📰 Man knocked unconscious in new "combat sport" coming to NZ

By Benjamin Plummer

A leading neuroscientist has condemned the brain injury danger of a new sport set to come to New Zealand next month, which sees rival participants ‘run it straight’ at each other with full force.

It comes after footage emerged at the weekend of a man being knocked unconscious and suffering an apparent seizure during an event in Australia as hundreds of children watched on.

Touted as a new combat sport which attempts to mirror actions seen in rugby league, union and AFL matches weekly, it sees opposing individuals – a ball runner and a tackler – run full speed at each other with the goal of trying to bowl each other over.

A video posted to social media at the weekend – which has been viewed over 2.5 million times – shows two men partaking in an event hosted by YouTube ‘content creators’.

The ball runner cops a shoulder to the head and slumps to the floor, before suffering what appears to be an involuntary repeat arm jerking movement on the ground as he is crowded by hundreds of spectators, including children.

“Dumbest game ever... And yet people [are] running out to celebrate over someone who almost lost his life,” one person commented on the video.

“The arm movement is called a reflex post that’s a symptom of damage to or disruptions in brain activity,” another said.

Others slammed the act as “super dangerous” and that the man “could have died”.

One of New Zealand’s leading neuroscientists and a chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) expert, Dr Helen Murray, told the Herald there is clearly “a high risk of head injury in this event”.

“From a CTE standpoint, we know that exposure to repeated head acceleration events is the biggest risk factor for CTE pathology, and therefore, finding ways to reduce these impacts in contact sports is a priority for player safety,” Murray said.

“It appears there is no attempt to mitigate head acceleration events in this activity, and the risk of significant injury is high given the intent to collide, so I do not support it.”

Murray also said she would “never support” celebrating such an injury as suffered by the individual in the video.

The Herald has approached the event’s organisers for comment on the man’s condition and the status of the event.

It comes as a similar event touted as the “world’s fiercest new collision sport” is set to come to New Zealand next month.

The RUNIT Championship League is due to host its inaugural live tournament in Melbourne on Wednesday, with eight people - including NRL and Super Rugby stars - competing for a grand prize of $20,000.

It will cross the Tasman on May 25, before going to the United States, Saudi Arabia and England later in the year.

It involves one runner and one tackler running full speed at each other on a 20m x 4m “battlefield”, designed for “maximum action and non-stop intensity”.

“Victory belongs to the one who dominates the collision.”

RUNIT told the Herald the incident captured in the video was not in any way related to them and called it “quite distressing”.

“The video we felt was horrendous, and backyard events such as that one was very disappointing to see.”

It said RUNIT was a professionally arranged combat sport in which athletes – selected based on trial days and merit of prior representative rugby league and union backgrounds – go through a “thorough screening process”.

“Yes, a knockout can potentially occur – but this is not the aim of our game. The aim is to dominate contact – whether you bump someone over or land a good clean hit,” organisers said.

“We disallow tackles below the waist and above the shoulders. A knockout like any other combat sport is a by-product. Unlike other combat sports however – it is not our aim.”

They said they felt their sport was safer than the likes of rugby league and AFL.

“Athletes are screened by a doctor pre and post matches, medics are present, and medical waivers inclusive of drug and blood tests are completed prior to any participation. Athletes train (or) are currently active players.”

RUNIT said mouthguards were compulsory. Headgear was optional.

The competition had top players such as former international rugby league prop and NRL Grand Final winner George Burgess taking on Super Rugby powerhouse Nemani Nadolo on Wednesday night in the Melbourne event.

“It highlights the level of differentiation between our league and these other backyard type events.

“What we saw on that video is thoroughly disappointing - the lack of care, the filming and running in of children and spectators whilst a man was clearly seizing up on the ground.”

According to the healthline.com website, when a person experiences an impact that’s strong enough to cause traumatic brain injury (TBI), such as a concussion, their arms often go into an unnatural position.

“This position — forearms extended or flexed, usually in the air — follows the impact and is known as the fencing response position. It lasts up to several seconds after the collision.

“The fencing response is often seen when a player is knocked down or knocked out during full-contact athletic competitions such as football, martial arts, boxing, rugby, and hockey.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission