BREAKING NEWS NRL star who was knocked out in distressing scenes as he tried Australia's most dangerous new sport gives an update on his condition
The 36-year-old had been participating in the RUNIT Championship League event in Dubai.
The competition challenges two individuals to run a football at full pelt directly into each other to force a huge collision.
And on Saturday, sickening footage of the former Melbourne Storm and Gold Coast Titans star emerged, showing him colliding with Simi during the event.
Proctor fell lifelessly to the ground, with his arms and legs going stiff, as with organisers and Simi quickly rushed to his aid.
On Monday evening, he took to Instagram to give his followers an update on his situation, sharing a photo of himself and Simi flying back home following the event.
'Just want to say thank you to everyone that has messaged me to ask if I was alright,' he wrote on the social media platform.
'I'm all good. We all know what we sign up for getting in there.
'It's a contact sport and unfortunately, I put my head in the wrong place and came out second best.'
The New Zealand-born ex-NRL player also lumped praise on his opponent Simi, a former footy player himself, who last year opened up on forging a new career as an artist.
'Ya win some ya lose some... but no hard feelings. Hats off to the bro. It is what it is. I got in there and had a crack at least,' Proctor added.
'I like to thank @runit.league for having me!
'Still grateful to be a part of it and I'm sure you guys are only going to get bigger and bigger.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Kevin Proctor (@kevproc)
'Congrats to all the winners and organisation for putting on a great event.
'On my way back home now to see my darling, kids and family, thanks again to everyone for the support.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
4 hours ago
- The Sun
‘Things couldn't have been any worse for me' – Neil Robertson hails new team who turned snooker star's life around
NEIL ROBERTSON has heaped praise on his new team in the wake of his stunning Saudi Arabia Masters victory. The Aussie battled to a narrow 10-9 victory in a fantastic final against snooker legend Ronnie O'Sullivan. 2 2 The 43-year-old netted the tournament's substantial £500,000 prize and climbed to third in the WST snooker rankings, leapfrogging his final opponent to slot in below second-place Kyren Wilson. He said: "This is a huge rebound from right at the bottom. "Things couldn't have been any worse for me 18 months ago. So to be able to come back the way I have I think this is a feel good story." It has been a tough run for the former world champion in recent years. He missed tournaments and slipped down the rankings in 2023, culminating in him missing the 2024 world championships and being forced to play in qualifiers and losing. To go from a fading star to the winner of one of the biggest prize pots in professional snooker has been quite the turnaround. It is a resurgence that the Thunder from Down Under attributes in part to his new team, featuring sports psychologist Helen Davis and coach Joe Perry. He continued: "I always thought I was really strong mentally, which I am, but I think when you see an actual specialist, a sports psychologist, and you look at tennis players and golfers... "They're always thanking their team whenever they win, that's the first people they thank is their team. "That's what I've managed to set up with Helen Davis, who's worked with Wimbledon champions, and with Joe [Perry]. List of all-time Snooker World Champions BELOW is a list of snooker World Champions by year. The record is for the modern era, widely considered as dating from the 1968-69 season, when the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) took control of the sport. The first World Championships ran from 1927 - with a break from 1941-45 because of World War II and 1958-63 because of a dispute in the sport. Joe Davis (15), Fred Davis and John Pulman (both 8) were the most successful players during that period. Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan share the record for the most titles in the modern era, with seven each. 1969 - John Spencer 1970 - Ray Reardon 1971 - John Spencer 1972 - Alex Higgins 1973 - Ray Reardon (2) 1974 - Ray Reardon (3) 1975 - Ray Reardon (4) 1976 - Ray Reardon (5) 1977 - John Spencer (2) 1978 - Ray Reardon (6) 1979 - Terry Griffiths 1980 - Cliff Thorburn 1981 - Steve Davis 1982 - Alex Higgins (2) 1983 - Steve Davis (2) 1984 - Steve Davis (3) 1985 - Dennis Taylor 1986 - Joe Johnson 1987 - Steve Davis (4) 1988 - Steve Davis (5) 1989 - Steve Davis (6) 1990 - Stephen Hendry 1991 - John Parrott 1992 - Stephen Hendry (2) 1993 - Stephen Hendry (3) 1994 - Stephen Hendry (4) 1995 - Stephen Hendry (5) 1996 - Stephen Hendry (6) 1997 - Ken Doherty 1998 - John Higgins 1999 - Stephen Hendry (7) 2000 - Mark Williams 2001 - Ronnie O'Sullivan 2002 - Peter Ebdon 2003 - Mark Williams (2) 2004 - Ronnie O'Sullivan (2) 2005 - Shaun Murphy 2006 - Graeme Dott 2007 - John Higgins (2) 2008 - Ronnie O'Sullivan (3) 2009 - John Higgins (3) 2010 - Neil Robertson 2011 - John Higgins (4) 2012 - Ronnie O'Sullivan (4) 2013 - Ronnie O'Sullivan (5) 2014 - Mark Selby 2015 - Stuart Bingham 2016 - Mark Selby (2) 2017 - Mark Selby (3) 2018 - Mark Williams (3) 2019 - Judd Trump 2020 - Ronnie O'Sullivan (6) 2021 - Mark Selby (4) 2022 - Ronnie O'Sullivan (7) 2023 - Luca Brecel 2024 - Kyren Wilson 2025 - Zhao Xintong Most World Titles (modern era) 7 - Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O'Sullivan 6 - Ray Reardon, Steve Davis 4 - John Higgins, Mark Selby 3 - John Spencer, Mark Williams 2 - Alex Higgins "At the start of the summer the three of us were on a Zoom call and we talked for about two hours about what is the plan for the season, the mindset, the style of play, what we want to achieve and to see it all come together so quickly is amazing. "Helen has just transformed my life, she really has." marauding O'Sullivan is a particularly emphatic way to start the snooker season. Whether it be his team or newfound confidence to blame, Robertson has clearly reinstated himself as a force to be reckoned with this year.
