WEBVTT - 'Like dwarf-tossing': Concussion experts call for Run It Straight ban

0:00:05.400 --> 0:00:05.840
<v Speaker 1>Kielda.

0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:09.280
<v Speaker 2>I'm Chelsea Daniels and This is the Front Page, a

0:00:09.400 --> 0:00:16.640
<v Speaker 2>daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. A group

0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:21.680
<v Speaker 2>of concussion researchers have likened run It Straight events to

0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:27.360
<v Speaker 2>dwarf tossing, where organizers turn real human risk and harm

0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:31.760
<v Speaker 2>into a spectacle. There are growing calls to ban these events,

0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:34.360
<v Speaker 2>where two people run head to head at each other

0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:41.200
<v Speaker 2>before making body jarring contact. These sporting spectacles have gained

0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:46.480
<v Speaker 2>popularity in recent times, with competitors promised thousands of dollars

0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:51.400
<v Speaker 2>for winning. The social media driven craze made international headlines

0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:55.800
<v Speaker 2>earlier this year when nineteen year old Ryan Sattathwaite died

0:00:55.960 --> 0:01:00.960
<v Speaker 2>after suffering head injuries in an impromptu contest with friends.

0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:04.039
<v Speaker 2>Today on the Front Page ends at Harald, reporter Neil

0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:06.920
<v Speaker 2>readers with us to take us through the latest on

0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:17.360
<v Speaker 2>the world's newest full contact competition. First off, Neil, let's

0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:20.720
<v Speaker 2>start with an easy one. What is Run It Straight?

0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:24.039
<v Speaker 1>Run It Straight? Head It's beginnings in America is a

0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:28.800
<v Speaker 1>practice move used by NFL teams, Basically running backs running

0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:35.320
<v Speaker 1>into defenders, improving both defensive skills and running skills, trying

0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:38.080
<v Speaker 1>to bust the tackle from there, and it ended up

0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:41.800
<v Speaker 1>actually being banned in America by the NFL basically for

0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:44.120
<v Speaker 1>safety concerns, and in the meantime it's become sort of

0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:47.200
<v Speaker 1>somewhat of a social media sensation on both sides of

0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:49.240
<v Speaker 1>the Tasman. The version of running straight that we have

0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:53.240
<v Speaker 1>in New Zealand and Australia is two people running for

0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:57.600
<v Speaker 1>about thirty meters away from each other. One person's got

0:01:57.600 --> 0:02:00.800
<v Speaker 1>a ball. The other person's job is to either smash

0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:02.920
<v Speaker 1>that the ball carrier as hard as they can.

0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:05.880
<v Speaker 2>I wasn't even aware that there was a ball involved.

0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:08.400
<v Speaker 2>I mean, I've seen some of these videos. They're pretty

0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:11.760
<v Speaker 2>terrifying and people end up convulsing on the floor in

0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:13.079
<v Speaker 2>some instances.

0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:16.360
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, during some of the organized events and Allkland earlier

0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:18.960
<v Speaker 1>this year that the hero went with a reporter and

0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:21.280
<v Speaker 1>a videographer and there were a couple of people that

0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:23.919
<v Speaker 1>were not cold. There was another person that was lying

0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:27.760
<v Speaker 1>on the ground convulsing. So that's quite a telltale sign

0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:31.799
<v Speaker 1>of a concussion impact, exceptely not for the faint heart.

0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:34.639
<v Speaker 1>And I think part of the issue with the health

0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:36.720
<v Speaker 1>bodies that have called for it to be banned is

0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:39.160
<v Speaker 1>it's okay for some of these big hits to be

0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:41.640
<v Speaker 1>had on a rugby field or a rugby league field,

0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:45.000
<v Speaker 1>but these are actually athletes that are trained to handle

0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:49.639
<v Speaker 1>those hits as safely as possible in the background as well,

0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:52.079
<v Speaker 1>both rugby and leap. In our part of the world

0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.040
<v Speaker 1>that the laws have changed where you know, you can't

0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:58.520
<v Speaker 1>hit someone above the shoulder line and people can still

0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:01.000
<v Speaker 1>get cancuss not just being in the head, but she

0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:07.560
<v Speaker 1>tackled around the chest or the shoulders. Concussions caused by

0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:11.200
<v Speaker 1>the size of impact, not necessarily where the impacts made.

