flag-happy

comparative more flag-happy · superlative most flag-happy

1. hobbiesOverly inclined to rule that an infraction has occurred.

   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

   2 more examples

   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

   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