The NFL’s gold penalty flag has its golden anniversary

Posted by PlexusGroupe on April 5, 2015, 2:00 PM EDT
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There is no mistaking the penalty flag when it flies out of an official’s hand and onto the playing surface.

Which is precisely the point.

Fifty years ago this week, the NFL changed the color of its penalty flags from white to gold. According to the Associated Press, two factors keyed the change. One, the referee’s white hat was used to spot the ball, so a gold flag would eliminate any confusion about what was being tossed. Two, papers occasionally fluttered onto the field, and a gold flag couldn’t be mistaken for a Polish sausage wrapper.

So everyone, do wish the gold penalty flag a happy golden anniversary. The flag is cheered, and it is jeered, but it has never been confused for the wax paper covering a Polish sausage.

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19 responses to “The NFL’s gold penalty flag has its golden anniversary”

  2. I remember that change, people were saying what now, little did we know. Bill

  3. They should make them silver and black in the AFC and blue and green in the NFC to commemorate the franchises most associated with the flags in the first place.

  4. Gold?

    You mean like the yinzers refer to the Steelers wearing black and “gold” uniforms???

    They are yella. The Saints wear black and gold. The Steelers’ uniforms are black and yella…the same yella as the zebras’ flags.

  9. If the internet existed back then I bet fans would have been complaining- Rozelle is ruining the league! What about the integrity of the game?!

  11. For those that think a white flag couldn’t be easily spotted, recall the recent well-intentioned but poorly executed use of pink flags in October Breast Cancer Awareness games – no one could pick them out from players’ pink towels that regularly fell (or were tossed) on the field.

  12. The difference between Roselle and Goodell is that Rozelle made changes that improved the quality of the product and game while Goodell’s changes have destroyed it.

  13. To celebrate this anniversary and the crucial role the penalty flag has played in his franchise’s success, Jerruh Jones plans to have a flag thrown on the field at the Taj MaJerruh, then picked up and placed in the Cowboys Ring of Stars.


  14. alonestartexan says:
    Apr 5, 2015 4:43 PM

    You mean, people didn’t complain that Pete Rozelle was ruining the game and that he needed to be fired?!

    Fans always will complain, right or wrong. The thing that made Rozelle great was that the majority of the owners complained. Rozelle did what was right for the game regardless of how the owners felt. Pete Rozelle contantly dared the owners to fire him.

  15. gurnblanstonreturns says:
    Apr 5, 2015 5:25 PM
    To celebrate this anniversary and the crucial role the penalty flag has played in his franchise’s success, Jerruh Jones plans to have a flag thrown on the field at the Taj MaJerruh, then picked up and placed in the Cowboys Ring of Stars.
    ——————————

    Boo this man!!!

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