Plenty of room is needed to play rugby, and let’s not forget the 30 players on the field versus football’s 22. There is a little wiggle room in this sport. The length of a rugby pitch can range anywhere from 94 metres up to 100, and the width from 68 to 70 metres.
Allowable measurements in feet are 308 to 328 for the length and 223 to 230 for the width. As well as that general playing area, the in-goal area at each end of the pitch can range from a further 6 metres to another 22 metres in length. With this in mind, the entire field can vary from 106 metres all the way up to 144 metres.
Layout of a Rugby Pitch
Naturally, a rugby pitch must be laid out in a certain way. These are the various components:
- Dead-Ball Line: Beyond the in-goal area and out of play.
- In-Goal Area: Includes the touch in-goal line. This is where the ball is grounded to score a try.
- Goal Line: The line which needs to be crossed for a try, also the line on which the goal posts stand.
- Touch: Out of bounds to the side of the pitch, marked by the touchline.
- 22-Metre Line: 22 metres from the goal line at each end of the pitch. A key reference point for restarts, penalties and for deciding where a lineout is taken when the ball is kicked into touch.
- 10-Metre Line: 10 metres from the halfway line on both sides, a reference point during kick-offs (retrieving team must be behind the line, ball must travel at least 10 metres).
Pitch Orientation
In modern times, much has been made of the injury impact on rugby players. Lots has been done to minimise this and to look after players following retirement. Even the sun is now taken into consideration when planning a rugby pitch.
With North at 0°, a line should be able to be drawn from goalpost to goalpost at an angle of -75° to 20° in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, South should be 0° with the straight lines running at -20° to 75°. This is said to lessen the impact of the sun on participating players.
Pitch Perimeter
As you’d expect, the perimeter of the pitch contains a number of things including the two technical areas. Those areas, much like in football, allow space for replacements, training staff and the sin bin too.
In most cases, pitches have a least a metre gap between the technical area and the touchline. This is simply a safety matter in the case of players coming off the field during play. Again, for safety reasons, the perimeter must be at least 5 metres wide in order to pass regulation.
Rugby Pitch Line Markings
You may notice when watching rugby that there are both dashed line markings and solid line markings.
Dashed Lines
Dashed line markings include:
- 5-metre lines, showing a team that they are 5m from the try line.
- 10-metre lines, drawn 10m either side of the halfway line.
- Dashed lines located 5m and 15m from the touchlines on both sides.
Solid Lines
Solid line markings are as follows:
- Try lines at both ends of the field.
- Dead ball lines at the most extreme ends of the field.
- 22-metre lines, situated 22m from the try line at both ends.
- The halfway line.
- The touchlines, indicated the edges of play around the field.
Rugby Goalposts
The posts are planted right in the centre of the try line at both ends of the rugby pitch. As mentioned above, the length and width of an overall rugby pitch and its perimeters can vary. The dimensions of the goalposts however, cannot. Standard measurements are:
- A minimum overall height of the posts of 3.4 metres (11.15ft).
- A height of 3 metres (9.84ft) to the edge of the bar from the ground.
- 6 metres (18.37ft) width of the bar between both posts.
With the kicker charged with aiming between the posts and over the bar, these measurements leave the kicker with a 5.6m width and as much height as needed for a successful kick.
Is a Rugby Pitch Bigger Than a Football Pitch?
In short, yes. It’s true that footballers are generally more agile, quicker and smaller than rugby players and can cover more ground running. But there are only 22 of them versus 30 rugby players during each game and so in rugby, more room is needed. Standard, basic dimensions for a rugby pitch are decided by World Rugby. They are up to 100 metres long which doesn’t include the in-goal areas, plenty of extra metreage being added by those. A 70-metre width is needed. In total, a rugby pitch can be anything up to 144 metres long.
Football pitches too can vary somewhat but are becoming much more standardised with FIFA in charge of the dimensions. Football pitch length can vary anywhere from 90 metres to 120 metres, with a width generally from 45 to 90 metres. That’s the so-called ‘standard’, but this does vary a fair bit. 105m x 68m is the accepted standard these days. Much was made of this in the past, as owing to nothing other than varying camera angles, many people thought that certain pitches were much wider than others, for example, at the Nou Camp.
There was never as much ambiguity in rugby, partly owing to the 10m and 22m markings on the pitch which means there is no confusion. While most people understand the 18-yard line in football and that the penalty spot is 12 yards out, there are no numbers or measurements painted on the pitch for clarity.
Comparison
To show a comparison between rugby and football, we’ve detailed below the differences between the playing areas at key venues. Twickenham versus Wembley shows the difference in England’s national rugby and football stadiums, while Welford Road versus the Etihad shows the same between domestic rugby and football champions’ venues.
| Twickenham (Rugby) | Wembley (Football) | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 125m | 105m (115y) |
| Width | 70m | 68m (74y) |
| Welford Road (Rugby) | The Etihad (Football) | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 97m | 105m (115y) |
| Width | 66m | 68m (74y) |
These tables also show that in general, rugby measurements are chiefly made in metres while football, at least domestically, uses yards and hasn’t fully moved to the metric system. As you can, in individual cases a football pitch may well be bigger than a rugby pitch, though it isn’t the case generally. These measurements also don’t include rugby’s in-goal area which adds plenty to the overall dimensions.