Flag football is formally a sanctioned sport for high school girls in New Jersey.
The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association voted Monday to approve the sport.
The Philadelphia Eagles, together with the New York Giants and Jets, have supported flag football in New Jersey and helped develop the sport by means of cash and applications, in keeping with a press launch from the Eagles.
A sport is taken into account for sanctioning when it has adopted operational and security requirements from a governing physique and when these requirements are applied into applications, the announcement says.
“From the earliest days supporting girls flag football, we believed in the sport’s ability to grow and create meaningful opportunities for young female athletes. What started as an ambitious goal to get the sport sanctioned in Pennsylvania has evolved into an ongoing pursuit to expand the sport beyond state lines,” Jeffrey Lurie, chairman and CEO of the Eagles, stated in a press release.
The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association sanctioned girls’ flag football in September 2024.
The Eagles have hosted the Final Four and state championships for New Jersey’s high school girls flag football leagues on the Jefferson Health Training Complex and have facilitated clinics for players and coaches, the press launch says. Flag football teams from Delaware performed at Lincoln Financial Field throughout halftime of an Eagles preseason sport final summer time.
“The National Football League, including the Philadelphia Eagles, has been instrumental in raising awareness and creating opportunities from the outset, and that ongoing commitment has helped build the solid foundation we see today,” Colleen E. Maguire, government director of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, stated in a press release.