Do love all those old anecdotes of how the game used to be back in the old days. Tales of activities in the mauls between local mining town games in the valleys of Wales - trampling to near death under the foot rushes of rampaging borders forwards - yorkshire miners rucking their way to new coal seams apparently! Yes they are all good an indeed probably many of them did happen, including line out forwards hitting their opponent at the first line to discourage them from jumping! Indeed I know well an ex Brigend No 8 who had to remind himself in his twilight career that such a practice was not good form in South of England L10 games.
Of course the reason that these activities took place was simply that the chances of being caught were low, if you were careful. Being watched by one pair of eyes and only at the very highest level by a camera that would tend to follow the ball!
Fortunately time has moved on and the role models of the game are now being watched by so many eyes that the chances of never being caught out are virtually zero - allegedly. And at the lower levels experience would suggest that the game is a lot cleaner than it is remembered as being. Not a bad thing, really?
On this basis I would stand by my view that the line out (and open play) would not be adverseley affected by a complete ban on lifting a player, and would like to see it trialled at a reasonable standard.
This is my personal view and I know others disagree but - that's life! :hap:
Strange, but my recollection of ancient line outs is not one calling for them to be 'tidied up'! The shear athleticism of the individual leaping unassisted was a far better measure of individual ability than any human pyramid circus act rehearsed to the nth degree in the gym.
