GPF 5v5 — Fall 2026 Rules

Scope and independence. These are Greenwich Premier Flag Football’s GPF 5v5 rules. They use mechanics common to the widely played national 5v5 format, but they are not an NFL FLAG rulebook. Greenwich Premier Flag Football is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by NFL FLAG, RCX Sports, the National Football League, or any NFL team. If another ruleset conflicts with this document, the GPF 5v5 rules control our games. On safety matters, venue requirements and the on-field referee’s decisions take precedence over these rules.

At a Glance

• Format: five players per side. An official four-on-four game is allowed only when both teams have exactly four available players; otherwise the team that cannot meet the applicable minimum forfeits.
• Clock: two 20-minute halves, a 5-minute halftime, a 25-second play clock, and two 60-second timeouts per team in each half. Special clock rules apply only during the final 2 minutes of the second half when the mercy rule is not active.
• Possession: normal drives begin at the offense’s 5-yard line; turnover spots and mercy starts are exceptions. The offense has four downs to cross midfield, then three downs to score.
• Passing pressure: up to two identified defenders may rush immediately from the 7-yard rush line. The quarterback has 7 seconds to release a forward pass; a legal backfield transfer ends that count.
• Contact: stationary, non-contact screens are allowed. No tackling, contact blocking, moving screens, stripping, or intentional contact.
• Season result: ties stand. At an 18-point margin, the trailing team normally starts at midfield (interception returns keep their spot) and the leading team becomes run-only.

Teams, Pregame & Substitutions

• Games are normally played five-on-five. If both teams have exactly four available players, they may instead play an official four-on-four game.
• If one team can field five players and the other cannot, or one team can field four players and the other cannot, the team below that applicable minimum forfeits. The administrative result is recorded as 1-0 and displayed publicly as a forfeit. If neither team can field four players, the game is recorded as a double forfeit with no score.
• After a forfeit, the referee and coaches may use the scheduled field time for an unofficial four-on-four game or may arrange an unofficial five-on-five game by loaning players from the team with more players. Any such play must create a safe matchup, and its scores do not change the official result.
• Substitutions are unlimited between plays and are controlled by each team’s coach. Every entering player must be on the field, and every departing player must be off the field, before the snap.
• Coaches may enter the field for the huddle but must return to their sideline before the snap. The referee will not permit a snap while a coach remains on the field; the play clock continues, and delay of game applies if it expires.
• Before the game, the referee meets the captains and coaches for a coin toss. The winner chooses offense or defense; the other team chooses direction.
• Teams change directions at halftime. The team that began the first half on defense begins the second half with the ball.

Field

• The target field is approximately 25 yards wide by 60 yards long, including two 10-yard end zones. Greenwich Premier Flag will use the closest practical safe layout available at the venue; the markings and field map confirmed by the referee before the game control.
• Each field has a midfield line-to-gain, a 7-yard defensive rush line, and two No-Run Zones encountered by the offense: the 5 yards immediately before midfield and the 5 yards immediately before the opponent’s goal line. These distances may be unmarked. The referee establishes them using approximately one-yard paces: seven paces for the rush line and five for a No-Run Zone, and identifies the rush line and any applicable No-Run Zone before the snap.
• Normal drives begin at the offense’s 5-yard line. If venue geometry requires a shorter field or different end-zone depth, officials will identify equivalent start, midfield, rush, and No-Run Zone lines before play.
• A boundary line is out of bounds. The referee places the ball near the center of the playable field and sounds or announces ready for play before the play clock begins.

Uniforms, Flags & Protective Equipment

• Every player must wear a properly fitted mouthguard while on the field. A player without one may not participate in a play.
• Players wear a league-approved belt with two flags positioned at the hips and fully accessible.
• Jerseys must remain tucked in at all times. No clothing may cover a flag or make a clean flag pull harder.
• Shoes are required. Molded plastic cleats, turf shoes, and athletic shoes are permitted when suitable for the surface; exposed metal is never allowed.
• Jewelry and hard-brimmed hats must be removed. Gloves, soft pads, secured protective eyewear, secured soft-shell headgear, and supportive athletic braces are permitted. Supportive athletic braces may not expose hard metal or sharp edges.
• Greenwich Premier Flag supplies an age-appropriate game ball. The referee decides whether any personal equipment is safe.

