Use of Flags

[varefump]

Here in Virginia, the powers that be have declared that flags will not be used by the line judges in any of our state tournament matches. I have objected to that ruling but to no avail. The two reasons given are (1) not all associations have/use flags, and (2) it's a safety issue.

My question to the forum, which states or localities allow line judges to use flags?

Also, has anyone heard of an incident where someone got hurt because of the use of flags?