Dictionary

flag-happy en · ADJ

Etymology

From flag + happy.

Meanings

1. Overly inclined to rule that an infraction has occurred.
   • Soccer players may "head" the ball for tactical purposes, while football players are barred from "leading" with their heads. Laving aside offensive and defensive lineman who do so every play. Also, most linebackers. A rule which is applied in practice only to defensive backs, arbitrarily, now and again, haphazardly, when a flag-happy zebra feels like it, but never to running backs who lower their heads to gain another two yards. 2019, R.L. Sterup, Things You Can't Say About Sports, page 57:
   • If any host nation has ever earned a handful of incompetent decisions from nervous and flag-happy officials, it was this one. 2013, Nick Hornby, Fan Mail: Twenty Years of Writing about Football:
   • I remain convinced of my capacity to harangue flag-happy officials (both when they are correct and when they've just cocked up another costly decision), to the point where they might occasionally favour the Arsenal just for a quiet life! 2012, Bernard Azulay, Arsenal on the Double:

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