Clock, Timeouts & Game Completion

• A regulation game has two 20-minute halves with a 5-minute halftime. Except as stated below, the game clock runs continuously and stops only for a team timeout, an injury, halftime, or an official’s timeout.
• The offense has 25 seconds from the ready-for-play signal to snap the ball. Delay of game is a 5-yard offensive penalty with loss of down; there is no free warning.
• Each team receives two 60-second timeouts in each half. Unused timeouts do not carry over.
• When the mercy rule is not active, special clock rules begin at 2:00 remaining in the second half. The clock stops after an incomplete pass, a ball carrier goes out of bounds, a score, a change of possession, an accepted penalty, a team timeout, an injury timeout, or an official’s timeout. A play that ends with the ball carrier down in bounds keeps the clock running. After a clock-stopping play, the clock restarts on the next snap unless the referee announces otherwise.
• During this special-clock period, the game clock remains stopped throughout the extra-point setup and the entire conversion play, including any interception return or replayed attempt. It restarts on the next possession’s first snap. Outside this period, the normal continuous-clock rules apply to extra points.
• While the mercy rule is active, the special final-two-minute clock rules do not apply; the normal continuous-clock rules remain in effect.
• Games tied when regulation expires are recorded as ties; there is no overtime in this four-date series.
• While a team leads by 18 points or more, the trailing team begins each new possession at midfield with three downs to score, except after an interception: interceptions remain live and the new possession starts where the return ends. The leading team must run the ball on every play. The run-only requirement overrides the No-Run Zones, so the leading team may and must run even within a No-Run Zone. If the leading team scores a touchdown while the mercy rule is active, its only conversion option is one run from the 5-yard line worth 1 point. Normal rules resume if the margin falls below 18 points.

Starting a Drive, Downs & Turnovers

• A new possession normally starts at the offense’s 5-yard line, including after a score, a declared punt, or a failed scoring series.
• The offense receives four downs to carry or complete the ball beyond midfield. Once it does, it receives three new downs to score.
• Before its fourth down on its own side of midfield, the offense must declare play or punt. A punt is only a declaration—there is no kick—and immediately gives the opponent the ball at its own 5-yard line. Once a punt is declared, that decision is final. An offense that initially declares play may instead elect to punt at any time before the fourth-down snap. If it runs the play and does not cross midfield, the opponent takes possession at the dead-ball spot.
• After the offense crosses midfield, failure to score within three downs gives the opponent the ball at its own 5-yard line.
• On an interception during normal play, the new offense keeps the return yardage and begins at the dead-ball spot. An intercepted airborne backward pass may also be advanced.
• An interception caught in the defender’s own end zone may be returned. If the play ends there without the carrier leaving that end zone, it is a touchback, not a safety: the new offense starts at its own 5-yard line with four downs to cross midfield. If the carrier returns the ball into the field of play, the return spot controls as usual. These interception rules also apply while the mercy rule is active. Conversion interceptions are governed by Scoring and do not set the next drive’s starting spot.
• The ball is spotted where the ball, not the runner’s feet or hips, is located when the play ends. The ball must cross the midfield or goal-line plane to earn the line-to-gain or a touchdown.
• There are no recoverable fumbles. A loose ball becomes dead when it touches the ground and belongs to the team that last possessed it. It is spotted where it hit unless that would advance the ball; a forward fumble returns to the spot where possession was lost.

Scoring

• Touchdown: 6 points.
• One-point conversion: one play from the 5-yard line; a forward pass beyond the line of scrimmage is normally required. While the mercy rule applies to the leading team, its one-point attempt is instead run-only.
• Two-point conversion: one run-or-pass play from the 10-yard line. The leading team may not choose this option while the mercy rule is active.
• Safety: 2 points when an offensive ball carrier is declared down in that team’s own end zone, or when an offensive foul in that end zone produces a safety. The team that scored next starts a normal drive at its own 5-yard line.
• Interception return: an interception returned to the opponent’s end zone during normal play scores 6 points.
• Extra-point interception: an interception returned during a conversion scores 2 points.
• After a touchdown, the offense must state whether it is attempting one or two points. It may change that choice only by spending its available timeout before the play clock expires.

