Pressing to turn the game into the backyard into a global sport

“Is the defender ready?” He calls the host.

Thumbs up and moments later two rude men – without a protective gear – go at full speed to each other before they collide, the unmistakable sound of flesh and bone crunching.

The crowd erupts in a collective roar, some applause, others sow.

This is the moment they waited – and this is exactly the energy, fed by adrenaline, the organizers of RUN IT Championship League deal to help bring what they call the “worldwide worldwide confrontation” to the world’s audience.

This is a super-charged version of a game to deal with one that occurs in the backyards and school sites of Australia and New Zealand, in the communities of the Pacific Island.

One person carrying a ball must “let him directly” with the defender, who also sprints to them: they are not allowed to go, interfere with, or give up a bill.

The videos of the game recently became viral, and the founders of Run IT League have taken advantage of the jump of interest – they say they have won millions of views online, have won over thousands of fans, attracted sponsors of big names, and even inspired competing competitions.

They have held Justs in Melbourne and Auckland, and on Saturday another will be held in Dubai Arena, the winner takes money of $ 200,000 (98,000 British pounds). Then their program is the expansion of the United Kingdom and the United States.

But the basis of support for the League is increasingly competing with critical votes. Medical experts and sports figures are worried about the physical and mental health of the game – which has also become a broader mania in social media, which has already been accused of claiming a life.

“It’s like shaking a baby,” says Peter Sutterwitwine, whose teenage nephew died after copying the game to a party.

The purpose of the game is simple: be the person who “dominates” the contact, as is considered a group of three judges.

Two of the seven co -founders of the League, Brandon Tawaa and Stephen Hankock, tell the BBC that they have kind memories of playing the game as teens in Melbourne.

“Before that, I” performed it straight “in Brandon,” Hankok says, joking that the couple usually tries to avoid hitting straight.

There is nothing from this weekend when the eight finalists compete for this giant monetary award in the United Arab Emirates.

Hankok insists that this is a “skill game” – “(everything) everything about the work of the feet” – but there is no denial of the violent nature of it.

A quick scroll of social media accounts in the league shows dozens of quick strides, all of which are involved in the explosive action of two men who are confronted.

In other videos circulating from events, several competitors are knocking out and requires immediate medical attention.

Taua’a admits that sport comes with risks, but says the league has safety protocols to minimize them.

Competitors have been examined by undergoing medical assessments – such as blood tests and physical exam – and they also have to send a recent video to themselves, playing sports that are distinguished. The medical staff is also on the sidelines of events.

“There is an element of surfing, boxing and many other sports,” said Taua’a.

For Champ Betham – which won the NZ $ 20,000 earlier this month at the Auckland race and shoots for the Dubai title on Saturday – the element of danger is secondary attention.

“This is a huge blessing for a whole part of us to try to win 20,000 or whatever work for a few hours,” he told Radio New Zealand at the time.

“We have to pay some debts and stock up the refrigerators and cabinets, the food for our little ones, especially with the economy and the like here in New Zealand. Nothing is cheap these days.”

The money that has been involved for a league that has only existed for six months is impressive. Along with the prize pool, the cost of traveling and accommodating competitors is paid. An arena with 1600 seats has been booked. The league has a smooth social media account, a representative of PR and a bunch of promoters – including sports stars on the anti -seizures.

Its initial financial supporters were described only as “a group of local investors who believe in the product” but appeared more names: days before the event in Dubai, the league has announced that it has provided a major sponsor in the online gambling PRECED.COM, which is banned in key markets like Australia and the United Kingdom.

Conversations with potential US investors, including contact with the US subacter and UFC in the heavyweight, Joe Rogan, which Taua’a, says “will definitely help” the League to build a presence in the United States, are also continuing.

They will need great supporters to match their ambitions for the competition, which they claim to be more than a fleeting trend in social media.

“This can actually happen in a sport that can sit (in class) with MMA and boxing,” says Hancock.

But since Taua’a and Hancock focus on future ambitions of competition, more and more votes are questioning its safety.

“They can also create smoking as a legitimate sport,” says neurologist Alan Pierce.

Talking to the BBC from the city of New Zealand to Palmerston North, Peter Sutterwith is unambiguous.

“This is not a sport,” he says. This is a “dangerous activity” created purely “to hurt the person in front of you.”

His 19-year-old nephew Ryan celebrated the 21st birthday with friends in a local park when they decided to try the game they had seen in their emissions on social media.

Ryan made two equipment. Neither he nor his friend fell nor collided with their heads. But as he was moving away, he told his friends that he was not feeling well, Uncle was telling him.

“(Ryan) was agreed for a little while, then lay down and his eyes just returned to his head.”

Friends put him to a hospital where doctors had to “cut a significant short of his skull” to relieve the pressure caused by brain swelling, says Sutterwait.

“I saw him on the fan, his chest gets up and down as he was breathing, and it was like” Get up! Open your eyes. “

On Monday night, just a day after he played with his friends, maintaining Ryan’s life was excluded in a hospital room full of loved ones.

“It was just a harmless clash,” says Ryan’s Uncle, “and just shows you how fragile life is and how fragile your brain is.”

Perform, says that he understands the dangers of contact sports and seriously accepts safety. Weeks after Ryan’s death, the league publishes a video saying that the game is “not for the backyard, not the street.”

“Don’t try it at home,” they said.

But Satterthwaite doubts that the warning will have a big impact.

“I don’t think there is a sport in the world that people don’t make on the beach, in their backyard, or in the park.”

Not only the physical effects are worried about Shenei Panaya.

Like Samoan growing in Australia, she often saw students playing the game as a little fun. But the mental health worker fears that he is intensifying “a version of masculinity where silence is power and violence is proof of pride.”

“He sends a dangerous message to young men that their value is based on how much pain they can accept. If you are not difficult, you do not belong.”

And the League’s attempt to turn this into a profitable viewer is contrary to the values ​​of many in the community of the Pacific Island, Penaya says.

“We are taught to take care of each other … and make decisions that serve more than themselves.”

Their concerns are voiced by a package of concussion and sports figures.

For more than a decade, the world of high -impact sport has introduced safety measures as brain injuries have developed.

Official bodies, including Rugby Australia, New Zealand Rugby, have warned people not to participate, with the Prime Minister of New Zealand also weighing, saying it is a “dumb thing to do”.

Neuroscientist Pearce claims to be managed by the “most vibrant aspects of our well -established sport”, while safety protocols do a little to minimize the risk. Blood tests and physical examinations cannot predict brain damage and catastrophic damage can occur even without a direct blow to the head, he says.

“I can’t see running 25 km an hour straight to each other without stopping it is safe,” he told the BBC. “It’s as simple as this.”

There is a risk of immediate concussion, says D -R Pierce, deposited brain injuries such as Ryan Satterthwaite and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – a degenerative disease caused by recurrent head trauma. They can lead to cognitive disorders, movement disorders, dementia, depression.

“(They) basically use the clash as a value of entertainment, which is actually commercialization of the concussion,” he concludes.

But a spokesman for the league – who claims that it is not a matter of masculinity, but of “strength and skills” – they say that the organizers do not intend to slow down and do not worry too much about their critics.

Taua’a says that what is happening in their competitions is “not much different” than what you see in rugby television matches and – with their protocols – it is far more conventional than many of the games played in the back yards around the world.

“This is quite new for viewers and it can take some time to get used to seeing what we have collected.”