0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:13.520
<v Speaker 2>Tell me about this research paper.

0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:17.000
<v Speaker 1>Yes, there's a group called the Repercussion Group. They're made

0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:23.080
<v Speaker 1>up of academics, concussion experts, concussion researchers and also people

0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:27.280
<v Speaker 1>who are living with the impacts of concussion. So among

0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:29.960
<v Speaker 1>this group there's quite a strong New Zealand presences. Petry

0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:33.480
<v Speaker 1>Hume and Alistairedom. They're both from the Auckland University of Technology,

0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:37.400
<v Speaker 1>professors and very skilled in the area. Doug King, who

0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:42.480
<v Speaker 1>is a very qualified nurse who's made a real passion

0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:46.160
<v Speaker 1>himself of research and concussion and trying to find answers

0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:50.440
<v Speaker 1>to concussion and thempacts to it. And also one lady

0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:52.840
<v Speaker 1>who's got to be coming from it from a different strand,

0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:55.200
<v Speaker 1>Irene Gottlieb. Her husband is Jeff Old. It used to

0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:57.880
<v Speaker 1>be in All Black Blues Forward of the late seventies

0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:01.480
<v Speaker 1>and early eighties a month or two. Legendo for the

0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:04.000
<v Speaker 1>past probably ten years has been living with early onset

0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:07.640
<v Speaker 1>dementia conditions. It's quite quite a sad story what's happened

0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:11.080
<v Speaker 1>to Jeff. So amongst that four is also experts from

0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:15.880
<v Speaker 1>the UK, from Australia and America, and they've been looking

0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:18.320
<v Speaker 1>over the last few years and ways to make sports safer,

0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:23.680
<v Speaker 1>waves to highlight the life changing impacts that concussion and

0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:24.360
<v Speaker 1>evil people.

0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:29.080
<v Speaker 2>And they reference dwarf tossing. What do you think the

0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:33.360
<v Speaker 2>significance is of that comparison? What message are they trying

0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:39.800
<v Speaker 2>to send when they compare it to such a derogatory sport?

0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:43.680
<v Speaker 2>Inverted comments, because when was that a thing?

0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:51.599
<v Speaker 1>Dwarf tossing, jeez, would have been the eighties, eighties and nineties.

0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:51.880
<v Speaker 3>Year.

0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:54.520
<v Speaker 1>Since they're probably the nineties, it's been very unpopular. I

0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:56.040
<v Speaker 1>mean there used to be in New Zealand sort of

0:04:56.120 --> 0:05:00.120
<v Speaker 1>organized dwarf tossing events at bars around the country. It

0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:04.200
<v Speaker 1>was sort of how it was it happened. In the

0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:08.479
<v Speaker 1>white paper that the Repercussion Group have published on run It,

0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:12.320
<v Speaker 1>they've described it as well, likened it to dwarf tossing

0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:15.760
<v Speaker 1>in the sense we organizers and their views turn real

0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:18.640
<v Speaker 1>human risk and harm into a spectacle. It's a pretty

0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:21.040
<v Speaker 1>hard hitting paper that put out, and I think they've

0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:23.719
<v Speaker 1>used that term ready to make a bit of a

0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:26.400
<v Speaker 1>stand saying look, you know, for a while, amongst some

0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:31.440
<v Speaker 1>people who went to a pub, they found dwarf tossing entertaining,

0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:35.400
<v Speaker 1>similar with running straight. Some people find it entertaining, other

0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:38.680
<v Speaker 1>people find it horrent, and they probably used the most

0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:41.560
<v Speaker 1>emotional language that they can think of to get their

0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:42.360
<v Speaker 1>point across.

