Every season a club secretary emails us asking for "twenty referee flags" and attaches a photo of the wrong product.
Sometimes it is a yellow penalty flag from American football. Sometimes it is an advertising flag with a club crest printed on it.
They are different products, bought by different people, and only one of them belongs on a touchline.
This page covers both, because we make both, but it starts with the one most buyers actually need.
| Assistant referee flag (linesman flag) | Penalty flag (American football) | |
|---|---|---|
| Sport | Association football | American football |
| Who carries it | Assistant referee, on the touchline | Official, on the field |
| What it does | Signals offside, throw-in direction, fouls, substitutions | Thrown to mark a penalty |
| Shape | Square cloth on a 45–60 cm handle | Small weighted cloth, thrown |
| Typical size | 30×30 to 40×40 cm | Roughly 38–40 cm square |
| Colour | Yellow, red, or yellow-and-red | Yellow, occasionally red |
| Ordered by | Clubs, referee associations, leagues, schools | American football programmes, schools |
If you are equipping a football club or a referees' branch, you want the left-hand column. Everything below is about that product.
A linesman flag is a square of cloth on a short handle. That is the whole design, and it has barely changed in fifty years because it already works.
The cloth attaches through a sleeve sewn along one edge, held by a cord and a small clip.
The clip matters more than it looks: it has to keep the cloth from rotating around the handle when the assistant raises it at speed.
The handle is aluminium or fibreglass, 45–60 cm, usually with a foam grip over the lower half so it stays put in wet weather.
Here is the part that surprises buyers. The Laws of the Game require an assistant referee to carry a flag, but they do not specify a size, a weight or a colour beyond "distinct".
That gap is why five leagues will hand you five different specifications, and why the same product gets ordered at 30 cm by one association and 45 cm by another.
| Component | Common spec | What to confirm before ordering |
|---|---|---|
| Cloth size | 30×30, 35×35 or 40×40 cm | Adult matches: 40 cm reads better from the far touchline |
| Fabric | 100D–150D polyester, or cotton | Polyester dries faster; cotton feels better but sags when wet |
| Weight | 100–150 g per flag | Below 100 g the flag feels flimsy in wind |
| Handle | 45–60 cm, aluminium or fibreglass | One-piece is stronger; telescopic fits a kit bag |
| Grip | Foam, 12–15 cm | Check it does not slide off when wet |
| Attachment | Sleeve, cord, swivel clip | Must prevent the cloth rotating on the handle |
| Colour | Yellow, red, yellow-red, checkered | Match the competition's regulations, not the club's kit |
| Printing | Screen print or dye sublimation | One-colour logos print cleanly; gradients do not |
| Packing | 1 pc per polybag, bulk carton | Associations often want individual bags for issue |
We see the same five faults on low-cost flags, and every one of them shows up within a month of regular use.
Cloth that is too small. A 30 cm cloth on the far touchline is a coloured dot. If your assistants work adult matches on full-size pitches, 40 cm is not an upsell, it is the minimum that does the job.
Cloth that clings. Thin nylon sticks to itself in rain and takes a second to unfurl, which is a second too long when you are flagging offside. Polyester drops.
Handles that fail at the joint. Telescopic handles snap at the lock, usually in cold weather. One-piece handles survive longer but do not fit in a small kit bag. Pick which problem you would rather have.
Clips that let the flag spin. The cloth wraps around the handle mid-signal and the assistant has to shake it out. This is a two-cent part and the most common complaint we hear about other suppliers' flags.
Red that turns pink. Cheap disperse dye on untreated polyester loses a grade or two of colour fastness within a season outdoors. Yellow hides it. Red does not.
| Buyer | Typical quantity | What they usually ask for |
|---|---|---|
| Grassroots club, 1–3 teams | 5–20 | Solid yellow, 30–35 cm, cheapest workable spec |
| Academy or youth setup | 20–50 | Mixed yellow and red, shorter handles for younger officials |
| Referee association or branch | 50–300 | One standardised spec, individual polybags, spare cloths |
| League or county association | 100–500 | League colour, logo on cloth, delivery split across dates |
| Tournament organiser | 100–200 | Fast delivery, spares, simple packing |
| School or university | 10–30 | Durable over precise, often bright colours |
Order size is driven by how many assistant referees a league appoints on one weekend, not by how many teams it has.
A competition running thirty matches needs sixty assistants, and each of them needs a flag in their hand. That is the number to plan from, and it is usually three to four times what a first-time buyer estimates.
The other thing worth ordering is spare cloths. Cloth fails before handles do, and a cloth costs a fraction of a complete flag.
League and association badges are fine on the cloth, normally in one colour. Sponsors are a different question: many competitions prohibit branding on officials' equipment, so check the regulations before you approve a logo.
Club crests we push back on. Referees are neutral officials. A club badge on a touchline flag is a rules problem wearing the costume of a design choice, and we have seen a kit secretary discover this the week before a cup final.
Player names and numbers do not belong on this product at all. If you want personalised kit, that is a different conversation.
If you came here for the American football product: it is a weighted cloth, roughly 38–40 cm square, with a small sand or shot bag sewn into a corner so it flies and lands flat. Yellow is standard. The specification that matters is the weight and how it is secured, because a penalty flag that bursts on the first throw is worse than no flag at all.
We make both, and we keep them on separate order lines. Mixing them up wastes a production run and, in our experience, at least one email chain.
Wash cold, air dry, never tumble. Do not leave flags in a car boot between matches: heat and trapped moisture do more damage than rain. Stored dry and used weekly, a polyester flag holds its colour for about two seasons outdoors before the fade becomes visible on pitch. The handle will outlast two or three cloths.
Which sport is this for? Football and American football are different products.
What cloth size does the competition expect, and does it specify a colour?
One-piece or telescopic handle?
Is there a logo, and is it one colour?
Do you need individual polybags for issuing to officials?
Do you need spare cloths in the same shipment?
What is the date of your first match day, not the date of your event?
The last one catches people out. Flags are needed before the season starts, not on the day of the final.
Yiwu Nuoxin Craft Co., Ltd. (NX Flag) makes referee flags, national flags and fan merchandise in our own workshop in Yiwu, Zhejiang. We trade on Alibaba.com as Yiwu Nuoxin Flag Craft Factory, verified for 13 years, with a store rating of 4.8/5 and a 98.4% on-time dispatch rate as published on our storefront in October 2026.
Referee flags are a small part of what we produce, which is exactly why we can quote them properly: we already run the fabric, the printing and the assembly, so a 200-piece club order does not need a new production line.
Tell us the sport, the cloth size and the quantity — we will quote within 12 working hours.
gary@nxflag.com · WhatsApp +86 138 0679 9343
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