San Francisco Frontiers - After outcry, rugby-inspired collision sport seeks new markets

It's the start of a night of thumps, grunts and head injuries at Runit, the rugby-inspired competition that has quickly drawn a social media following and alarm from health experts.

The injury-count is high: three of the 12 players are withdrawn with suspected concussion, including a sickening hit that leaves ex-National Rugby League pro Kevin Proctor writhing on the ground.

The final ends when Sam "The Ice Man" Suamili is too dazed to continue, leaving Auckland's Vulangi Olosoni, 26, to celebrate the Aus$200,000 ($130,000) first prize with his overjoyed wife and sister.

Organisers have big plans for the Runit Championship League, the brainchild of seven young men from Melbourne who have evolved it from a backyard game to a marketable commodity in a matter of months.

Saturday's competition, attended by just a few hundred fans, was backed by several sponsors with a live-stream featuring ex-NRL pro George Burgess, a figurehead for the sport.

Its rapid rise has been controversial, however. The event was held in the United Arab Emirates after calls to ban it following trials in New Zealand, where a teenager died playing a copycat version last month.

- 'Honourable' -

According to Lou Sticca, a football agent and consultant promoter who brought the tournament to Dubai, the next stop is the United States.

"It's a contact sport. Americans love contact sport. This is tailor-made," he told AFP.

"It's two gladiators. It's actually quite honourable. You've got two guys similar size, similar weight. There's a lot of technique," he added.

Runit, which bills itself as the "world's fiercest new collision sport", is contested on a track 20 metres (65 feet) long and four metres wide.

The athletes, typically with a rugby background and the build of a heavyweight boxer, have four runs at each other taking turns to hold a rugby ball. The winner is the man judged to "dominate" the contest.

Two doctors and three other medics were pitchside in Dubai, with two ambulances waiting outside, according to Sticca.

The players, mostly New Zealanders, had medical checks including head scans before flying out and will be assessed again on their return, he said.

"We're engaging proper legal experts on concussion and as we grow the sport, we'll get experts in concussion at other sports," Sticca said.

"We'll do whatever we can to play our part in ensuring the health and safety of our combatants."

- 'Unacceptable threat to life' -

However, not everyone is convinced. New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called Runit a "dumb thing to do", while the New Zealand Medical Journal said it was "engineered for injury".

"It is a ritualised, high-risk physical collision that poses an unacceptable threat to life and wellbeing," an editorial said this week.

"As trauma clinicians, we warn unequivocally: Run It Straight is a mechanism for significant acute and long-term injury," the journal added.

Concerns over concussion have prompted new measures in several sports including the rugby codes as scores of retired players report serious health problems.

Tania Mayne, a Dubai-based neurophysiotherapist who specialises in concussion, said the science was clear on impacts to the head.

"World Rugby has been so outspoken about how a contact should take place in a match," she told AFP, referring to rugby union's governing body.

"This goes against everything out there."

Mayne added: "I would just encourage people not to get involved and read what's out there. There's so much information about concussion in sport."

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive disease caused by repeated blows to the head, is known to trigger violent moods, dementia and depression.

Injuries from head knocks have also been linked to disorders such as motor neurone disease, early onset dementia, epilepsy and Parkinson's disease.

However, Sticca said Runit was being unfairly singled out.

"Any contact sport has got the same issues. It's just that we're only hearing about this because it suits the agenda," he said.

"We don't care about the critics, we care about the combatants. We care about making Runit a bigger, better sport. Simple as that."

B.Turner--SFF