Formation, Snap & Motion

• The offense must have a center on the line of scrimmage and may place up to three additional players on that line. The quarterback must begin off the line.
• The ball begins on the ground. The center may snap it between the legs or sideways in one rapid, continuous motion to a player in the backfield, and the ball must leave the center’s hands.
• A set player who makes a movement that simulates the snap commits a false start.
• Multiple players may shift before the snap, but every shifting player must become set for at least one full second. At the snap, only one player may be moving, and that motion must be parallel to or away from the line of scrimmage—not toward it.
• The quarterback may not make the first handoff, pitch, or backward pass directly back to the center. The center remains eligible to receive a later legal forward pass.

Running & Ball-Carrier Rules

• The quarterback is the player who first controls the snap. That player may not carry the ball across the line of scrimmage without first transferring possession to a teammate. After a legal transfer, the quarterback may receive the ball back and run, subject to the No-Run Zone rules.
• Direct handoffs, backward passes, pitches, and laterals are allowed behind the line of scrimmage, with no limit on the number of legal backfield transfers. Any player receiving one may run or may throw the play’s single forward pass from behind the line. A backfield transfer ends the 7-second pass clock and allows every defender to cross the line of scrimmage.
• No handoff, pitch, or lateral is allowed after the ball has crossed the line of scrimmage. Beyond the line, only the current carrier may possess the ball until the play ends.
• Except for a leading team subject to the mercy rule’s run-only requirement, in a No-Run Zone the offense may use backfield action, but the ball may cross the line of scrimmage only on a forward pass caught beyond that line.
• A runner may spin or make a controlled jump cut, but may not dive, leap, or hurdle to gain yardage or evade a flag pull. Leaving the ground solely to avoid a collision may be allowed at the referee’s discretion.
• The ball carrier must avoid a defender who has established a stationary position. Running through that defender is charging.
• Offensive teammates may not run alongside the carrier to shield the flags or obstruct pursuing defenders. A stationary, non-contact screen is permitted under Blocking, Contact & Flag Pulling.

Passing & Receiving

• Each play may contain one forward pass. It must be released from behind the line of scrimmage and travel beyond that line, unless a defender touches it first.
• A forward shovel or push pass is legal and counts as the one forward pass; it must also be received beyond the line of scrimmage.
• The quarterback has 7 seconds after controlling the snap to release a forward pass. If time expires first, the ball is dead at the original line of scrimmage and the down counts. A legal backfield transfer ends this clock.
• There is no intentional-grounding foul, but an untouched forward throw must still cross the line of scrimmage to be legal.
• The quarterback may become a receiver after a legal backfield transfer. A passer may not throw the ball and catch that same forward pass.
• All five offensive players are eligible receivers. A catch is complete when the player controls the ball and the first foot—or another body part other than a hand—touches in bounds.
• Simultaneous control by an offensive and defensive player belongs to the offense. Interceptions remain live and may be returned unless another rule ends the play.

Rushing the Passer

• Before the snap, no more than two defenders may identify themselves as rushers while positioned at least 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Each identified rusher must raise a hand before the snap and keep it raised through the snap.
• An identified rusher who chooses to rush must do so immediately at the snap. Delayed rushing is not allowed. No team is required to send a rusher.
• A defender who is not rushing may begin closer than 7 yards to the line of scrimmage and may defend at the line, but may not cross it before a legal backfield transfer. A defender who crosses early without having been properly identified with a raised hand from at least 7 yards away commits an illegal rush.
• After any legal handoff, backward pass, pitch, or lateral behind the line, every defender may cross the line immediately.
• The direct path from an identified rusher’s pre-snap position to the quarterback belongs to the rusher. A moving offensive player must avoid that path. A rusher must go around an offensive player who remains stationary rather than create contact.
• A rusher may raise a hand to contest a throw but may not contact the passer except for incidental contact in the referee’s judgment.
• A sack is a flag pull behind the line of scrimmage and is spotted where the ball was when the flag was pulled. A sack in the offense’s own end zone is a safety.

Blocking, Contact & Flag Pulling

• Stationary, non-contact screens are permitted: a player may hold an established position, but may not move with a defender to obstruct them, initiate contact, or extend an arm or leg to impede them. Defenders must go around a stationary player. Contact blocking, moving screens, and running alongside a carrier to shield them are prohibited. A moving offensive player must also respect the identified rusher’s path as described in Rushing the Passer.
• Stripping or punching at the ball is illegal.
• Offensive players are entitled to a free release. Defenders may not hold, chuck, redirect, or run through a receiver.
• Defenders may dive to pull a flag, but may not tackle, hold, or run through the carrier while doing so.
• A flag may be pulled only from a player who controls the ball. Pulling a receiver’s flag early is an illegal flag pull.
• Flag guarding includes using a hand, arm, elbow, head, shoulder, clothing, or the ball to deny access to a flag.
• Intentional tackling, elbowing, cheap shots, fighting, and other deliberate dangerous contact may result in immediate ejection in addition to yardage enforcement.

