Touch Football Rules

These are the rules by which we play:

1. Be friendly & have fun.
2. When there are an odd number of people, the last person picked must play all-time defense until a new player arrives. If two new players show up, the last of those two picked plays all-time defense.
3. Bring plenty of water to remain hydrated.
4. Playing with cleats is encouraged but metal (baseball) cleats are forbidden. You cannot play with us if you insist on wearing metal cleats.
5. Rule infractions result in a loss of down.

SCORING:

1. A touchdown is one point.
2. A safety is a half point. The team that gives up the safety must punt to the opposing team.
3. We play up to five points for the first couple games.
4. The last game is played to seven points, by two.

OFFENSE:

1. The offense gets four downs to convert a first down; the first down marker is the 50 yard line.
2. Receivers must have two feet down within the field of play for a reception to be good.
3. If you are bobbling the ball as you go out of bounds, it is incomplete.
4. Downfield blocking is allowed but use your hands with palms open, not your forearms or elbows. That’s another good way to hurt people. Pass blocking is NOT allowed.
5. No stiff-arming. It doesn’t do any good, anyway. When you stiff-arm, you’ve basically given the defender an easy way to get two hands on you. Besides, it’s a good way to hurt someone. Same goes for slapping a defender’s hands away from you. That’s poor form.
6. The quarterback may run with the ball only after the pass rusher has crossed the line of scrimmage.
7. The quarterback’s entire body must be over the line of scrimmage when he throws the ball for the play to be an illegal pass.
8. If the quarterback crosses the line of scrimmage at any point during the play, he may not pass the ball.
9. There is no intentional grounding; quarterbacks can throw an intentionally incomplete pass with no receiver in the vicinity in order to avoid a sack.
10. If the offense does not convert on fourth down, the opposing team takes where the ball first hits the ground.

PUNTING:

1. A team that gives up a safety must punt the ball to their opponent.
2. Two defensive players must line up at the line of scrimmage at the snap.
3. Blockers of the receiving team must block without using their hands; hands must remain at the player’s side.

DEFENSE:

1. This is touch football. Do not tackle. Try not to knock people down. Be polite.
2. Two-hand touch: That means two hands must be placed simultaneously on the defender in order for him to be down. The football is an extension of your body, so if a defender has one hand on the ball and another on your body, you are down.
3. If you tag someone, call out the fact that you have done so.
4. Fumbles are live.
5. A defensive player can strip the ball from an opponent as long he does not have two hands simultaneously on his opponent, in which case the receiver is down.
6. A play is live until the ball carrier is touched down; if he falls to the ground but has not yet been tagged, he may get up and resume the play.
7. The pass rusher must count to “five Mississippi” before crossing the line of scrimmage.
8. The opposing quarterback may not run until a defender crosses the line of scrimmage.
9. There are no blitzes.