0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:48.880
<v Speaker 2>The researchers liken the collisions in these events to car

0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:53.560
<v Speaker 2>crashes without a seatbelt. What does that mean in terms

0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:55.880
<v Speaker 2>of that brain injury risk.

0:05:56.640 --> 0:05:59.480
<v Speaker 1>In terms of the collision size. I think that's what

0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:02.560
<v Speaker 1>they say. It's been sort of long talked about, probably

0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:05.680
<v Speaker 1>the last maybe ten years, just talking about an impact

0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:09.640
<v Speaker 1>on a rugby league fields from guys that are actually

0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:13.159
<v Speaker 1>trained to take their bodies, a conditioned to take the headers.

0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:18.240
<v Speaker 1>It is like a thirty kilometer and out crash. I

0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:20.280
<v Speaker 1>think the rests are even more with running straight because

0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:21.880
<v Speaker 1>a lot of the people that are involved, they're not

0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:25.159
<v Speaker 1>professional sports people. They don't work out in the gym

0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:28.720
<v Speaker 1>eight and nine months a year to be conditioned to

0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:30.880
<v Speaker 1>take these hits. So when you've got two guys that

0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:34.080
<v Speaker 1>are all ladies, that are fairly well built running at

0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:36.800
<v Speaker 1>each other full tilt, there's no rules on where you

0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:40.120
<v Speaker 1>in rugby or league, you can't hit from above the shoulder.

0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:46.880
<v Speaker 1>It's the shoulders to the jaw. Yes, several Jesus of

0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:50.520
<v Speaker 1>force that are involved in the impact. So yeah, it's

0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:52.800
<v Speaker 1>pretty scary to think, you know, it's the equivalent head

0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:56.200
<v Speaker 1>or crash. Without a safety belt. The rest of your

0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:58.679
<v Speaker 1>body stops moving, but at the same time, your brain's

0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.320
<v Speaker 1>still moving in your head. Something's going to have to give.

0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:05.360
<v Speaker 2>What is the incentive of signing yourself up to one

0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:06.680
<v Speaker 2>of these events?

0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:10.640
<v Speaker 1>In New Zealand Australia this year with some of the

0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:14.320
<v Speaker 1>organizing organized events, there was a surprise of twenty k

0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:18.280
<v Speaker 1>which is quite interesting that the Ziller actually won the

0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:21.800
<v Speaker 1>twenty thousand dollars and went off to a World championship

0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:25.840
<v Speaker 1>in the Middle East. He actually apologized for being involved

0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:29.000
<v Speaker 1>in the sense that he could actually did portray a

0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:33.240
<v Speaker 1>bit of a bad look for people's safety.

0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:36.680
<v Speaker 3>You heard about that one story about that kidding, Yeah, yeah,

0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:40.400
<v Speaker 3>that's pretty rough. Like I feel sorry for the families

0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:47.720
<v Speaker 3>that is enjoying their pain from something that's been something

0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:52.240
<v Speaker 3>that was safe, but like, yeah, that caused harm to somebody,

0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:54.280
<v Speaker 3>that's not what it's all about. It that's all about

0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:57.160
<v Speaker 3>just making sure that everyone's all safe, making sure that

0:07:57.200 --> 0:08:01.560
<v Speaker 3>they're all well trained. But I also know what they're

0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:04.520
<v Speaker 3>doing because that that helped me way more than anything else,

0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:08.840
<v Speaker 3>because Madam like losing your life. That helped me so

0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:11.360
<v Speaker 3>much because I was like, he could have been something great.

0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:17.080
<v Speaker 1>So he's obviously twenty grand. There was several other events

0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:19.120
<v Speaker 1>and Auckland that we was supposed to be held that

0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:23.160
<v Speaker 1>were canceled due to the backlash, and counsel then pulled

0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:26.600
<v Speaker 1>out of allowing the organizers to use see venues in

0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:28.640
<v Speaker 1>the Middle East. There was a competition where two hundred

0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:31.480
<v Speaker 1>and fifty thousand dollars was up for grabs and you

0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:33.960
<v Speaker 1>know it's for a lot of people that's life changing.

