It’s been touted as the world’s fiercest new combat sport and attempts to mirror the most physical collisions seen in rugby league, union and AFL matches weekly.

The rules are fairly simple – and have appalled leading neuroscientists.

“Run it straight” involves a runner and a 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.”

While it is not a new idea – and one that has occasionally been seen on school fields during lunchtime – it’s only recently taken off as a professional sport.

The frontrunner of the new sport is an Australian-based organisation named Runit Championship League, which has enlisted the help of former NRL heavyweight George Burgess to take it global.

The brutal combat sport made its debut in Auckland on Monday, offering participants the chance to win a $200,000 cash prize. Photo / runit.au

The Herald first reported the league, which its organisers stress is a professionally arranged sport, was coming to Auckland last month.

The first “trial date” was held in the City of Sails on Monday night, with the second set to take place on Wednesday night.

The trials involve 16 players competing for prizes of $20,000. The top eight earn a spot in the final, which will be held in June, where the winner takes home $200k.

The first event was held in Melbourne last month and after New Zealand the league will travel to America, Saudi Arabia and Britain later in the year.

“People want to see competition and this is definitely the purest form of that – two guys up against each other and one’s going to come off the best,” Burgess told the Herald.

At least two competitors were knocked unconscious during the Melbourne final.

But now, other analogous events are appearing across Auckland, with different organisers set to host events this week.

What other groups are organising similar events?

In Auckland alone this week, two other groups are planning to run similar events, with large cash prizes the common denominator.

Run It Straight 24

The Herald last month published a video from an event run by YouTube content creators in Australia – in which a man was knocked unconscious and suffered an apparent seizure as hundreds of children watched on.

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.

A viral video last month showed a man being knocked unconscious and suffering an apparent seizure during an event in Australia as hundreds of children watched on. Photo / TikTok

“Dumbest game ever ... And yet people [are] running out to celebrate over someone who almost lost his life,” one person commented on the video, which had been viewed more than 2.5 million times in a matter of days.

Runit Championship League organisers said 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.”

The organisers of the event, named Run It Straight 24, did not comment on the video when approached by the Herald but have now crossed to this side of the Tasman to run similar backyard-style events.

Seemingly competing with Runit Championship League, the organisers will host two events in South Auckland this week – one at the Manukau Rovers Rugby Football Club on Wednesday and another at the Marist Saints Rugby League Club on Thursday.

They have advertised a $10,000 prize for the winner and $2000 for second place.

Up the Guts NZ

The third event, which has donned the name “Up the Guts NZ” and is being advertised using an image of All Black great Jonah Lomu, has been organised by a group in East Auckland.

It claims the event will raise mental health and suicide awareness and offers three main events – under-18s, light heavyweight and super heavyweight.

This single event is being hosted at Barfoot & Thompson Stadium in Kohimarama and boasts cash prizes of up to $5000.

‘It’s exploitation’: Why is the sport being condemned?

While the new sport has amassed a significant following on social media over the past month, leading neuroscientists have consistently condemned the concept since its inception.

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.

Leading neuroscientists and a chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) expert, Dr Helen Murray has condemned the sport. Photo / Michael Craig

“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.”

Professor Patria Hume, sports scientist and injury prevention expert at Auckland University of Technology, called the sport “a step backwards” in athlete safety.

Hume called it a “reckless and dangerous spectacle” that contradicts decades of scientific evidence on head injury risks in contact sport.

“We’ve spent years building evidence-based strategies to reduce head and neck injuries in rugby and contact sports. This event ignores all of that.”

Stacey Mowbray, chief executive of Headway – a concussion and brain injury education charity – told the Herald the events present “serious risk of traumatic brain injury or death”.

“Headway supports sports but run it straight is not a sport. It is a dangerous spectacle with an extremely high risk of brain injury.

She believed promotional material and the event’s format appear to “deliberately target vulnerable communities” by offering large prize money as an incentive to participate.

“For many, particularly those under financial pressure, that’s a difficult offer to refuse – even when the risk of serious harm is known.”

Mowbray said she’d raised her concerns with Auckland Council, the mayor, deputy mayor, local MPs and WorkSafe New Zealand, but had been disappointed by the responses.

Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers sport and breaking news. He has worked for the Herald since 2022.