How to mark out a football pitch

Before you open anything

• Confirm the length and width your competition requires, and write them down.
• Work out how much paint the job needs from the coverage figure on the container you are going to use.
• Check the forecast against the drying window stated on that container.
• Gather pegs, a long tape, string line, and a marker you have actually tested since it was last put away.

Step one: set out a square rectangle

1. Choose one touchline as your baseline and peg both ends at the correct length.
2. From each baseline peg, set out the goal line at a right angle. A 3-4-5 triangle is the quickest way to get a right angle with a tape: measure 3 m along the touchline, 4 m along the goal line, and adjust until the diagonal between those two points is exactly 5 m.
3. Peg the far corners at the correct width.
4. Check both diagonals of the finished rectangle. They must be equal. If they are not, the pitch is a parallelogram and every marking inside it will be wrong.

On a 100 by 64 m pitch, both diagonals should measure 118.73 m. That single check catches more errors than anything else on this page.

Step two: string the straights

Run a string line between pegs for every straight you are about to mark, and walk the machine along the string rather than towards a distant point. Freehand straights look fine while you are walking them and look like a river from the touchline.

Mark the perimeter first, then the halfway line, then the penalty areas and goal areas at both ends.

Step three: circles and arcs

1. Peg the centre mark on the halfway line, exactly midway between the touchlines.
2. Run a cord of the centre circle radius from that peg, 9.15 m for 11-a-side, and walk the circle keeping the cord just taut.
3. Measure the penalty mark from the midpoint between the goalposts, 11 m for 11-a-side, and peg it.
4. Run a 9.15 m cord from the penalty mark and mark only the part of that arc which falls outside the penalty area.
5. Mark the four corner arcs last, at 1 m radius, working outwards so you finish facing away from wet paint.

Overmarking an existing pitch

Overmarking is a different job. You are following a line rather than creating one, so the risk is drift rather than geometry. Work slowly at the points where you rejoin an existing line, keep the machine centred on the old line rather than beside it, and stop for a look from the touchline every couple of straights.

Re-measure the full geometry at least once a season, and always after any work that has disturbed the surface. Small errors compound quietly across a winter of weekly overmarking.

Order of work that saves paint

• Set out and check every peg before the first line goes down.
• Mark from the furthest point back towards your access point.
• Keep the machine moving at a constant walking pace; slowing down puts more paint on the ground, not a better line.
• Leave the corner arcs and the penalty arcs until last.