‘Run it straight' competition announces event with $200k prize despite warnings about viral challenge's head trauma risk
The organisers of a 'run it straight' competition, in which men deliberately collide with each other, are planning another match despite a neuroscientist and concussion expert's warning about the social-media-fuelled contest's dangers.
The RUNIT Championship League promised $200,000 in prize money for the next bout in an Instagram post that was published on its official account on Sunday.
The league's clashes, which it describes as 'the world's fiercest, new collision sport', see two men – one carrying a rugby ball – charge at each other.
While the rules are meant to prevent head contact, videos show that is not always avoided, while experts say concussion can still occur as the brain is thrown against the skull.
RUNIT says the competition was 'born to go viral' and had 'taken social media by storm with tens of millions of views' with amateur copycats posting their own incidents online.
Earlier this month, a 19-year-old New Zealand man died from a critical head injury after playing a tackle game that police said was 'based on a social-media-driven trend, where participants compete in full-contact collisions without protective gear'.
RUNIT has held trials and training sessions in Auckland on 19 and 21 May as well as one competition in Melbourne on 30 April with $20,000 in prize money.
On the weekend, RUNIT asked its 180,000 Instagram followers to guess where the next game will be, using the hashtag 'runitgoingglobal'.
It's not the first sign of the company's global ambitions. Scheduled events on the website – since removed – included shows in New Zealand, the US, Saudi Arabia and England.
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The Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming was at the Melbourne show when one participant was knocked out, and smacked his head on the concrete floor on the way down.
She told the Guardian she was grateful for the invitation, but found herself unable to continue watching, and subsequently left during an interval.
'I know there are issues with concussion in many sports,' she said.
'I didn't want to make a scene or offend them, but I just personally couldn't handle seeing and hearing them get hurt.'
Rugby Australia told Code Sports it 'does not condone the concept' of Run It Straight and 'wants absolutely nothing to do with it'.
In the wake of the teenager's death, the New Zealand Rugby League said it was 'concerning to see people in these events putting themselves at risk of serious injury'.
The Roar also reported that the Melbourne Storm forward Nelson Asofa-Solomona, who promoted the event, had withdrawn his support over concerns about safety measures.
Asofa-Solomona was now promoting a different game, Big Steppa, in which the goal is to score tries which a defender can stop by touching the attacker with both hands.
Several companies that were listed as RUNIT's 'partners' are no longer on the website, although one said they were only sponsoring the first game.
The most high-profile sponsors, Ultra Tune and Foot Locker, did not answer questions about their ongoing support. RUNIT credits Foot Locker with providing gear and gift cards for prizes.
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The Ultra Tune logo has featured on the sidelines, on RUNIT's Instagram and on players' T-shirts.
The challenge is popular among the Pacific Island diaspora, some of whom reportedly trace it back to their childhood.
Recently, two organised competitions have sprung up – Run It Straight 24, which bills itself as the original, and RUNIT, which bills itself as the 'home of collisions'.
On their Instagram page, RUNIT writes that 'safety is paramount'. 'We are committed to the health, safety, and wellbeing of every athlete who represents our brand,' the post says.
'We recognise that competing at the highest level comes with physical risks, and we firmly believe that no athlete should bear the burden of those risks alone.'
RUNIT covers all medical expenses 'directly related to injuries sustained while competing', it says, and compensates athletes for any wages lost.
Radio New Zealand reported in May that RUNIT had a 20% concussion rate.
Prof Alan Pearce, a concussion expert and neuroscientist at Swinburne University, said concussions can cause cognitive impairment and chronic traumatic encephalopathy in the long term, and in the short term can be 'catastrophic'.
'The concern is around second impact syndrome,' he said.
'If a younger person has an injury but doesn't understand they've got a concussion and then a second later they get a second impact, that's catastrophic.'
In the competition, players run at each other four times.
The organiser of Run It Straight 24 has said they will use head and mouth protection from now on, and that they have paramedics and ambulances on standby.
Guardian Australia has asked RUNIT for comment.
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