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- The Guardian
Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk review – shattering memorial to Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassouna
The rule is this: don't spoil movies by giving away the ending, even if the events depicted are part of the historical record. But in the case of this devastating documentary, knowing what's coming at the end is a radical enhancement, a chilling message from the movie's future that makes you read everything differently. So here's the big reveal: Fatima Hassouna, the young Palestinian woman in this film, to whom director Sepideh Farsi talks to via video calls over nearly a year, is now dead, killed on 16 April by an Israeli airstrike along with several members of her family. In fact, the last we see of Hassouna is her being told by Farsi that the film we've just been watching will be shown at the Cannes film festival. This prompts a conversation about whether Hassouna will attend the premiere ('Of course!' she says, optimistically) and perhaps use that trip as an opportunity to leave Gaza for good. She demurs politely, insisting that Gaza is her home even if everything and everyone is destroyed. This last conversation resonates so deeply because Gaza is indeed being ground down to dust. But it's the audacious austerity of Farsi's film-making that really makes the material sing. As that cheery last conversation ends with a humdrum discussion of passports and a promise, impossible to keep, to talk again soon, the screen fades to black and bare, factual subtitles reveal Hassouna's fate. There's no soaring string soundtrack, no final on-the-nose irony, just the palpable absence of Hassouna's almost always smiling face, her laughter, and her irrepressible optimism. The film itself consists almost entirely of these often halting video-call conversations, interspersed with news reports that Farsi films of live broadcasts – and, most importantly, the digital photographs Hassouna took herself nearly every day. She had aspirations to become a professional photographer, and clearly she had an eye. The images show Palestinians in Gaza quietly getting on with life against the frayed and collapsing backdrop of the city. One of the last clips is a long drive, presumably on a motorcycle or bicycle, through streets full of ruins, with kids playing, dust-covered cars everywhere, all bedded by snatches of Hassouna's earlier conversations. The one that will really get you is the call back to the time when she tried to assuage Farsi's feelings of inadequacy for not being able to help Hassouna and her community more. 'It's enough that you're listening to me,' Hassouna says. 'I'm so glad to be here and I'm so glad that you are beside me.' We might question whether it is enough that this film memorialises her, but her memory will be a blessing. Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk is in UK and Irish cinemas from 22 August.
The Independent
13 hours ago
- The Independent
What lies ahead for Dillian Whyte after devastating Moses Itauma defeat?
Dillian Whyte suffered the fastest defeat of his career this past weekend when Moses Itauma knocked him out in the first round in Saudi Arabia. This fight was viewed as a crossroads fight for both men. It was a must-win for Itauma to prove himself on the world stage, and Whyte needed the upset to keep his name alive in the world title conversation. There have been calls for Whyte's retirement after such a convincing loss at 37 years old, but Whyte has faced similar odds before and come back and found success. But what options lie ahead for the veteran heavyweight if not a world title run? Joe Joyce Whyte was scheduled to fight Joe Joyce on April 5 this year in Manchester, but was forced to pull out due to a hand injury and was replaced by Filip Hrgovic, who would go on to defeat Joyce on points. This fight, if made now, would be a big domestic showdown between two dangerous veterans vying for a final chance at the top table. The clash of styles would make the fight all action Many thought that Joyce would retire after his loss to Hrgovic, but he has made it clear he intends to fight on despite back-to-back losses to Chisora and Hrgovic. Derek Chisora The pair have fought twice before. Whyte eked out a split decision in their first meeting and pulled out a dramatic 11th-round knockout in their rematch to put an end to the rivalry – for now. After their fights, Chisora went through a slow few years, not quite finding his level, becoming something of a heavyweight gatekeeper. But after taking some risky fights against the likes of Joe Joyce and Otto Wallin, he now finds himself back at the top table - ranked as the IBF's number two (the top spot is vacant) and number eight with the WBO. If a trilogy fight can be made, it would present an interesting turning of the tables moment in which we see Chisora, enjoying an unlikely resurgence at the top of the heavyweight rankings. Anthony Joshua What would have been the third instalment of the Whyte vs Joshua rivalry that extends back to their amateur days – was set for late 2023, but Whyte returned an adverse finding in a drug test, and the fight was called off. Whyte was found innocent, but lost a year of his career, a chance at revenge and a big payday. Joshua is also looking to rebuild after his knockout loss to Daniel Dubois at Wembley last year and has been linked with myriad names, including Jake Paul, Tyson Fury and even Tony Yoka. Though the loss to Itauma will make him a less enticing proposition to Joshua, there is a chance that the rivalry and demand for a rematch from the public could draw Joshua in. Retirement Although it feels premature to call for Whyte to retire, given that 37 has been proven time and again not to be an advanced age for a heavyweight. But Whyte has such a varied and successful career, with the only thing to elude him being a world title – if he were to retire now, he could look back on a legendary career filled with pride for his willingness to take on any challenge put in front of him. He has taken on some of the best heavyweights to come out of Britain, including Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Derek Chisora and now the heir apparent - Moses Itauma. That list does not even include the three former world champions Alexander Povetkin, Lucas Browne and Joseph Parker. With a shot at a world title now out of reach, retirement should not be out of the question for Whyte. A DAZN subscription provides access to over 185 fights a year across a range of combat sports from the world's best promoters.
