Toxic and now deadly: The very real risks of the Run It Straight trend

COMMENT: "Nah, I don't think so, mate. To find it even slightly funny, is to not understand it at all." 

Last week, a teen died after playing a game at a 21st birthday party.

The game was 'Run It Straight' - a decades-old 'sport' ingrained in Aussie and New Zealand culture. It involves a simple concept; two blokes running at full speed towards each other to tackle. 

But for the 19-year-old who was critically injured while playing the familiar game on a Sunday afternoon, Run It Straight was fatal. Ryan Satterthwaite tragically died from his injuries in hospital.

His death caught the attention of parents everywhere, many of whom - like myself - had not even heard of the game.

But now we have, it seems we need to address a major problem.

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What is Run It Straight and why should we be worried?

Sports reporter Ben Talintyre, explained the appeal of Run It Straight to Kidspot.

"It's an ingrained part of Aussie culture, especially in Western Sydney.  It was a standard thing we grew up saying to each other, for a challenge, at school, with your mates."

He added that it was also a way to "get notoriety" if you won all the time, and everyone admired your manliness.

"There's a large element of showing how big and tough you are, which is important, if you don't think you have much else to offer."

I asked him if there was an element of toxic masculinity in the tradition?

"Absolutely," he replied.

Sigh - it's something parents have been railing against in large numbers ever since Adolescence came out. Are we even making progress?

Talintyre recently wrote about Run It Straight's evolution to bigger platforms on social media - which is a huge part of the current problem.

"Videos of the heavy collisions started doing the rounds on social media in January," he said.

"The sport involves four rounds of players charging at each other along a 10m grass runway, with each competitor taking turns carrying a rugby league ball.

"The objective is to either successfully tackle the opponent or run them over in a hard-hitting collision. The contest ends when a player is either knocked out or concussed.

"If both competitors are still standing and have their wits about them after four rounds, a set of judges decide the winner, with the main criteria they are judging being damage."

Horrifying stuff, but each to their own, I guess.  You do you. Unless there's a chance my Year 12 thinks it's a good idea to give it a crack - I have opinions.

When I asked him if my kid if knew of the game, he told me, "Yeah, it's stupid but the videos are funny."

Nah, I don't think so, mate. To find Run It Straight even slightly funny, is to not understand the risk of a future with dementia/brain damage/epilepsy, at all.

Ryan Satterthwaite tragically died after playing Run It Straight. Image: Stuff

I would have thought the proven news and research about the long-term effects of head injuries from sport was general knowledge - and parents would be talking to their kids about it.

Not that people are looking at science and data, but at least from Will Smith's 2015 ground-breaking sports movie, literally called "Concussion".

But as the game increases in popularity, experts are ringing the alarm bells louder and getting people's attention.

Talintyre spoke to leading Australian sports neuroscientist Dr Alan Pearce, who said, "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.

“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.”

Banning Run It Straight

There are calls from sporting greats to ban the Run It Straight businesses, but it doesn't seem that will stop it at a grassroots level.

As parents, it looks like it's yet another thing we need to raise with our kids. We need to educate them about the risks of what even one knock to the head can do.

If you don't think they'll listen, just get them to watch Concussion. That should do it. Seriously.

Originally published as Toxic and now deadly: The very real risks of the Run It Straight trend