In a monumental vote, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) sanctioned Girls Flag Football as an official sport in Pennsylvania on Wednesday.

"This is not just an important day for the Eagles and Steelers, but for the sport of football and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," said Eagles Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie. "When we launched our Girls Flag Football League in 2022, we set an ambitious five-year goal to get the sport sanctioned in our state. Now, here we are three seasons later and two years ahead of schedule. The sport's organic growth is a credit to the participants, administrators, coaches, officials, and parents who helped raise the profile of Girls Flag Football. We thank the PIAA for their leadership in recognizing a sport that has the power to unlock new pathways and opportunities for girls of all ages in every community."

The Eagles Girls Flag League, presented by Gatorade, The Bellwether District, and Planet Fitness, began in 2022 with 16 teams from the Philadelphia Public and Catholic Leagues and quickly expanded to 38 teams in 2023 and 65 in 2024. In August 2023, the PIAA designated Girls Flag Football as an emerging sport in Pennsylvania, the next step in the process of making Girls Flag Football an officially sanctioned sport in Pennsylvania. The Eagles Girls' Flag League has more than 1,600 girls playing throughout the eastern side of Pennsylvania. Another 36 schools play in the Pittsburgh Steelers Girls Flag League.

"We're thrilled that we can offer another opportunity for girls to participate in interscholastic athletics," said Frank Majikes, PIAA President. "This is the second girls sport in two years to be approved. In recognizing the National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS), we will be initiating development of a Girls Flag Football rules book in January 2025. This will allow us to develop our process to host a championship. The structural changes to the sport won't begin until the 2025-26 school year. The PIAA thanks the National Football League, Eagles, and Steelers for their support and efforts for Girls Flag Football."

While the league has seen a rapid rise over a short amount of time, it wouldn't have been possible without an integral group of people who helped get the league started from Day 1, promoted expansion, and advocated to have the sport sanctioned in Pennsylvania.

One of the first people to jump on board was Jimmy Lynch, the Executive Director of Athletics for the Philadelphia School District. Lynch had partnered with the Eagles before on clinics and youth football programs and was aware of the NFL's Girls Flag initiative that had seen early success.

Timothy Morrison, the Original League Chair for the Philadelphia School District Girls Flag Football, was looking for opportunities to expand girls sports in the city when he was connected with the Eagles about the idea of Girls Flag. Morrison quickly reached out to schools within the district to see what interest students and administrators had.

"We had athletic directors chomping at the bit for this opportunity," Morrison said. "Ultimately, we were all trying to fulfill these girls' dreams. We made it possible, and they kept on coming."

As well as having schools from the Philadelphia Public League, schools from the Philadelphia Catholic League joined the Eagles' league thanks to direction from B.J. Hogan, the League Chair for the Philadelphia Catholic League, and Stephen Haug, the Executive Director of Athletics for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Tim and Katie Quinn played major roles in attracting girls to the sport before the league began. In 2018, they created Athena Athletics to give girls a platform to play flag football after their four daughters expressed interest but weren't allowed to play in a boys league.

Since its inception, Athena Athletics has seen more than 450 girls come through its doors. Many Athena Athletics athletes play for various high school teams in the Eagles Girls Flag League.

"I always tell people that I am a mom of five, but really I am a mom of 450," Katie Quinn said. "We just thought we were going to get a bunch of girls together and play flag football, but it turned into a full-blown lifestyle."

In November and December of 2021, the Eagles hosted their first Learn to Play Clinics that introduced girls in Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania to flag football. It was Morrison's recommendation to start things in the warmer winter months that propelled the league to begin sooner.

Hogan and the Quinns joined forces on the Eagles Girls Flag Steering Committee along with former Lansdale Catholic and current Wissahickon Head Coach Mike Reimel, Archbishop Ryan Head Coach Sue Dutka, and Palumbo Head Coach Christine Donnelly. The committee meets often to discuss rule changes, scheduling, league updates, and more.

"We advise the Eagles on where we think things need to move and change, and we move under their approval," Tim Quinn said. "We are always trying to make sure we are moving the league forward in a sustainable way,"

"We met six or seven times over a three-month period to rewrite the rulebook for the season," Hogan said. "From a safety perspective, we mainly were trying to take out as much contact as possible, so the girls could enjoy their time playing and not worry about getting hurt."