0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:36.080
<v Speaker 1>That is incredible.

0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:38.080
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's a quarter of a million.

0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:41.199
<v Speaker 1>Dollars back yourself to put a big hits on it.

0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:44.079
<v Speaker 1>That's the money that's hard to turn down the score.

0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:47.760
<v Speaker 2>Why do you think these events are so popular from

0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:51.480
<v Speaker 2>a spectator's standpoint? Is it kind of like driving past

0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:54.240
<v Speaker 2>a car crash scenario that old that old chestnut.

0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:57.160
<v Speaker 1>I think definitely. I think that then they kind of

0:08:57.160 --> 0:09:01.640
<v Speaker 1>stuck out with Runner when it exploded in such a

0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:04.920
<v Speaker 1>sensational fashion earlier in New Zealand. It's it's very much

0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:07.559
<v Speaker 1>I liking it to motor racing and speedway. There's a

0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:10.360
<v Speaker 1>lot of people that might not be huge petrol heads

0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:12.679
<v Speaker 1>or like watching the cars go around the track, but

0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:14.560
<v Speaker 1>there's a lot of people that go to speedway and

0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:18.360
<v Speaker 1>motor sport in particular to watch the crashes. There'll be

0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:21.840
<v Speaker 1>people that go to football or rugby league that go

0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:23.440
<v Speaker 1>there to see the big hits. And I think those

0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:26.440
<v Speaker 1>big hits that used to see in the eighties and nineties,

0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:28.480
<v Speaker 1>especially in stat of Origin where you know it was

0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:33.880
<v Speaker 1>as she glorified someone smashing someone into smotherings, I mean

0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:35.920
<v Speaker 1>that those big hits are kind of vanished from the

0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:37.600
<v Speaker 1>game because the game has been made to be a

0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:40.320
<v Speaker 1>bit safer, where if you hit someone too high it's

0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:43.160
<v Speaker 1>at your legal now. So there's definitely an audience out

0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:47.600
<v Speaker 1>there that love love big, physical confrontation, love someone coming

0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:48.320
<v Speaker 1>off second best.

0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:57.120
<v Speaker 2>This is the heart love of the hits.

0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:02.440
<v Speaker 1>So the part is persons where we're very helpy.

0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:10.760
<v Speaker 2>What role do you think masculinity or the societal perceptions

0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:13.920
<v Speaker 2>of being a big, tough guy play into it.

0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:20.360
<v Speaker 1>I think huge Chelsea, yeah, and rugby league. It's not

0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:24.040
<v Speaker 1>just the professional level, but if you go into a

0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:27.880
<v Speaker 1>too addressing rooms at are even a club level, which

0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:30.760
<v Speaker 1>you've done many a year. I mean there are some

0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:34.040
<v Speaker 1>people that are really fire up seeing opponents and they

0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:36.280
<v Speaker 1>want to built them and smash them with run it

0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:38.280
<v Speaker 1>Straight to It's not just the organized events. If you

0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:40.360
<v Speaker 1>look on social media of people doing it in the

0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:43.920
<v Speaker 1>backyard and unfortunately where the tragedy and he's where someone

0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:47.480
<v Speaker 1>died doing run in the backyard. But you know these

0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:51.920
<v Speaker 1>videos of mates standing over other mates after the politics

0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:55.000
<v Speaker 1>and I think masculinity and being the tough guy that

0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:56.000
<v Speaker 1>that definitely plays a part.

0:10:56.720 --> 0:11:00.720
<v Speaker 2>Unfortunately, So there's a call to ban these It Straight

0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:03.920
<v Speaker 2>events in New Zealand. Do you think the government has

0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:06.480
<v Speaker 2>to actually intervene at some point for that to happen.

0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:09.920
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, most definitely. Obviously the Repercussion Group doesn't want this

0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:12.960
<v Speaker 1>event in New Zealand, it doesn't want this event anywhere.

