Organisers of a controversial collision sport event will take the state regulator for combat sports to the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday after it attempted to ban a competition scheduled for this month.
The Run Nation Championship is a competition in which two people, often ex-NRL and rugby players, collide at speed in front of spectators. The winner is decided by who is left standing. Criticised by experts as being potentially life-threatening, the championship is a version of the “run it straight” trend which resulted in the death of a 19-year-old in New Zealand last year.
The fourth edition of the championship is scheduled for September 12 at Royal Randwick in Sydney, with the headline match set to feature former Queensland State of Origin representative and 2018 NRL premiership winner Dylan Napa and ex-Canterbury and Melbourne front-rower Sam Kasiano. The most expensive tickets are priced at $999 per seat in the “collision zone” and previous events have attracted spectators such as NRL stars Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell.
But according to documents filed by Run Nation Championship organisers in the NSW Supreme Court, the state’s Combat Sports Authority sent event organisers a notice on August 5 directing them to cancel it. The maximum penalty for failing to comply with this kind of direction from the authority is 12 months in prison, a $55,000 fine or both.
Now, Run Nation has taken the matter to court, arguing that the written notice should be quashed on the basis that their competition doesn’t involve a combat sport as defined under the Combat Sports Act 2013.
The act, which gives the regulator the power to stop the event, defines combat sport as any sport, martial art or activity where the primary objective is for one combatant to strike, kick, hit, grapple with, throw or punch one or more other combatants.
The organisers filed their claim on August 31, and the matter will be heard before a judge on September 8, four days before the event is scheduled.
While the Supreme Court will be asked to determine the scope of the Combat Sports Act, a NSW parliamentary enquiry is doing the same.
On August 26, the NSW government and its Minister for Sport, Steve Kamper (who oversees the combat sports authority), referred emerging combat and collision sports to an upper house committee to consider whether the act is still fit to regulate emerging sports like the Run Nation Championship.
The committee will look at collision-based activities like the championship, as well as “power slap” events and bare-knuckle boxing, which are gaining traction online. Submissions for the inquiry are open until October 9.
On announcing the inquiry last week, Kamper said it will “look at the activities emerging in NSW, how they are regulated” and if their existing framework protects participants.
“Importantly, it will also examine underground and backyard fight clubs and whether organisers are finding ways around existing regulation,” he said. “The safety of participants and the public must remain the priority of how we regulate combat sports in NSW.”
Sydney-based sports neurologist Dr Rowena Mobbs welcomed the inquiry.
“A wave of more violent so-called sports has emerged, targeting the brain of the opponent, just as regulated sports battle hard to reduce traumatic brain injury,” she said.
“The social media-driven crazes of collision running such as Run Nation, bare-knuckle boxing, power slap and other formats should not see the light of day in modern Australia … I trust this process will carefully examine the unacceptable risks, and not legitimise these potentially lethal pursuits.”
Organisers at Run Nation Championship declined to comment before the court hearing. A spokesperson for the Combat Sports Authority said it could also not comment as the matter was before the court.
