Field manual · instrument
Hockey Pitch Paint Calculator
Give it your product’s coverage rate and it will tell you how much paint a full-size pitch takes, and show every step it took to get there. It recommends no product, remembers nothing, and sends nothing anywhere.
Paint estimate
Result
Effective from 1 March 2026
No estimate yet. Set your figures, then press Calculate.
What gets counted, and once only
Every length below is measured along the centre of the painted band at 75 mm, because that is the path a marking machine travels. Shared metres are counted once: the cross-field lines stop at the inner edges of the side-lines and the circle arcs stop at the inner edge of the back-line, since the perimeter loop already owns the paint in those bands.
| Category | Length | How it is derived |
|---|---|---|
| Side-lines | 182.65 m | 2 × (91.4 − 0.075) — centre path of the 91.4 m perimeter sides |
| Back-lines | 109.85 m | 2 × (55 − 0.075) — centre path of the 55 m perimeter ends |
| Centre line | 54.85 m | 55 − 2 × 0.075 — stops at the inner edges of the side-lines |
| 22.90 m lines | 109.70 m | 2 × (55 − 2 × 0.075) — two lines, each stopping at the side-lines |
| Circle lines | 98.71 m | 2 × (3.66 + 2 arcs at r = 14.5925 m), arcs trimmed at the back-line |
| External reference marks | 4.20 m | 12 × 300 mm plus 4 × 150 mm marks outside the field |
| Broken 5 m lines (solids only) | 11.40 m | 2 × 19 solid sections of 0.3 m — the 3 m gaps are not painted |
| Total, playing lines only | 559.96 m | Everything above except the broken 5 m lines. |
| Total, with broken 5 m lines | 571.36 m | Adds 19 solid sections per circle, gaps excluded. |
- The broken line is not a continuous line. Only the 300 mm solids are paint; the 3 m gaps are not. Counting the whole broken line as painted overstates it several times over.
- The penalty spots are area, not length. Two spots of 150 mm diameter come to 0.0353 m² and are added to the painted area directly. Giving them a linear length would be inventing a number.
- Line width changes length, not just area. A wider band has a shorter centre path around the same rectangle, so both figures move when you change the width.
A worked example, end to end
This is not your result — it is one calculation shown in full so the arithmetic can be followed on paper. It uses 75 mm lines, playing lines only, 1 coat, a coverage of 10 m²/L, 10% wastage and 10 L packs. The coverage figure is a placeholder chosen to keep the sum readable; it is not a product specification.
- Line length 559.96 m Sum of the categories above, playing lines only.
- Painted line area 42.00 m² 559.96 m × 0.075 m.
- Penalty spots 0.0353 m² Two circles of 150 mm diameter.
- Total painted area 42.03 m² Line area plus spot area.
- One coat 4.20 L 42.03 m² ÷ 10.00 m²/L.
- After coats 4.20 L × 1 coat.
- After wastage 4.62 L × (1 + 10%).
- Whole packs 1 Rounded up from 4.62 L at 10 L a pack — 10.0 L purchased.
Assumptions and limits
- Geometry from the FIH Rules of Hockey, effective 1 March 2026, field specification 1.1–1.8.
- Full-size field of play, 91.4 m × 55 m, measured to the outside edges of the perimeter lines.
- Lengths are measured along the line centre at a painted width of 75 mm.
- Shared segments are counted once: cross-field lines stop at the inner edges of the side-lines, and circle arcs stop at the inner edge of the back-line.
- Broken 5 m lines are excluded. They are mandatory for senior international matches and discretionary elsewhere.
- The two penalty spots are counted as area (150 mm diameter each), not as line length.
- Coverage of 10 m²/L is your figure, applied to painted area. It is not taken from any product.
- 1 coat and 10% wastage applied in that order, then rounded up to whole 10 L packs.
- This is a planning estimate, not a specification. Real coverage varies with surface, applicator, dilution and weather.