It’s a bit of a silly row IMO.

American football allows the hard hits because they are all padded up - if they didn’t have all the armour then there would be far more contact rules to keep the athletes safe-ish.
Rugby doesn’t have all the armour so they have more rules about what constitutes fair and safe-ish contact.

Australia rules football is hella brutal ... 18-man squads, no pads, seemingly anything goes ... those dudes are rough & tough ... can't imagine they last more than a few seasons before getting put out to pasture.

Here we go again ... bored executives with nothing better to do than make stupid complicated rule changes to the game of NFL football (viewership is way up btw) ... I once had a female senior in the Marines ... she would want to rearrange our office every six months ... not that the two are related, but one can easily draw parallels. #leavethegamealone

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NFL Owners Approve 'Drastic' Change to Kickoff Rules
Kickoff returns are returning

by Newser Editors and Wire Services
March 26, 2024

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh talks with reporters during an AFC coaches availability at the NFL owners meetings, Monday, March 25, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Kickoff returns are returning to the NFL. Team owners on Tuesday approved a new rule that will take what essentially had become "a dead play" and make it an integral part of the game again. "We feel this is a great day for the NFL," said Saints special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi, who was heavily involved in creating the framework for the new hybrid kickoff. The major overhaul to special teams—which has been in the works for years—takes elements of the kickoff rules used in the XFL and tweaks them for use in the NFL beginning in 2024, the AP reports. The rule will be in play for one season on a trial basis and then be subject to renewal in 2025.

NFL Competition Committee chairman Rich McKay said the new rule passed by a 29-3 to vote. It needed 24 votes to pass. "There was a little fear of the unknown," McKay said. "I think the optics are definitely the most drastic (rule change) we've seen. The thing that gives us all the comfort is we have the tape, we've seen it. We can show you the plays and you can see how this can play out." McKay said there was urgency to vote on this rule before the draft because it could impact the way teams structure rosters. There were 1,970 touchbacks on kickoffs last season that now could be returns. There were 92 fair catches last season that are no longer allowed. Any ball caught in the field of play must be returned.

"I'm all for it," Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. "You have 2,000 dead plays. Nobody wants to see that. It'll add excitement and newness." How the new rule works:

For a standard kickoff, the ball would be kicked from the 35-yard line with the 10 kick coverage players lined up at the opposing 40, with five on each side of the field.

The return team would have at least nine blockers lined up in the "set up zone" between the 30- and 35-yard line, with at least seven of those players touching the 35. There would be up to two returners allowed inside the 20.

Only the kicker and two returners would be allowed to move until the ball hits the ground or was touched by a returner inside the 20.

Any kick that reaches the end zone in the air can be returned, or the receiving team can opt for a touchback and possession at the 30. Any kick that reaches the end zone in the air and goes out of bounds or out of the end zone also would result in a touchback at the 30.
If a ball hits a returner or the ground before the end zone and goes into the end zone, a touchback would be at the 20 or the play could be returned.
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In other rule changes, the owners voted to make two tweaks to instant replay. Replay can now be used to review whether the game clock expired before the snap and also can correct an obvious error when a passer was ruled down by contact or out of bounds before throwing the ball. Owners also voted to move the trade deadline back one week to the Tuesday following the end of Week 9 and will allow a team to elevate a "bona fide" quarterback from the practice squad an unlimited amount of times to be the emergency third quarterback.