0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:17.720
<v Speaker 1>Auckland Council were very proactively this year where they withheld

0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:21.840
<v Speaker 1>access to their venues where running Straight events were meant

0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:23.920
<v Speaker 1>to happen on These events are offering a lot of

0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:26.360
<v Speaker 1>cash for the winner. The only way that it can

0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.800
<v Speaker 1>be been formally is for the government to step in.

0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:33.040
<v Speaker 1>That's what the Repercussion Group's calling for, so that no

0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:35.160
<v Speaker 1>doubt would come down to the Minister of Sport or

0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:38.839
<v Speaker 1>the Minister of Health making a ruling. We're get to

0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:41.000
<v Speaker 1>hear from Mark Mature's the Minister of Sport on it.

0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:44.760
<v Speaker 1>He's previously been briefed as a government has been briefed

0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:48.959
<v Speaker 1>on Runner, especially after the tragedy where palmerslor team lost

0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:49.679
<v Speaker 1>his life.

0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:52.720
<v Speaker 2>I mean, thinking of other ways to try and stop

0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:55.600
<v Speaker 2>this in its track. You've got to think about social

0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:58.200
<v Speaker 2>media platforms. Right, this is where we're seeing all of

0:11:58.200 --> 0:11:59.960
<v Speaker 2>the videos, and this is where you're seeing all the

0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:04.360
<v Speaker 2>traction for these events. Could we do something like, I

0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:08.080
<v Speaker 2>don't know, getting tech companies to stop monetizing these videos.

0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:10.640
<v Speaker 2>But then again, I'm thinking, well, how likely is that

0:12:10.760 --> 0:12:15.119
<v Speaker 2>going to happen? Because eyeballs mean money for these tech companies.

0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:20.920
<v Speaker 1>The repercussion grows really hot on social media companies demonetizing

0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:23.520
<v Speaker 1>that content. There's probably a lot of people who were

0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:27.440
<v Speaker 1>back there, but yeah, social media. Everyone knows that social

0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:30.199
<v Speaker 1>media makes a lot of money out of advertising. Everyone

0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:32.720
<v Speaker 1>in the media knows that. And you just can't see

0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:38.640
<v Speaker 1>the likes of Facebook or Twitter or TikTok Instagram demonetizing that.

0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:42.440
<v Speaker 1>It's you know, countless. What's the casion that they're making

0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:43.760
<v Speaker 1>from videos such like.

0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:48.320
<v Speaker 2>In terms of the events themselves and people who sign

0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:52.440
<v Speaker 2>themselves up to this kind of thing. I immediately thought, well,

0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:55.760
<v Speaker 2>what's the difference between a run at straight event and

0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:58.520
<v Speaker 2>if we were to say, have that Warrior show. You

0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:02.320
<v Speaker 2>remember that show in the eighties nineties where normal people

0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:06.360
<v Speaker 2>would go on to this show and like hand gladiators gladiators.

0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:08.920
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, yeah, what's the difference.

0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:11.600
<v Speaker 2>Between I suppose those people were quite.

0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:16.280
<v Speaker 1>Athletic gladia gladaders is probably nearly take on it, but

0:13:16.480 --> 0:13:19.800
<v Speaker 1>there wasn't really I think gladiators, you know that you

0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:24.120
<v Speaker 1>had helmets yet padding every shoulder, pads and pads arm pads,

0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:27.800
<v Speaker 1>and I don't think the hats were as brutal, whereas

0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:31.280
<v Speaker 1>with this you've got you know, people sort of running

0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:35.000
<v Speaker 1>twenty three meters full board each other. The objects not

0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:39.160
<v Speaker 1>to take someone down, it's to well around the ankles.

0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:42.240
<v Speaker 1>The object just to take someone down and knock them

0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:45.520
<v Speaker 1>down set involves you know, nine times out of ten,

0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:49.280
<v Speaker 1>the shoulder to the jaw or some sort of head blow.

