Replace Coin-Tossing with Rock-Paper-Scissors in Sports Matches

Many sports matches begin with a pre-match coin toss, where the player or captain who wins the toss is allowed to choose which player or team will begin the match. Examples include the choice of whether to kick off or change ends (soccer), whether to bat or field first (cricket), or whether to play the first break shot or let one's opponent start (snooker).

Coin tosses, being essentially random, are of little intrinsic interest for the spectators. In addition, in some sports, the team that wins the right to make the pre-match choice has a significant advantage (particularly in Test cricket), and it is unsatisfying to determine who gains that advantage based on chance alone.

There is a better alternative available: Rock-Paper-Scissors (RPS). RPS has been played for centuries, and today RPS or RPS-like games are played all over the world.

RPS is not only a popular game amongst children, but also a highly entertaining game of skill and psychology, as shown by the success of the World RPS Championships, held in Toronto each year. (For more details about RPS, visit the World RPS Society website.)

If the question of who makes the pre-match choice in a sports match were decided based on an RPS match between the captains, rather than on a coin toss, this would provide extra entertainment for the spectators, who would be able to cheer on their team's captain.

In addition, since RPS is a game of psychology and skill rather than chance alone, the captain who wins the RPS match will have actually earned his success, making it a more satisfying way to assign the right to make the pre-match choice.