So, the government says it can’t ban “run it straight” competitions but urges people to use their brains and exercise personal responsibility when considering taking part in or promoting our newest combat sport.
For those of you who missed the week’s headlines, I’ll catch you up. Run it straight has two players – a runner and a tackler – who eyeball each other from opposite ends of a 20mx4m “battlefield” and then run full speed towards one another.
The person who “dominates the collision” is declared the winner – and the person who doesn’t can be knocked unconscious or, as we have sadly seen in New Zealand, killed. Ryan Satterthwaite, 19, suffered severe head injuries after taking part in a private run it straight game on May 25. He was taken to Palmerston North Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery. He couldn’t be saved, and his life support was turned off on Monday, leaving his family distraught and everyone from police to neuroscientists calling for a ban.
Normally I’m against banning things – although I have spoken in favour of social media bans for under 16s – because governments are already too often in our lives. (And speaking of social media, run it straight is big online, and those close to the action pump it out on their live social accounts.)
But the government says it can’t ban run it straight anyway, and people should just be aware it’s dangerous and use their common sense.
That’s all very well, but there can be prize money at stake – the lure of that cash and other gifts matters. Recent competitions in Auckland have advertised a $10,000 winner’s prize and $2000 for second place. When you’re doing it hard, that can be too good to walk away from.
Before rushing to judgement, I went to the Auckland event with my son to see what all the fuss was about. It was free and thousands turned up. Everyone was curious to see what happened. I came away thinking that this isn’t a sport – it isn’t even sane – and to me, it looked more like voyeuristic, sanctioned thuggery. I saw two grown men get absolutely annihilated. They couldn’t stand up afterwards and kept collapsing.
The crowd was a mixed bag but included families and young ones who seemed unable to look away from what they were watching, partly because of the disbelief was it was happening. That’s symptomatic of the ghoulish society we live and take part in. We don’t want to just drive by a road crash; we want to stop, watch, comment, record what’s happening, post it, show we were there, give others our view, promote it. So for a crowd baying for action, it’s amazing – if you’re into that sort of prison violence. I found it sickening and I worry for the blokes who are hard-up and tempted by the cash.
The government’s response doesn’t feel strong enough. We need to go further. For a start, people taking part aren’t using their brains; sometimes you have to step in and save people from themselves. We do it daily with overbearing health and safety rules in New Zealand, so why stop now?
If it can’t be banned then councils and owners of stadiums and sports fields where run it straight might be held need to come up with a policy, bylaw or rule that doesn’t allow the events to be held at their locations.
After what I saw, I’m of the opinion that we cannot allow this sort of thing to take hold as a public event. It needs to be shunned and if that forces it underground, so be it. That’s where it should stay – out of sight and out of mind, and nowhere near the public or social media. Right now, we should be seeing what laws already exist to give police the power to shut these events down.
And if it really can’t be banned, then I sincerely hope it’s a fad like the ice-bucket challenge. My fear is that we shouldn’t bet on that.