0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:51.679
<v Speaker 1>I mean, people sign up for it and if they

0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:55.800
<v Speaker 1>get injured, unfortunately, that's on them. I think they could

0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:57.840
<v Speaker 1>well open up a bit of a legal mindfield down

0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:00.439
<v Speaker 1>the track about you know, whether someone's eligible for acc

0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:03.640
<v Speaker 1>if they're involved in run it. Especially if run it's

0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:07.480
<v Speaker 1>bann it's probably definitely a case of buyer beware.

0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:10.640
<v Speaker 2>Can we ban a sport well, I mean.

0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:12.800
<v Speaker 1>That's where it's going to have to come from, either

0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:16.640
<v Speaker 1>the Ministry Health or the Minister of Sport. It'd be

0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:19.160
<v Speaker 1>I mean, you're probably talking about big money too, that

0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:21.240
<v Speaker 1>that the organizers have running a straight They're not running

0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:24.400
<v Speaker 1>a charity, they're running a highly well it seems like

0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:27.760
<v Speaker 1>a fairly professional sporting league. You're talking about, you know,

0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:30.360
<v Speaker 1>big events in this in the Middle East where winners

0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:32.640
<v Speaker 1>from New Zelanic and government or potentially two hundred and

0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:36.640
<v Speaker 1>fifty thousand dollars. I think if the government did sort

0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:40.200
<v Speaker 1>of move towards banning that event, there'd be some some

0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:42.880
<v Speaker 1>lawyers that will probably line up to try and take

0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:43.520
<v Speaker 1>on an appeal.

0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:49.320
<v Speaker 2>And lastly, I know the researchers talk about us having

0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:56.640
<v Speaker 2>an ethical duty, what do you think about that? Weigh

0:14:56.800 --> 0:15:00.720
<v Speaker 2>up with, well, people know what they're getting them elves into.

0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:03.160
<v Speaker 2>At what point do we intervene?

0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:05.800
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I mean it's a good argument, but if you

0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:10.880
<v Speaker 1>talk to more Jeff Old's wife, you know he was

0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:15.120
<v Speaker 1>not even sixty when he started showing early onset dementia

0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:18.840
<v Speaker 1>conditions from head blows in the nineteen eighties. You talk

0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:22.400
<v Speaker 1>to these researchers that are especially from the Orkan UniverCity

0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:26.360
<v Speaker 1>of Technology, that are already talking to players who are

0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:29.880
<v Speaker 1>in their late thirties early forties from rugby where thats

0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:31.680
<v Speaker 1>weren't as hard as what you see in this run

0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:35.600
<v Speaker 1>it and these guys are already showing early onset dementia

0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:40.080
<v Speaker 1>conditions potential CTE, various of called dilemmeras are in the

0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:43.320
<v Speaker 1>front line. They're dealing with people that are getting injured

0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:46.600
<v Speaker 1>in a boat of fire, traditional sporting environment that they

0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:49.280
<v Speaker 1>just don't want to stand by and watch more people.

0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:52.160
<v Speaker 1>And it's not just professional it's not professional athletes, it's

0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:58.200
<v Speaker 1>you know, Joe blogs on the street having potentially life

0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:01.680
<v Speaker 1>changing conditions while they chase twenty thousand dollars in the competition.

0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:06.280
<v Speaker 1>I totally keep where US group's coming from.

0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:12.480
<v Speaker 2>Thanks for joining us, Neil see ChEls. That's it for

0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:15.800
<v Speaker 2>this episode of the Front Page. You can read more

0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:20.480
<v Speaker 2>about today's stories and extensive news coverage at enzdherld dot

0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:24.360
<v Speaker 2>co dot nz. The Front Page is produced by Jane

0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:28.280
<v Speaker 2>Yee and Richard Martin, who is also our editor. I'm

0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:32.600
<v Speaker 2>Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to The Front Page on iHeartRadio or

0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:36.160
<v Speaker 2>wherever you get your podcasts, and tune in tomorrow for

0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:38.040
<v Speaker 2>another look behind the headlines.