‘It will result in death': But Run It Straight contestants say they're ‘blessed' to compete
Andrew Alauni has played rugby league in western Sydney for as long as he can remember. But he has never experienced anything quite like a Run it Straight tournament.
'What hypes me up is the crowd,' Alauni, 24, says. 'When I've got the crowd behind me, when they scream out my name ... honestly, I'm blessed being part of the event.'
Run it Straight is a rapidly growing social media trend that has racked up millions of views across Instagram and TikTok. The object is simple: two players run at each other from opposite ends of a 10-metre strip and collide as hard as they can in a rugby league-style hit-up, aiming to knock the other over and win the collision.
The risks are obvious, and the craze has already ended in tragedy. A week ago, 19-year-old Ryan Satterthwaite had his life support turned off after sustaining an ultimately fatal head injury playing the game in an Auckland backyard. His family said he had been influenced by social media.
On Saturday, the Manly Sea Eagles vowed to step up game-day security after footage of fans skolling beer and running at each other behind the main hill at 4 Pines Park was watched more than 200,000 times online.
Concussion expert Alan Pearce, a professor at Melbourne's Swinburne University, says the game is supercharging the most dangerous aspects of rugby league tackles and is gaining popularity among those who perceive safety rules in sport as 'woke'.
'What do you have is two large men running at each other at almost 25 to 30 kilometres an hour, but not stopping,' Pearce said. 'This is just pure collision with the idea of knocking out the opponent, which is the main concern that we have here from a brain injury perspective.
'You do not need a direct impact to the head in order for a brain injury to occur and only requires what we call an impulse force travelling to the brain.'
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