•  6 vs 6;  centre snap required ( ball must be snapped between legs)

  • QB must be behind the line of scrimmage

• There are two standard field size options ( depending on the size of the total field)

  • 70 yards long x 25 yards wide with 10 yard endzones (25 yard-halves)

  • 64 yards long x 25 yard wide with 7-yard endzones ( 25 yard- halves)

• Each possession starts at the 5 yard line after scores, turnover on downs and halftime; interceptions will be marked on the spot

• There will be a 5 second pass clock for each play - if the ball is not thrown by the time the 5 seconds expires, they play will be blown dead

• Teams have 4 downs to advance the ball past mid-field (25 yards in length)

  • If team is successful in getting past mid-field they will have another 4 attempts to score a touch down

• There is no limit to runs outside the no-run zone

• At the snap of the ball, there will be an Automatic Rush:

  • The rush will start from 7 yards back ( indicated by a rushers bag) and must remain within two yards of the rushing bag

  • The rusher(s) must declare their intention to rush by raising their hand and it must remain there until the ball is snapped - Maximum of 1-2 “declared” rushers

  • Any defender may cross the line of scrimmage provided that they start from 7 yards back, but only declared rushers will have right-of-way

• To ensure equal playing time, each team will be required to make substitutions every 3 minutes of regulation time

Uniforms

• All players must wear jerseys approved of SCFFL; any player missing their jersey will be required to wear a pinny provided by the league or a shirt of the same colour as their jersey

• Jerseys must be tucked in underneath the flag belt

• All players must wear bottoms (shorts/pants) WITHOUT pockets; TAPING NOT ALLOWED)

  • pants/shorts with pockets cannot be turned inside out

  • Zippers are permitted however the zipper must work and the the pocket must fully close

• All jewelry must be removed ahead of game time

• Mouthguards are MANDATORY

Footwear

• All players must wear football or soccer cleats. 

• All metal cleats/spikes or shoes with metal tips are strictly prohibited

Flags

• All players must wear 2 flags

• Flags must be worn at the hips and must not be obstructed by any clothing

• Games are 50 mins in length; 2 running 25-minute halves with 5 plays counted down at the end of each half

  • Clock will only stop for timeouts, injuries, player substitutions

  • Any play started before the clock runs out will not count towards the 5 plays

  • Converts and replayed downs do not count towards the 5 plays

• 25-second play clock to start the play; any play not started within 25 seconds will result in delay of game.

• Each team will have 2 30-second timeout per half; timeouts not used in the first half will be forfeited

• Referees have unlimited timeouts and have the ability to add time back to the clock at their discretion

• In regular season all games that are tied at the end of regulation time and 5 plays will result in a tie

• In playoffs each team will go into a best of 3 convert attempts with the option to go for a 1 point convert ( from the 5 yard line) or 2 points ( from the 10 yard line); converts are live ( see convert rules)

Mercy Rule

• In the event that a team is up by 18+ points at the end of regulation time in the 2nd half, the 5 plays will not be played and the game will end

Touchdowns

•  6 points

• Occurs when any part of the ball crosses the plane of the endzone before a player is downed (flagged) by any means

Converts

• After a touchdown is scored a team can either choose:

  •  A 1- point convert attempt from the 5 yard-line ( no runs allowed)

  • 2-point convert attempt from the 10-yard line (a run or pass play)

• Converts are live-- any defender who intercepts a convert are able to return the ball to the other end zone for the amount of points of the convert attempt

Safety

• 2 points

• Occurs when a ball carrier brings the football into their own endzone and are downed

• An interception in the endzone will not be ruled a safety if the ball was caught in the endzone or the momentum of catching the ball carried the player into the endzone; it will be ruled a touchback

• No safeties will be called in Learn-to-Play league (resulting play will be touch back and play will commence from 5-yard line)

• A quarterback who has the ball in the endzone when the 5-second pass clock elapses will NOT be penalized with a safety

• Coin flip determines the choice of possession or direction, winner can:

  • Choose to start on offense or defense

  • The loser of the toss will get to choose sides

• At the start of the second half the team that started on defense will now start on offense

• Ball will start on the offense’s own 5 yard line to start the game,after scores, turnover on downs and halftime

• Ball in play once referee signals “Ready to Play” (all defense must be onside), offense will have 25-sec to start the play

• Play starts upon centre snap ( or movement of the ball, once set); the 5-second pass clock  will start as well

• Absolutely NO tackling or blocking (stationary picks are acceptable; the player cannot move)

• There can only be one forward pass per play; a second forward pass will result in illegal forward pass and the spot will be judged from where the ball was thrown

• All forward passes that do not cross the line of scrimmage are illegal forward passes ( unless touched by a defender). All forward passes must go beyond the line of scrimmage

• There is no intentional grounding; the quarterback may throw the ball anywhere across the line of scrimmage to avoid a sack

• There is no limit to backwards passing or laterals behind the line of scrimmage

A run is defined as the the ball being carried past the line of scrimmage by any player without it being thrown

• There are no limits to the number of run plays ( they would require a centre snap, to a QB AND a hand-off to another player)

• A QB cannot run on a play-action; they ball must be handed off twice for the QB to be eligible for a run

