Huge setback for ultra-violent new Australian sport that has been endorsed by NRL and AFL stars
An ultra-violent Australian sport which has been endorsed by several prominent figures in the NRL and AFL has suffered a big blow after one of its events in New Zealand was called off.
'Run It Straight' is a new and emerging competition which challenges two competitors to sprint straight at each other and compete in full-contact collisions.
The objective is to either plough over an opposition tackler while running with a football or successfully tackle a ball carrier to the ground.
Competitors are generally seen wearing very minimal protective gear, with brutal impacts occuring as a result.
A 'Run It Straight' event, which is said to be organised by @RunItStraight24, had been scheduled at Williams Park Mangere in Auckland on Wednesday.
However, the event has been scrubbed by organisers after they failed to secure a permit to host the event.
A local board had also opposed the event after citing safety fears, claiming that the new sport could lead to brain injuries.
The chairman of the Mangere-Otahuhu local board, Tauanu'u Nick Bakulich, said to Democracy Reporting that no application had been made to the Auckland Council to host the event.
'An event was scheduled at Williams Park Māngere [on Wednesday]. The Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board opposes this event for reasons of safety, given what data is available as a result of brain and health-related injuries,' Bakulich said.
'This event did not apply for an approved permit from the Auckland Council, nor a parks booking through the Auckland Council process. This event will now not take place at Williams Park, Māngere.'
Auckland Council confirmed that no applications to host the event in the park had been received.
Though, while no application was given to Auckland Council, a spokesperson told the New Zealand Herald that it would have likely declined the request.
'If the organisers were to follow the correct process, we believe it is highly unlikely the event would have met the council's guidelines for approval,' a spokesperson said.
'For clarity, the council has not received an application for a permit nor a booking for the ground and therefore cannot comment on this event,' Eli Nathan, Auckland Council's head of area operations added.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by ABC Pacific (@abcpacific)
He stated permits are necessary for events that will host more than 150 people. Events that also involve safety risks or the use of power, food vendors or vehicles are also required to have a permit.
Meanwhile, Run It Straight's founder Christian Lesa, also known as Charizma,
'You see a lot of stuff online, I think they take little flicks and run with it online and run with that narrative,'
'But when you're there and the community is out - they loved it. I'd say there's not many events that bring the community together. Obviously, it's a full-contact sporting event but to see them there and loving it as much as I do, it means a lot to me.
'Having local businesses come through, they all sold out. That's another thing that fills my heart.'
He added: 'Obviously, the dream is to take it world wide and across all countries and that but it just depends on the backlash we get.'
It comes after a different run it straight championship, called RUNIT, was also held this week in Auckland, with another event planned in New Zealand on May 25.
The RUNIT Championships had also recently been held in Melbourne and saw former NRL star George Burgess and ex-international rugby union player Nemani Nadolo to compete at the event.
NRL star, Nelson Asofa-Solomona and AFL player Jamarra Ugle-Hagan have both appeared to endorse the RUNIT Championships in the past.
Asofa-Solomona has, after appearing in several pictures published on the league's social media, withdrawn his affiliation to the league.
Meanwhile, Ugle-Hagan, who is currently taking a leave of absence away from the Western Bulldogs to deal with some personal issues, was also seen at this month's RUNIT event in Melbourne.
The sport has gained huge popularity around the world already but has been scrutinised by some health experts, who were 'gobsmacked' by the sport, especially considering how many retired sports stars are reporting with brain injuries following their careers.
An Australian sports neuroscientist, Dr Alan Pearce, said he was baffled by why people would take the risk.
'I was pretty gobsmacked, speechless actually when I saw this competition idea starting because for me as someone who has seen hundreds of footballers and rugby league players who are now struggling with brain injury and long-term impairment it is really troubling,' Dr Pearce told news.com.au.
'I just cannot understand how they could take the most violent aspect of sport and just turn it into a spectacle where the objective is just to try and knock out or hurt your opponent.
'In a lot of these other sports (such as NRL, AFL and rugby union) you're trying to avoid direct contact whereas this is purely running at each other, it's insanity.'
However, former NRL star George Burgess has come out to defend the event.
'Every sport that we have in our society is to remind us of our warrior past and to simulate warfare in a safe way - and that's exactly what we do,' Burgess said.
