by Sanguine »
05 May 2021 11:32
Corner flags, or flags in general.
Interesting one this. Before the unified set of football laws were introduced in 1877 by the newly formed FA, football was generally played using 'Sheffield Rules', and certainly by its original clubs in Sheffield and the Midlands. One of those rules involved the scoring of 'rouges', which was where the ball was kicked over the goal-line four yards either side of the goal post, and touched down by the attacking team. These weren't scored as goals, but number of 'rouges' was used to split a tied game. Interesting for me in that the 'rouge', although not called that, is still used in Aussie rules football.
The corner flag as we know it today are those flags that marked out 'rouges', moved back to the corners of the pitch.
Corner flags were traditionally triangular - and whilst there is nothing in law that prescribes it, and most clubs use rectangular flags, it has become somewhat accepted that only clubs who have won the FA Cup should use triangular flags.
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Arsenal_Vs_Burnley_%2824109521293%29_%28cropped%29.jpg/800px-Arsenal_Vs_Burnley_%2824109521293%29_%28cropped%29.jpg)