You may be hearing about flag football belts as long as you watch American football. Ths belt comes in different types to suit the game of football. It is important that the referee displays the flat belts on the ground to indicate a penalty. However, if you are not very conversant with the sport, you will wonder what throwing things on the floor can mean. In this guide, we will go over some of the common penalties involved in this sport that will make the referee point the flag on the floor. Some of the scenarios include;
An offensive spot foul
The offensive spot foul is one that requires you to lose down. The assessment of these types of fouls only occurs at the area where the foul takes place. There are three forms of this foul that may make the referee kick. These forms include;
- When you are running with the ball, or screen or block another player. Basically, when you physically stop another player from getting yardage. In this case, you will lose ten yards and a down loss.
- When you are flag guarding. This is when you are carrying the ball and you block the defense from accessing the flag. It has the same loss of ten yards and a down loss.
- When you charge your opponent. This means when you find a way to create space for yourself without using elbows or arms. It has the same punishment of a ten yards loss and a down loss.
A defensive spot foul
Generally, the referee of an American football sport addresses all issues from the scrimmage line. However, if it is a defensive spot foul, they will address it from the point where the foul occurred. Like the offensive options, the defensive spot foul too has certain occurrences. Some of which include;
- Holding an offensive player. This occurs when a player that is not with the ball gets held down by another player. The offensive player will get an additional five yards and they get the first down.
- Stripping is a foul in American football, even though many don’t know this. Stripping is the process of taking the ball off a player’s possession by smacking or taking the ball by force. You will get punished with a first down automatically and you will need to give away a free ten yards to the opponent.
- When you interfere with a defensive pass, it is a foul. This will occur when you purposefully stop a ball receiver from having a chance to receive the ball. It may come through holding his shirt or any other thing. The punishment is an automated first down.
Conclusion
There are other fouls like the offensive and defensive flag penalty that have a lot of rules. However, if you see a flag football belt, be aware that these belts are useful in certain sports. A good way to understand the usefulness is by checking through this guide. If you are a good fan of American football, you probably know how it works, but still check to learn one or two things.