When the Play Ends

The ball becomes dead when any of the following occurs:

• the ball touches the ground, including on an incomplete snap, handoff, pitch, lateral, or fumble;
• the ball carrier’s flag is pulled or falls off;
• the carrier steps on or beyond a boundary;
• the carrier’s knee, shin, leg, forearm, arm, or torso touches the ground;
• a touchdown, conversion, or safety is scored;
• a player gains possession while wearing fewer than two flags;
• the 7-second pass clock expires;
• the carrier dives, leaps, or hurdles illegally; or
• an official sounds the whistle.

A player may dive to catch a pass, and a defender may dive for a flag, provided neither creates illegal contact. A hand or foot touching the turf by itself does not make a runner down. If a flag falls from a player already carrying the ball, the ball is dead where the flag came loose. If a player gains possession with a missing flag, the ball is dead at the catch or recovery spot.

For an inadvertent whistle, the team in possession may accept the ball where the whistle sounded with the down counting, or replay the down from the prior line of scrimmage. If it occurs on the final timed play, the offense receives the same choice on an untimed down.

Sidelines, Conduct & Technology

• Players, coaches, and spectators must follow referee instructions and remain in their assigned areas. Only the head coach or captain may respectfully ask for a rule clarification.
• Trash talk, taunting, abusive language, threats, and physical or verbal abuse of any player, coach, official, or spectator are prohibited.
• Two unsportsmanlike-conduct fouls on the same player or coach in one game require disqualification. A single severe act may result in immediate removal and further league discipline.
• League-authorized devices may be used for officiating, score, clock, statistics, and game film. Spectator recording remains subject to league and venue policy.
• A coach or spectator may not use a phone, radio, headset, earbud, watch, or other device to send live instructions to a player on the field. That conduct is unsportsmanlike; an intentional or repeated violation may result in removal or forfeiture at the league director’s discretion.

Penalty Administration

• The referee administers penalties and decides whether contact was incidental. The offended team may decline a penalty.
• Unless a table says the enforcement is from the foul spot, yardage is measured from the previous line of scrimmage.
• Defensive fouls carry an automatic first down: four downs to cross midfield if the offense has not yet earned midfield and the enforced spot remains short of it; otherwise, three downs to score. Offensive fouls carry a loss of down unless the table states otherwise. Half-the-distance enforcement applies when the full distance would exceed half the distance to the goal.
• Live-ball fouls are enforced before dead-ball fouls. An offensive foul after the team has crossed midfield does not create a new first down if the ball is later advanced across midfield again.
• A game or half cannot end on an accepted defensive penalty; the offense receives an untimed down.
• A defensive spot foul in the end zone places the ball at the 1-yard line with a first down. An offensive spot foul in the offense’s own end zone is a safety.

Defensive Penalties

Offensive Penalties

Differences from Greenwich 6v6

The GPF 5v5 rules are the default for the Fall 2026 series. The comparison below preserves the key differences from the prior Greenwich 6v6 format for officials and rules questions; that alternate does not govern these games.

Both formats permit stationary, non-contact screens and prohibit moving screens and contact blocking. The 6v6 column describes the preserved reference text; its No-Run Zone lateral restriction should be confirmed before treating it as a statement of how past games were officiated.

Differences from the Current NFL FLAG Regular-Season Rulebook

The comparison below uses the regular-season provisions in the current rulebook linked by NFL FLAG. Local NFL FLAG leagues may adopt variations, so this table compares published rulebooks rather than every local program. Rules not listed here are substantially aligned or are not material to ordinary play.

Source & Version Note

This independent rulebook was written for Greenwich Premier Flag Football and paraphrases mechanics from the public Spring 2026 rules page and linked 5v5 rulebook published by NFL FLAG. The linked source PDF identifies its internal revision as March 24, 2025. The sources were reviewed on August 18, 2026; the choices and local variations in this document are Greenwich Premier Flag’s own.