What happens if your flag falls off in flag football?
Down. You’re down as soon as you have the ball.
Under IFAF rules, a player with fewer than 2 flags who has the ball is down right away. If a receiver’s flag fell off earlier in the play, the pass still counts, but the ball is dead where they caught it and any run after the catch doesn’t.
It doesn’t matter whether the flag fell off by accident or was pulled illegally. An illegal pull adds a penalty, but the ball is still dead at the catch.
IFAF Flag Football Rules 2023, R 4-1-2-g
No penalty for a flag that falls off. An illegal flag pull on a player without the ball is 5 yards (signal S52).
In NFL FLAG the play is also dead when a ball carrier’s flag falls out.
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