Question about Kyokushin and WTF TKD?

It's been a long, long time sense I ever even thought about stuff like that. Talk about a blast from the past. When I was learning Taekwondo, head strikes were allowed but only as backhands or hammer fists to either the side or top of the head gear. I hated that concept then, I hate it even more now. Kicks were just worth more points if one was successful.

I didn't know that head strikes were illegal in some competitions. My guess would be like how callsign said, that without it people might abandon their training and discipline to resort to a type of kickboxing. That, and the display of skill that would have to be involved. Any inability on the competitor's part would be exploited pretty quickly.

I know under some legal jurisdictions, punching the head bare-handed is considered a crime. That might be part of it.

Another part is that when punches to the head are allowed, the fight will consist almost entirely of head punches. It's much more natural than trying to kick the head. So in an effort to create a visually pleasing competition, full of spectacular head kicks, punches to the head are made illegal. That way, it looks like TKD and karate instead of kickboxing.

I've thought about this before and i feel it would completely change the dynamics of sparring, and not for the better (just my personal opinion). I assume they do it this way for protection - even though kicks are technically more dangerous they are also a lot harder to pull off against a decent opponent.