Q: HOW DOES A PLAYER REGISTER?
A:  From the menu across the top of this page,
click onto "REGISTER HERE" to register.

Registration fees can be viewed by clicking onto the registration link.

The registration fees depend on whether the player is new or returning,
needs or has a jersey and flags, and needs to be placed onto a team
or has been invited by a coach to join a team.

Q: WHAT IS INCLUDED THE REGISTRATION FEE?
A: The fee includes an official NFL Flag Football reversible jersey and flag
belt set to keep forever, and all field and game officials' fees for a
minimum of 10 weeks of flag football per season.

Q: WHAT IS THE GAME LIKE?
A: NFL Flag Football is designed as a non-contact form of
American football (no blocking or tackling permitted).
Instead of tackling the ball carrier, the defense must capture
(remove) one of two flags fastened on each player's waist.
There will be some incidental contact,
as in soccer or basketball, but players may not initiate contact.
There are no hard pads, no helmets, no blocking, no pushing, no hitting.
Players will run with the ball, throw and catch passes, score touchdowns,
make interceptions, learn to follow instructions and work as a team.
This program is not a clinic, it is an official NFL-sanctioned league,
with games, standings, playoffs, tournaments and championships.

Q. WHAT ARE THE RULES?
A. Official league and tournament rules can be found on this website.
Use the menu on the left for links to rules.

Q: WHAT EQUIPMENT IS NEEDED?
A: Players must wear their NFL Flag jersey & flag belt (provided),
football pants, baseball pants, or sweat pants without pockets,
molded rubber football or soccer cleats, and a protective mouth guard.
Soft knee pads are permitted. Players may wear hoods or soft hats,
baseball-style caps may be worn with brims facing backwards.

Q: WHERE ARE THE GAMES PLAYED?
A: Games will be played at various fields throughout North Jersey.

Wayne League games will be played at fields located right off of Rt. 23
in the Packanack Lake section of Wayne Township.

Q. WHEN ARE THE GAMES PLAYED?
A. Sundays are the primary day, with an occasional
Saturday possible, if too many teams to fit on Sundays.

We play from youngest to oldest throughout the day,
game times are by current grade in school +/- one hour.
K=12pm, 1st=1pm, 2nd=2pm, 3rd=3pm, 4th=4pm, etc...+/- one hour.

Q: HOW MUCH OF A TIME COMMITMENT IS REQUIRED?
A: NFL Flag Football requires a minimal time commitment for players,
parents and coaches. Each team will play one game per week
which lasts one hour. 

Coaches may schedule the team for a practice during the week,
but most teams practice for an hour or less before their scheduled game,
or right after it.

Q: HOW ARE TEAMS FORMED?
A: This league is considered to be a "traveling" level league,
as several pre-formed teams from different towns play in this league.
Players can form their own teams consisting of up to 10 (ten) friends,
neighbors, classmates or family members. All teammates must be within one
school grade of each other. Players can register together as a team,
or individually to be placed onto a team with other players from their
school (if available).

Q: WHO COACHES THE TEAMS?
A: Pre-formed teams must provide their own coach.
Other teams are coached by parents or other volunteers.
Please do not hesitate to volunteer to coach your child's team.

Q. WHAT ARE THE AGE RESTRICTIONS?
A: NFL Flag Football includes boys & girls in grades PreK - 9.
Teams are broken into grade-specific divisions.
We have all-girls teams and all-boys teams in each division,
and co-ed teams are also permitted.

Q: ARE THERE ANY SIZE OR WEIGHT RESTRICTIONS?
A: There are no size or weight restrictions.

Q. CAN PLAYERS FROM OUTSIDE OF WAYNE PLAY IN THIS LEAGUE?
A. Players and teams from all towns are welcome. 

Players and teams from the following towns have played in this league:

Belleville, Bloomfield, Bloomingdale, Boonton, Butler, Caldwell, Cedar Grove, Chester, Clifton, 
Denville, Dover, Dumont, Dunellen, East Orange, East Rutherford, Edgewater, Elmwood Park, Englewood,
Essex Fells, Fairfield, Fair Lawn, Franklin, Franklin Lakes, Garfield, Glen Ridge, Glen Rock, Hackensack,
Haledon, Hamburg, Harrington Park, Hasbrouck Heights, Hawthorne, Hopatcong, Jefferson, Jersey City,
Kearny, Kinnelon, Kenilworth, Lincoln Park, Little Falls, Livingston, Lodi, Lyndhurst, Mahwah, Manhattan NY,
Maplewood, Maywood, Mendham, Midland Park, Millburn, Montclair, Montville, Morristown, Mountain Lakes,
Newark, North Bergen, North Haledon, Norwood, Nutley,  Oakland, Old Tappan, Orange, Paramus,
Parsippany, Passaic, Paterson, Pequannock, Plainfield, Pompton Lakes,  Pompton Plains, Prospect Park,
Queens NY, Ramsey, Randolph, Ridgewood, Ringwood, River Edge, Riverdale,  Rivervale, Rockaway,
Roseland, Saddle Brook, Sparta, Secaucus, Springfield, Staten Island NY, Stockholm, Teaneck, Totowa, 
Union, Upper Saddle River, Verona, Waldwick, Wanaque, Wayne, West Caldwell, West Milford, 
West New York,West Orange, Wharton, Whippany Park, Woodbridge, Woodbury NY, Woodland Park, 
and Wyckoff.