While safety concerns have been raised by the new sport, RUNIT say they take a range of safety precautions to reduce the risk competitors are faced with.
'We've got an ambulance on site… We've got liability. Everything's covered,' RUNIT safety spokesperson Billy Coffey told RNZ.
'There's waivers, medicals beforehand, medicals after. There's an ambulance on site.'
'These guys, they're born warriors, they want to do this and they're stuck at home, have to retire early.
'Just because of that financial crisis, they're stuck in two jobs because maybe their partner or wife or whoever's staying at home can't afford to send [their children to] a daycare or doesn't want to and wants to spend more time with the family, and this gives these people a chance to get off off the couch, find that fire again in front of their friends and family and relive it.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
13 hours ago
- The Guardian
Run It Straight: neuroscientist fears ‘supercharging' of backyard lark into social-media fuelled collision contest
Two big blokes thunder towards each other. One tucks in for a tackle, his solid shoulder connecting with his opponent, just under his chin. His opponent goes down, his heavy limbs flopping to the ground. He doesn't get back up. The MC tries to hold back the Campbelltown crowd – many of them small children – to let the medics through. This is the Run It Straight challenge, a brutal new competition and – thanks to social media – a deadly new craze. From a rugby-inspired back yard game, it's become an organised activity with thousands of dollars in prize money. And millions of views online. Even as more is discovered about concussions, the long-term effects such as cognitive impairment and the neurodegenerative disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), Run It Straight is soaring in popularity. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Each violent encounter – just 30 seconds or so – is tailor-made for social media. 'We've got guys running at each other [with enough force] to cause a brain injury,' concussion expert and neuroscientist Alan Pearce says. 'They are supercharging and exploiting the most violence aspects of the tackle in rugby league, and turning up the dial.' It may have originally come from something kids from the Pacific Island diaspora did,a back yard lark. But now it's organised, with at least two Australian groups running competitions in New Zealand and Australia, their social media posts running hot. There is the 'official' Run It Straight group, which was established in 2024. That's the one that posted that Campbelltown event, describing it as a 'war zone'. 'Campbelltown didn't hold back – four knockouts, heavy hits, and bodies dropping left, right and centre,' the YouTube caption said. 'Full contact. No headgear. No mercy.' Then there's the much slicker RUNIT Championship League, which was registered in February. 'RUNIT is the world's fiercest, new collision sport,' the website boasts. 'Born to go viral, built to break limits, it has taken social media by storm with tens of millions of views. 'One runner. One tackler, A 20m x 4m battlefield. Victory belongs to the one who dominates the collision.' Now amateurs are giving it a go. At a recent Manly Eagles match, fans filmed a guy chugging a beer before pelting down a hill into another guy. And on Tuesday, a New Zealand teenager died from a head injury after playing a tackle game with friends that police said was 'based on a social media-driven trend, where participants compete in full-contact collisions without protective gear', a trend NZ media said was the Run It Straight challenge. Pearce, a Swinburne University professor, says he is genuinely stressed witnessing the collisions. 'We know two things,' he says. 'One is that that there are longer term outcomes in terms of cognitive impairment … for those exposed to a lot of impact to the brain, the risk and severity of CTE is greater. 'And, from a younger person's perspective, the concern is around second impact syndrome. 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.' Pearce says it's like watching a 'car crash in action' with participants potentially experiencing more than 100Gs of force. RUNIT said the teenager's death was 'tragic' and that contact sports should only be held in 'highly controlled environments, which include professional medical supervision and support'. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion RUNIT did not respond to an interview request. 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 them for any wages lost. Run It Straight 24 organiser, Christian Lesa, told Triple J's Hack program this week the tackling game had been happening for 'ages', that people do it at church events, at family gatherings. 'A lot of the boys do it when they get on the piss,' he said. He went on to outline the rules – nothing above the collarbone, and if you get 'dazed' or hit on the head, you're out. 'We have paramedics and ambulance on standby … just in case anything happens,' he said, adding that for future events they'll have headgear and mouth guards, 'to make sure that everyone does participate with us safely, in the safest way possible'. Elizabeth Summerell, a psychologist and lecturer at the University of Adelaide specialising in anger and aggression, says the trend could reflect 'deeper social and cultural pressures tied to masculinity'. She points to research that found younger Australians are more likely endorse 'traditional masculine norms like physical toughness, dominance, risk-taking, and status seeking'. As well as 'performing this masculinity', she says, there is a strong pressure to conform in order to be liked, to avoid looking weak, to reinforce their group membership and gain status. 'So even though the risks may be obvious, the social rewards, like status and belonging, may be more powerful than the threat of injury,' she says. 'And for young people who may be sensitive to approval from their peers, social media may amplify these processes further. Social media platforms don't just serve to document these acts, but likes and shares become a kind of social currency. 'In this way, social media is not just reflecting the trend but also fuelling it.' Pearce wonders whether it appeals to 'the most primitive parts of our brains that feed off violence'. 'All I can do is be a grumpy neuroscientist that says 'just don't do it'.' Back at the Campbelltown game, the MC takes a break from revving up the crowd to speak about someone with mental health issues who died. 'To you young ones,' he says, 'make sure you look after yourselves.'
