Yeah but that cliche of the crowd being an extra man is overrated IMO.

50 years ago I wrote and had published a letter to a now defunct newspaper, The Post and Evening Chronicle advocating 11 a side, scrums to be abolished and any infringements i.e. knock on, forward pass etc, possession turned over to the opposition to be started with a tap penalty. It never happened but I do remember some years ago a 10 a side competition at Central Park amongst around 8 clubs. It was sponsored by the NCB and was very entertaining. Fast and Open.

Reflected by our 15 match winning run we closed the season with.

It might get over the malaise now in the game.

It was the British Coal [iNINES[/i and we won it
1988. We beat Wigan in the first round, and guess what....the did the Walk

I was there that night.
Very enjoyable and our group got in for half price as we were approached by a steward on the way in who made us, ahem, a special offer.

Back to the original post.
I think this is at least worthy of a trial.
Anything that alleviates the current homogeneous, boring reliance on five drives and a kick has got to be a good thing.

Technically we are still the holders.
We beat the Rest Of The World team in the final too.

If the 10 metre rule was properly applied, there wouldn't be such a problem.

Well said ,there are too many teams cheating at the ruck.

Agreed. And the fact that there are 10m spaced lines on the pitch makes it all the more baffling as to why it cannot be policed properly. Here's an idea ..... get one of the linesman / stumps / spare parts (select your preference) to mange the 10m. Without wishing to be too cynical why not make it 12m or 15m in order to get a 10m

So just hypothesising next season at 12 a side, who do you drop out, forward or back?

And is it the same position for each team in all games, or can teams choose game to game

Or would 12 new positions need to be created

Over a hundred years ago a group of like minded men met in a Huddersfield hotel and broke away from Rugby Union and formed what became Rugby League, similar to Union but with a few rule changes. At first the intention was to compensate with cash for broken time payments because most of the players in the north were working class men who couldn't afford the time off work to play the game. With the rule changes the hybrid game became hugely popular and attendances soared. Unfortunately over the years the game has become deadly dull which is reflected in falling attendances. Too much thought has gone into the game and it's become over coached and formulated so much the game is now deadly dull.The hotel is still standing in Huddersfield so perhaps to save the game it's time for another meeting with wholesale rule changes to make the game the attraction it once was. The rest of the world may not follow us, it's up to them but I for one won't miss playing the antipodeans and south sea islanders. I couldn't care less, I want the game to go back to the beautiful game it once was.

Great comments. Let's not beat around the Bush here. The games gone rubbish. Time to re think.