• 5-yards outside of the mid-line and end zone is a no run zone; any play started within this zone must be a pass play

• A QB ( or the receiver of the snap) may only run if they have received a handoff or lateral behind the line of scrimmage from another player

• “Centre sneak” play is not allowed the QB may not handoff, pitch, or lateral the ball first to the centreem description

• Receivers must remain inbounds for the entirety of the play to be eligible (they cannot run out of bounds and run back in)

  • Receivers cannot be pushed out of bounds; will result in a penalty

• Receiver must have one foot in bounds when making a reception

• Laterals and handoffs are only permitted behind the line of scrimmage; if a lateral is dropped the result of the play is a dead ball and the ball will be placed where the ball is dropped; this also applies to missed snaps

• If the ball is FUMBLED the result of the play is dead ball and it is marked where it fell

• Ball Carriers cannot run into a stationary defender, the onus on the carrier to run around defenders

• Ball Carriers can do the following to avoid their flag from being pulled, without charging or initiating contact with the defender:

  • Spin and/or Dip

  • Ball carrier must MAINTAIN CONTROL at all time

• A ball carrier cannot jump to avoid being flagged, nor can they jump to enter the endzone

• NO DIVING: Diving is not permitted to advance the ball or for flaggingItem description

• There must be a designated “rusher” marking the quarterback
  

Automatic Rush (U13-U17 Sr Girls):

• Rush starts from behind the 7-yard rushing bag upon MOVEMENT of the ball once set ( Not on QB audible) ; 

  • if the centre moves/lifts the ball before the QB has audibly called for it, the rusher is permitted to go

  • If the centre moves the ball but has not snapped it to the QB, the rusher is permitted to immediately flag the centre

• To have direct rights to where the ball is snapped, the rusher must declare their intention by raising their hand straight above their head and must keep it raised until any the ball is snapped

  • Direct rights meaning that offensive players cannot impede the path of the rusher ( receivers must go around the rusher); impeding the rusher results in a penalty

  • If an offensive player does not move on the snap of the ball the rusher is responsible for avoiding contact of the offensive player

• A maximum of  2 players can declare themselves rushers to have right of way to the ball; anyone can rush as long as they are 7 yards back but anyone outside of the 2 declared rushers will not have right of ways

• 3 or more declared rushers will be considered unsportsmanlike conduct on the defense

• Full body must be behind the rushing bag and they must be a maximum of 2 yards on either side of the bag

• Once the 5-second pass clock has expired defender may cross the line of scrimmage

• All players must be wearing two SCFFL approved flags

• Flags must be worn at the hips and excess belt length must be tucked in or cut off

• Jerseys must be tucked underneath the flag belt and flags cannot be obstructed in any way

• A coach/player may call the referee’s attention to improper flag positioning at any point in the game

• Removal of 1 flag of the ball carrier will stop the play

  • In the event that one of the ball carrier’s flags has fallen off before/during the play without defender contact; the play can be downed by a 1 hand touch

• The ball carrier must not impede any defender from getting their flags in any way whether it was inadvertently or not; flag-guarding of any kind will result in a penalty

• If a defender removes a receivers flag before a ball is caught; the ball is still in play and it will require a 1 hand touch down the player

  • If a receiver is bobbling a catch; a defender may remove a flag at any point of the bobble to stop the advance of play

• All penalties will be at the discretion of the non-penalized team to accept to decline; with the exception of Delay of Game; Offside (Defense and Offense)

• Live Ball and Dead Ball Fouls do not offset each other; Two live ball fouls do and the down is repeated

• All live ball penalties should be assessed in the order they occurred , before dealing with dead ball fouls

• There is no limit to the amount of dead ball fouls that can be enforced

• Half time or game time cannot end on a defensive penalty

• Offsetting penalties will not extend the half/game

• All live ball penalties (occur while the ball is in play) will be indicated by the referee throwing their flags onto the field; most plays will be allowed to continue until completion at which point the non-penalized team will be given the choice to accept or decline

• Penalties will be either applied to Line of Scrimmage (LOS) or Point of Infraction (POI)/ ”Spot”

• All Penalties will be applied as “Loss of Down” (LOD), “Automatic First Down” (AFD) or a “Repeated Down” (RTD)

• Offsetting Fouls- occur when both the offense and defense are penalized on the same play

  • Offsetting fouls result in the down being played over

  • If a team incurs two penalties during the same play only one may be enforced

  • If a penalty occurs during a play and an additional penalty occurs as a result of a dead-ball foul, both penalties will be enforced even if they are incurred by the same team or opposing teams and do not offset

• Any distance penalty that would place the LOS past the goal line will be applied as “half the distance” to the goal line

• Officials have the authority to rectify an error and correct a down until the series has ended.
  

  [PLEASE REFER TO PENALTY CHART FOR LIST OF INFRACTIONS AND APPLICATIONS]

  
  

• In the event of a dispute, that cannot be clearly resolved with the SCFFL rule book, the Referee-In-Chief or the league commissioners will have final say

• League commissioners reserve the right to make amendments to the rule book or make judgments that may to contradict the rule book that serve in the best interest of all participants of SCFFL to ensure that league remains fun, safe, fair for all