunities for girls of all ages in every community.”

The sport will be officially available for high school girls in the state starting in the 2025-26 school year.

Pennsylvania has now joined other states, including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New York, and Tennessee, in making girls’ flag football a state-sanctioned high school sport.

The decision will also unlock opportunities for the participants and school districts in allowing them to compete for a state championship and eventually create a pathway of talent for college sports and beyond.

Steelers President Art Rooney II, in a statement in the release, called the move a “groundbreaking moment for the future of girls’ flag football.”

“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,” the statement read. “We look forward to seeing how girls’ flag football continues to grow in Pennsylvania and worldwide.”

A growing interest in flag football, which is a non-tackling version of American football where players wear belts with flags on them, peaked this summer after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced in October 2023 that flag football would be included on the LA28 Olympic sports program.