Field manual · measurements
Field Hockey Pitch Dimensions
A full-size field hockey pitch is 91.40 metres long and 55.00 metres wide — 99.96 yd by 60.15 yd — with every line marked 75 mm wide. Those measurements are taken to the outside edges of the perimeter lines, because a line belongs to the area it encloses.
Dimension proofs
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91.40 m
Length, back-line to back-line
Rule 1.1 — the field of play is 91.40 metres long, bounded by the side-lines.
99.96 yd
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55.00 m
Width, side-line to side-line
Rule 1.1 — and 55 metres wide, bounded by the back-lines.
60.15 yd
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22.90 m
23-metre lines, from each back-line
Rule 1.3e — measured between the furthest edges of each line, not centre to centre.
25.04 yd
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14.63 m
Circle: arc radius and depth from the back-line
Rule 1.4a–b — outside edge of the 3.66 m straight to outside edge of the back-line; the arcs are quarter-circles centred on the inside front corner of each goal-post.
16.00 yd
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6.475 m
Penalty spot, centre from the outer goal-line edge
Rule 1.3i. Rule 13 states the same point as 6.40 m from the inner edge: 6.40 + 0.075 = 6.475.
7.08 yd
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3.66 m
Circle straight, and the goal mouth it matches
Rules 1.4a and 1.5d — the straight is the same 3.66 m as the clear width between the posts.
4.00 yd
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2.14 m
Crossbar, ground to its lower edge
Rule 1.5d — measured to the lower edge, not to the top of the bar.
7.02 ft
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75 mm
Every painted line
Rule 1.2b — all lines are 75 mm wide, and a line belongs to the area it encloses.
2.95 in
Where the figures sit
The plan is generated from the same numbers as the ledger above, at one metre per drawing unit, with the broken 5 m lines shown. It prints legibly on A4 in landscape.
Metres and yards
The rules are written in metres and every official measurement is metric. These conversions are exact arithmetic — one yard is 0.9144 metres by definition — and are given for people working with older plans or imperial tapes.
| Measurement | Metric | Imperial | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Field length | 91.40 m | 99.96 yd | Just under 100 yards. The pitch is not, and never has been, exactly 100 yards. |
| Field width | 55.00 m | 60.15 yd | Rule 1.1 gives the width as 55 metres exactly. |
| Playing area | 5,027 m² | 54,110 sq ft | Field of play only, before any run-off. |
| 23-metre line | 22.90 m | 25.04 yd | From the back-line, furthest edge to furthest edge. |
| Circle radius | 14.63 m | 16.00 yd | Also the depth of the circle at its centre. |
| Goal width, inside the posts | 3.66 m | 12.01 ft | 12 feet in the old measure, near enough exactly. |
| Goal height, to the crossbar | 2.14 m | 7.02 ft | 7 feet in the old measure. |
| Line width | 75 mm | 2.95 in | Uniform for every line on the field. |
Run-off: the space around the pitch
Run-off is where most facility plans come unstuck. The rules ask for two things at once: the playing surface must continue past the lines, and beyond that there must be unobstructed space. A fence at 2 metres behind the back-line satisfies neither requirement on its own.
| Measurement | Minimum | Recommended | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Behind each back-line — playing surface | 2.00 m minimum | 3.00 m recommended | The surface itself must continue this far past the line. |
| Behind each back-line — unobstructed beyond that | 1.00 m minimum | 2.00 m recommended | Clear space; it need not be playing surface. |
| Behind each back-line — total | 3.00 m minimum | 5.00 m recommended | Rule 1.1 note: 2 + 1 minimum, 3 + 2 recommended. |
| Outside each side-line — playing surface | 1.00 m minimum | 2.00 m recommended | Measured from the outer edge of the side-line. |
| Outside each side-line — total | 2.00 m minimum | 3.00 m recommended | Rule 1.1 note: 1 + 1 minimum, 2 + 1 recommended. |
Measuring it on the ground
Set the centre line first. Establish one back-line, find its midpoint, and run a perpendicular across the full 55.00 metres; every other line is then squared from those two. Working from a touchline you happened to find already marked is how a pitch ends up out of square by a metre at one corner.
Check the diagonals before any paint is opened. On a correct field of play they are equal, and each measures 106.68 metres by Pythagoras — √(91.40² + 55.00²). If the two diagonals differ, the rectangle is a parallelogram and every circle struck from a back-line will inherit the error.
Four mistakes that are easy to make
- Measuring the 23-metre lines centre to centre. Rule 1.3e measures between the furthest edges, so the painted band sits inside the 22.90 metres, not astride it.
- Striking the circle from the centre of the goal. The two arcs are centred on the inside front corners of the posts — 3.66 m apart — which is what gives the circle its straight section.
- Taking the penalty spot from the inside of the line. Both figures are correct for different references: 6.475 m from the outer edge, 6.40 m from the inner edge. Using 6.475 m from the inner edge puts the spot 75 mm too deep.
- Treating the outer rectangle as line centres. The 91.40 by 55.00 is to the outside edges. The centre of the painted band runs 37.5 mm inside that, which is exactly why the paint estimate works from centre paths rather than from the quoted rectangle.