It’s a viral social media trend that’s already ended in tragedy.
Run It Straight involves participants running at each other head on and at full speed aiming for a knock out, and it has concussion experts furious.
The premise is in the name, and it’s drawn the ire of head injury experts.
Headsafe founder Dr Adrian Cohen called it a “stupid idea”.
“We certainly don’t like activities that create pain, that create damage and that fundamentally are designed to hurt people,” he said.
“We probably need a ministry of common sense, because this would be the very first thing to be chucked out.”
His uncle, Peter has called for big names to call it out
“I am hoping that from this, we’ll see some All Blacks and league players step up and voice how misguided they believe this particular game to be,” he said.
Run It Straight and similar activities are not governed by any specific legislation. The key questions are what actions can be taken and who will take responsibility.
“It’s not a sport. It’s not a combat sport. We can’t legislate against every bad idea,” NSW Wales Sport Minister Steve Kamper said.
Australian Sports Commission CEO and Olympic legend Kieren Perkins said it was a “dangerous activity which doesn’t align with any of our advice”.
“When it comes to protecting Australians from concussion and brain injuries,” he said.
Run It Straight, which holds organised events, insists it is here to stay, but says the sport should not be copied outside of its strict conditions.
