In the beginning, there were no lines; in fact, there were no fields. Games were played from village to village or within a village/town.

The oldest known plan of the field dates back to 1862 and it has just the four lines – two goal-lines and two touchlines. The goal-line was called the line of goal as the touchlines were called the lines of touch. There was no dead-ball line. In 1866 the laws decreed that the goal-line was “in-goal”. In 1874 the laws reaffirmed this and stated that the touchlines were in touch.

In 1905, the half-way line, the 25-yard lines and the 10-yard lines came into law. The lines 10 yards from the half-way line and on each side of it were originally short lines. Since 1931 they go across the field in dashes. (Metrification, first proposed in 1969, was approved in 1970 and came into law in 1976, and the 25 became the 22.)

Dash lines are used when they are close to solid lines to avoid confusion – the 10-metre lines and the lines five metres from the touch line and then the most recent lines five metres from the goal line. The dotted lines five metres from the touchline came into law in 1926 to indicate the minimum distance that the ball should be thrown in. Half a century later it also indicated the closest a scrum could be to the touch line.