Reimel and his brother, Matt, run Girls Flag tournaments around the world. They have been key figures in the league as coaches and teachers.

Matt is the NFL Flag Tournament Director and provided training for all coaches in Year 1 of the league. Mike was the first-ever head coach to win the Eagles Girls Flag Football Championship with Lansdale Catholic in 2022.

"Seeing the smiles on the girls' faces, seeing them score touchdowns, and having the boys cheer for them for once, was what stuck out," Mike Reimel said. "That first season made me fall in love again with the sport and made me want to grow it from the ground up."

The Eagles Girls Flag League officially started playing in the spring of 2022, crowning Lansdale Catholic as its inaugural champion.

A pivotal moment in the league's growth and recognition was when players from the Saint Hubert Catholic High School Girls Flag Football team were honored on stage at the 2022 NFL Draft.

"This brought a terrific spotlight on the sport in the Philadelphia area and the girls on the Saint Hubert team, all thanks to the Eagles organization," Haug said.

2023 was a year that saw expansion, initiatives, and a major announcement.

The league expanded to 38 teams in Pennsylvania, less than a year after starting with just 16 teams.

In February, the Eagles teamed up with Operation Warm to create the FLY:FWD sports bra, an essential piece of equipment for young girls and women competing in sport. Every girl in the Philadelphia School District received a FLY:FWD sports bra and each team in the Eagles Girls Flag League was supplied with them.

Later that year, the PIAA announced Girls Flag Football as an emerging sport in Pennsylvania. This was a steppingstone to getting the sport sanctioned and recognizing it on the same level as other sports in the state.

Now, that goal has been reached! The vote culminated a historic year for Girls Flag Football in Pennsylvania.

The 2024 season was the first that Girls Flag Football was a standalone sport in the Philadelphia Public League, the league's 30th official sport. Lynch's league crowned a champion for the first time this past spring after board members voted to make it a sport last summer.

The same happened in the Philadelphia Catholic League. Athletic directors and principals voted to make Girls Flag Football a sport, holding a championship in the spring and celebrating All-Catholic honorees.

"Watching the shift from the sport just being fun to being something everyone is super passionate about is the biggest change we have seen in this sport," Dutka said. "Seeing the girls get more involved and more schools jump on board; it makes my heart explode."

The Eagles Girls Flag League hosted its third annual championships at the NovaCare Complex on Saturday, June 1. Archbishop Wood took home the championship with a 34-14 win over Gwynedd Mercy. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, an ardent advocate of women's sports, was one of several players who attended the festivities. Hurts presented the Vikings with the championship trophy.

"It was an honor to be a part of this and witness this special event," Hurts said. "There has to be some respect put on the work that it takes to prepare to play any type of game. Just to see how dialed in and focused they were, how excited they were to play the game, that meant a lot.

"There is a lot of talent there. These young girls have the opportunity to play the game they love and that's what it's all about. I was a fan out there and I loved every moment of it."

In collaboration with the Pittsburgh Steelers, there are no limits for the number of teams, divisions, and classes for Girls Flag Football in the Keystone State.

The future is incredibly bright for the sport outside of Pennsylvania. Colleges in the NAIA have established a solid foundation for the sport at that level and the NCAA is starting to introduce women's varsity flag programs across the country.

"I believe this is the fastest-growing sport in the country," Matt Reimel said. "A lot of young female athletes are taking a liking to flag football and people are starting to take it more seriously."

Flag Football will become an Olympic sport in 2028 – Hurts starred in an NFL promotional video – where some of these girls in the state may have the chance to represent their country and win a medal.

With the sanctioning of Girls Flag Football as a sport in Pennsylvania, the hard work has paid off for those involved, but they all know that the sky is the limit for the league and the sport.

"For all of us, this is our baby, and we are watching her grow up," Donnelly said. "We have that pride, just like you are watching your kid walk across the stage at graduation. To know that we were a part of this grassroots as little as three years ago and to see it grow to the extent that it has, there are truly no limits. I'm so excited to see where this sport and this league goes."