The Problem: Rugby players keep getting injured and concussion is a growing problem.
The Solution: Reduce the size of rugby players by implementing a points system similar to boxing and the Paralympics.
Rugby players are huge. Even the backs, who were traditionally very lean and flight of foot, nowadays look more liked the forwards of old.
And Rugby players are fast.
Simple physics tells you that such a situation leads to more forceful collisions, which the human body struggles to cope with (force = mass x acceleration).
Having bigger and stronger players hitting each other at faster and faster speeds is a recipe for injury.
Players currently have no incentive to be smaller, and every incentive to be bigger, so a regulation is required to solve the problem.
I propose introducing a points system for rugby teams, whereby the weight of each player puts them into a particular category with an associated number of points, and there are a maximum number of points allowed on the field at any one time.
A similar system exists for the Paralympics, where teams are made up of players with different levels of disability, and it works well. It also adds an interesting extra tactic into the sports about how to manage the team; to go for a lot of middle-point players or one or two high point players and the rest low point players.
A similar system could be used for rugby, but based more on the boxing weighting system; each weight category would have points associated with it and players would weigh-in before games and be allocated points, and the team would have a maximum number of points allowed on the field.
Teams could still have one or two enormous players, like a Jonah Lomu of old, but they would then also have to have some featherweights in their side as well.
Rugby players would therefore generally becoming lighter and leaner, reducing the intensity of collisions and focusing on the skills of footwork and tactics, not simply brute force. A wider range of players would then be eligible to play, not just giants, and the risk of injury would reduce, while still keeping the fundamental elements of the rugby game in tact, maximising viewing enjoyment for fans.
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