It's a bit retarded tbh.
Why can't the WKF just offer another competition rule set on the side that allows full contact instead of banning their members from competing. There's obviously a demand for it - so supply it lol.
At the end of the day karate in the Olympics will most likely be a one time deal for Japan 2020. I think it very likely won't be there after.
Chances are the WKF will lose members if it maintains this policy after the Olympics. They will have competitors bow out of the organisation or simply join other organisations that don't care about what competitions rule sets you want to compete in.
They might have members avoid karate combat for a chance at the Olympics for now but when it's no longer on the table what then?
Not having an avenue for full contact competition in this day and age is not keeping up with the times. It also woefully under prepares students in that organisation for full contact. I would think the WKF as an organisation should put students quality of instruction first by offering full contact.
Not discounting semi contact - imho it's best to have a mixture of full contact & semi contact in training. But to have no serious contact should be a concern for anyone in the WKF.
It's not as retarded as you think. If as an athlete you cannot participate in WKF competitions there's not much you can participate in if you don't fight in Kickboxing or MMA. Think about it, aside from Karate Combat which is still relatively small and sporadic and without a clear future yet, where else can you fight "Karate" which isn't KB or MMA?
The WKF will not start full contact tournaments just because of Karate Combat, there's a much bigger picture and you have to take into considerations that the styles of Karate affiliated to the WKF are non full contact styles. Very few Karateka's from clubs affiliated to the WKF would want to fight full contact. Another thing also is that there is no money to win in WKF competition, so the WKF would not want to start full contact competition with cash prize to compete against Karate Combat.
You and I both know that even within Kyokushin there are organisations which refuse to let their fighters participate in tournaments from other organisations, or let fighters from other organisations fight in theirs. I can only image what the thought process would be when we talk about something as big and proud as the WKF.
Even if we consider that Karate might only be a one time thing for the Japan Olympics in 2020, that's still 2 years away and we have no idea if Karate Combat will even still be alive by then. I'm not being pessimistic here but I've seen what happened to Pro Fight Karate after a couple of a years, and PFK in my opinion was a lot more pleasing to watch than Karate Combat. There's a lot that comes into play than just WKF competitions and the Olympics, there's also having a team to train with, representing your country and getting your costs covered, sponsors etc.
As someone who has competed in WKF during his teenage years, I can guarantee you that it's not a smart move for a sport Karateka looking to compete to boycott the WKF and become a rodin looking for opportunities outside of the WKF. At least that's if you want to stick to semi-contact Karate, otherwise you pretty much have to switch to combat sports like Kickboxing or MMA, or just not make any money.
Regarding your comment on the full contact aspect, those styles of Karate which are part of the WKF don't focus on full contact and it's been that way for a long time and will stay that way for years to come. Not everybody wants to do full contact and those who do simply switch to something else. People who do semi-contact Karate are usually happy with that and just stick with that, those who switch to Karate Combat mostly do so as an experiment and to make some money on the side.