There was a time when violent sports at least tried to dress themselves up. Boxing once sold itself as gentlemanly. Just two men under hot lights, squaring off in a violent yet respectful bout of physical dominance. Then the UFC came along and stripped away the pageantry, wrapping the brutality in energy drink logos. Now even that thin veneer is gone.
Enter Run Nation Championship, or RNC, a collision sport that dares to ask: what if American football were just two running backs slamming into each other at full speed?
Shocking: Beefy Dudes Slamming Into Each Other for Sport Are at Risk of Brain Damage
The premise is brutally simple, nearly to the point of insult. Two gigantic beefy dudes looking like they were ripped straight out of Ha Ha, You Clowns sprint toward each other, each trying to knock the other down. No one wears any padding. It’s essentially all the years of crash test footage you’ve seen, but the cars getting into head-on collisions are people.
Obviously, there is some concern over brain injuries, considering that in recent years there’s been a growing consensus that CTE has some tragic long-term effects, not just for the person diagnosed with it, but for the people around them.
The sport’s saving grace on this matter, according to the organizers, is what they call “side on contact,” a method of strong, fast dudes slamming into each other that avoids head-on clashes. Organizers also say they’ve added medical teams and strict rules on where hits can land to minimize damage.
While you may not have heard of this until now, the sport has quietly gained a sizable following. The latest event in Sydney is expected to fill a 5,500-seat arena.
If it sounds like a combination of sumo wrestling and a goal-line football tackle, stripped of ceremony and teammates, that’s because it is. It’s no wonder that the sport attracts a lot of former rugby players.
This ABC.net.au write-up about the sport’s rise is filled with the requisite number of medical professionals calling for the sport’s ban as they warn that every collision likely produces at least a microscopic brain injury if not a full-on bout of irreversible head trauma. But the people into this sort of thing don’t care about that, especially the athletes involved. They all seem to be in favor of rejecting restraint and rules and sound medical guidance in favor of running into a brick wall that’s also running at them.
After watching a series of highlight reels, I understand both the appeal and the concern, but I lean toward concern. My dumb guy sports brain delights in seeing big dudes colliding, one of them getting so thoroughly demolished that the instantaneous concussion they suffered stiffens their bodies into a plank. I’m immediately overcome with a sense of horror knowing that guy’s brain is never going to be the same, and I may have just witnessed the origin story of a future CTE-related murder-suicide.
The concern isn’t abstract. Similar “run it straight” challenges have circulated online, and a New Zealand teenager died attempting one with friends. RNC insists it’s doing everything in its power to ensure the safety of its competitors, but the reach of the safety crews doesn’t extend beyond official events. There is nothing inherently dangerous about a kid watching some LeBron James clips on TikTok and then picking up a basketball to emulate their favorite star. There is plenty inherently dangerous about the kid emulating their favorite RNC stars’ moves.
At some point, a lot of people are going to have to collectively ask aloud whether this is a legitimate form of competition or if it’s just head trauma dressed up as a sport.
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