Guess nobody has dared suggest prohibiting head playing in association football. Would be interesting to see how the game would change if such a rule would be enacted.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jul/28/major-headi...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-51614088
But it's one thing to not practise it, and another to actually ban it. I can see the latter in <5 years at all levels if the current research is followed up correctly.
1. Just ban it, with the same penalties as using your hands. I used to think that this was the way to go, but I rarely watched soccer. I still don't understand soccer but over the last week I've watched a fair bit [1] and see now that simply removing headers without replacing them would alter the game too much.
2. Have the players wear something like a tennis racquet but with a longer handle attached to their back with the head of it extending above the player's head. Players can hit the ball with this instead of the head. Hitting with their head is treated like using their hands as in #1.
This is one of those things that would probably be seen as fine if and only if it has been done that way for a long time. Otherwise, it is too ridiculous to seriously propose.
3. Players can deflect the ball with the part of their arm between the elbow and the wrist, but only if the elbow is above the ears. "Above" is defined relative to the player's orientation, not relative to the ground.
This seems like it could be a close enough replacement for heading to not alter things too much.
[1] I have a "free" (it is really a rental with $0/month rent) streaming box from my ISP that includes a free Peacock Premium subscription. The ISP noticed I rarely use it and asked me to return it if I'm not going to use it more. Everything I'm interested in on it I can get on my Fire TV or on my smart TV, including Peacock. But I'm not sure if the free Peacock Premium would continue, so instead I'm trying to use the "free" box more. One way I've done that is when I'm relaxing on the couch and not otherwise using the TV I've streamed replays and highlights from soccer, both to keep up usage on the box and to see if by watching enough soccer I'll eventually start to see that it only looks largely random and there really is a lot of skill and strategy and tactics involved.
It's always interesting how games evolve and the fact that any rule of any game could seem ridiculous if it hadn't been that way for a long time.
Once you start adding equipment that'll change rapidly.
4. Using head is prohibited, just like hands. Instead allow using the shoulders, maybe down to the elbow. From elbow downwards towards the hand still prohibited.
The main suggestion is that heading could be banned outside the 2 penalty boxes.