Q: ARE GAMES PLAYED IN ALL WEATHER CONDITIONS?
A: In case of rain on game day, or rainy weather during the week before,
games may be cancelled if fields are too wet.
Players will be provided a phone number to call in case of rainy weather,
for recorded message about possible cancellations.

Q. ARE THERE ANY TOURNAMENTS BESIDES LEAGUE GAMES?
A. The NFL holds eight Regional flag football tournaments every November
at NFL cities representing each of their eight conferences.

The annual tournament competition are in three age divisions,

9-10 boys, 9-10 girls, 11-12 boys, 11-12 girls, 13-14 boys, and 13-14 girls.

Regional champions in each of four age divisions advance to the 
NFL Flag National Tournament at the Pro Bowl in February.

US National champions advance to face champions of seven other nations
at the NFL Flag World Championships each summer.

North Jersey League teams have done well in NFL Flag Regional competition,
having won tournament championships in nine out of eighteen years,
with ten different league teams advancing to Disneyworld.

Q. WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF FLAG FOOTBALL?
A. The game of flag football can trace its roots to the late 1950's at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis.
NFL Official John Carrigan was refereeing an intramural touch football league at the Academy.
The aggressive nature of some play-ending "touches" became an issue.
Carrigan ordered the midshipmen to tuck bandanas into their belts.

Instead of touching, shoving, tackling or punching a ballcarrier or receiver,
the play would end when a defender captured his "flag".

Admiral Carrigan's simple, innovative command,
that football's battles shall be won by capturing flags,
has produced a new generation of brown-ball (American) football players.

The game of flag football spread throughout the US military bases and
institutions. Fort Dix and Fort Monmouth in NJ established the first
men's flag football leagues in the area. Town and County leagues for
civilian residents formed near the bases, and beyond.

The New Jersey Flag Football Association (NJFFA) was formed in 1972,
as an association of many independant men's leagues throughout the state.
The primary function of the NJFFA was to standardize rules among the
leagues, and conduct an annual NJ flag football State Tournament.

By the year 1990, the NJFFA included ten leagues,
and nearly 100 men's teams throughout New Jersey.

The National Football League began organizing youth flag football leagues and tournaments in 1998,
through their worldwide "NFL Flag" football program.
There are nearly one million children playing NFL Flag football throughout the world.

The North Jersey NFL Flag League, founded at Packanack Lake in Wayne,
has grown from a single game of 20 players on Super Bowl Sunday January 2000,
to rank among largest youth flag football leagues,
with over 2000 players participating on nearly 200 teams each year.

Through the years the Wayne-based league has included players or teams from these towns:
Belleville, Bloomfield, Bloomingdale, Boonton, Butler, Caldwell, Cedar Grove, Chester, Clifton, 
Denville, Dover, Dumont, Dunellen, East Orange, East Rutherford, Edgewater, Elmwood Park, Englewood,
Essex Fells, Fairfield, Fair Lawn, Franklin, Franklin Lakes, Garfield, Glen Ridge, Glen Rock, Hackensack,
Haledon, Hamburg, Harrington Park, Hasbrouck Heights, Hawthorne, Hopatcong, Jefferson, Jersey City,
Kearny, Kinnelon, Kenilworth, Lincoln Park, Little Falls, Livingston, Lodi, Lyndhurst, Mahwah, Manhattan NY,
Maplewood, Maywood, Mendham, Midland Park, Millburn, Montclair, Montville, Morristown, Mountain Lakes,
Newark, North Bergen, North Haledon, Norwood, Nutley,  Oakland, Old Tappan, Orange, Paramus,
Parsippany, Passaic, Paterson, Pequannock, Plainfield, Pompton Lakes,  Pompton Plains, Prospect Park,
Queens NY, Ramsey, Randolph, Ridgewood, Ringwood, River Edge, Riverdale,  Rivervale, Rockaway,
Roseland, Saddle Brook, Sparta, Secaucus, Springfield, Staten Island NY, Stockholm, Teaneck, Totowa, 
Union, Upper Saddle River, Verona, Waldwick, Wanaque, Wayne, West Caldwell, West Milford, 
West New York,West Orange, Wharton, Whippany Park, Woodbridge, Woodbury NY, Woodland Park, 
and Wyckoff.