Question Number: 22206

Law 1- The Field 10/11/2009

RE: Select Under 16

Doug and Kathy Caylor of Hope Mills, NC United States asks...

What is the preferred color for marking the fields? In North Carolina some travel clubs mark with white and others blue. To me the white shows up better, but heard several referees comment positively on the blue.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

If you happen to be playing on a field that is used for a variety of sports, you may have a variety of colors. Somehow pointyball gets to claim white; often I've seen soccer lines in yellow. At our HS permanent turf field, the lines for lacrosse were in blue, and there were some pink lines that we couldn't determine what sport they would be used for.

Just blue on just grass, it seems like it would fade quickly. Although I've also seen some pretty dull old yellow lines on grass too.

Of course if you're from Idaho (Boise State), then the field itself is blue, and the lines ...

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Hey, you're in Carolina and Carolina Blue is a beautiful color unless you're a Duke fan. I wish around here they'd use red and black!

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
The laws does not state what colour the lines should be. However the goalposts and crossbar must be white and white has been the traditional accepted colour worldwide for lines. The important part is that they are clearly visible. When the field of play is used for a number of sports different colour of line can be helpful. Another factor can be the availability of suitable paint and the most common is white.