BBC News
18 hours ago
- BBC News
NZ appoint Walter as head coach for all formats
Rob Walter has been named as New Zealand's new head coach for all three formats of the former South Africa white-ball coach has signed a three-year contract and will take over in mid-June ahead of New Zealand's tour of contract will run through to the next One-Day International World Cup in 2027, as well as the next two T20 World Cups in 2026 and is also potential for New Zealand to take part when cricket debuts at the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, which will take the T20 49, was one of the favourites for the job after it was revealed he had continued living in New Zealand during his time with South in charge, he lead them to the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup, narrowly losing to India by seven runs. As well as that near miss, Walter oversaw a run to the semi-finals of the 2023 World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy."The Blackcaps have been a successful and highly-regarded team on the world scene for some time now and it's a real privilege to be given the chance to add to that," Walter said in a press conference announcing his appointment."It's an amazing opportunity to work with such a talented group of players and support staff through a period of time in which so many global events, as well as massive bilateral series, will be contested"I just can't wait to get started. It's exciting, it's challenging and the opportunity is enormous for everyone."
Reuters
19 hours ago
- Reuters
Crusaders outmuscle Reds to reach Super Rugby semis
June 6 (Reuters) - The Canterbury Crusaders kept intact their perfect home playoff record with a comfortable 32-12 victory over the Queensland Reds at a rain-soaked Christchurch Stadium on Friday to move into the Super Rugby Pacific semi-finals. The 12-times champions battered the Reds physically in all areas of the game and scored five tries through Scott Barrett, Tamaiti Williams, Noah Hotham, Rivez Reihana and Kyle Preston to take their home playoff record to 30-0. The Reds never got their expansive attack going in the face of the home side's physicality and line speed and tries from Josh Nasser and Fraser McReight against a shorthanded defence in the last 10 minutes were mere consolations. All Blacks captain Barrett opened the scoring in the 17th minute when he knocked the ball out of McReight's hands at a Reds lineout on their own tryline and pounced to score. The visitors were being more frequently penalised and after scrumhalf Tate McDermott was pinged for an attempted jackal closing on the half hour mark, the Crusaders kicked for touch and set up a rolling maul. The Reds stopped the maul but the Crusaders forwards peeled off left with prop Williams burrowing over the line from close range for a converted try that gave his team a 12-0 lead. The Crusaders laid siege to the Reds line and although the Australians kept them out, the repeated tackles were bound to have an impact later in the game. The next score came in the 56th minute through a fine individual try from scrumhalf Hotham, who kicked the ball ahead out of a tackle and raced 30 metres to gather it and touch down. Flyhalf Rivez Reihana added the extras, kicked a 40-metre penalty to stretch the lead to 22-0 on the hour mark before adding the fourth try from close range. "I think the way our forwards stepped up was huge, and the set piece went really well so we're really happy with that," said Crusaders captain David Havili. Crusaders flanker Ethan Blackadder marred an otherwise brilliant performance with a yellow card for a high tackle 11 minutes from time, allowing the Reds to take advantage of the extra man and score twice. "You've got to give credit to the Crusaders," said Reds co-captain McDermott. "They were all over us at the breakdown and the collision area, and we just couldn't get into our cycle." The other three semi-finals spots will be decided on Saturday when the top-seeded Waikato Chiefs take on the reigning champion Auckland Blues and the ACT Brumbies host the Wellington Hurricanes. The losing team from the three matches with the highest finish in the regular season standings also progress to the last four.
