The family of a 19-year-old who died after playing an impromptu tackle game based off a competition popularised on social media is urging people not to take part in the events.
Ryan Satterthwaite suffered a serious head injury while playing a game based on the controversial craze with friends in Palmerston North. He died in hospital on Monday night.
Events, where participants compete in full-contact collisions without protective gear, had gone viral on social media and raised concerns about concussion and brain injury.
Family speak out after tragedy – watch on TVNZ+
Pete Satterthwaite, Ryan’s uncle, told 1News that Ryan and his friends were looking for “harmless fun” when they decided to play the game. “Something tragic has eventuated from it,” he said.
Pete said the events Ryan and his friends were imitating were “utter stupidity”.
“Don’t do it, it’s utter stupidity. It seems like a bit of harmless fun, and as a teenager, I probably would have been doing the same thing with my friends, but no one gives any thought to the consequences,” he said.
“They can have all of the medical supervision they like. They can have all the tackling practice that they like, but nothing is going to prevent serious injuries from happening.”
Pete said Ryan’s family wanted people to know that run it style games were unsafe.
“The ultimate goal is to hurt the person in front of you, run over the top of them to achieve your goal, and if you’re doing it for money, no one is going to be thinking about the consequences of your actions.
“You’re leading with your body, you’re leading with your shoulder, you’re leading with your head.
“If you’re a rugby player or a league player, you get the opportunity to run around somebody, your body is conditioned to take the tackles, to do those sorts of things. I don’t know what the organisers were thinking when they thought we could put it in a controlled environment.”
He said that even with disclaimers not to try the game at home, its viral nature meant people would always recreate what they saw.
“Someone is going to try this at home or at the beach, in the backyard, or at a park. Someone’s gonna do this, someone’s gonna get seriously hurt. Ultimately, Ryan has paid the ultimate price.”
Following the 19-year-old’s death, tributes have been flowing for Ryan.
“The support from his family and all his friends, I mean, was amazing. And just to see the amount of young people at the hospital giving the family support, giving Ryan support, blew me away,” Pete said.
Two ‘trials’ were held in west Auckland recently as part of the Australia-based Runit Championship League competition.
A prize of $200,000 was advertised for the winner of the final.
Trusts Arena has since said it will not host any more events following safety concerns.
‘There is no way to do this safely’ – advocate
Stacey Mowbray of Headway said Ryan Satterthwaite’s death was an “absolute tragedy” but wasn’t surprised it happened. (Source: 1News)
Stacey Mowbray, chief executive of brain injury support group Headway, called Satterthwaite’s death an “absolute tragedy”, but wasn’t surprised it happened.
She called the activity “dangerous by design”, and said it was “glamorised, glorified, intentional violence”.
“There is no way to do this safely.”
She blasted the organisers of the Run It Straight events.
“I know the organisers are saying that they’re doing it under controls, but when you’re asking two people to intentionally clash at each other, there’s no way to do it safely.
“This death is on them. It’s shocking. The idea that they have any protocols that protect people from this type of impact is not true. Whether it’s done in ‘controlled’ environments or in the backyard, it makes no difference.
“They knew people were going to copy, that’s part of what makes a social media trend go viral, which is what they wanted.”
She called on athletes and others who were influential in the space to speak out against the events.
“Their voices are the ones that our young people are going to be listening to.”
Pete Satterthwaite expressed similar feelings.
“I am hoping that out of this, we’ll get some All Blacks, some rugby league players to stand up and express what a dumb idea that this particular game is,” he said.
Mowbray said the activity carried a risk of “immediate brain injury” or death for the participants. Headway also had concerns about concussion.
“You don’t need to be knocked out to be concussed. On the night we saw knockouts, we saw wobbly legs, but you can have delayed symptoms for days, up to weeks.
“We just want to highlight that’s not the only risk.”
Ryan Satterthwaite, 19, suffered a serious head injury while playing a game based on the controversial craze. (Source: 1News)
She said it was upsetting that the activity was being compared to sports like rugby and rugby league.
“It is not the same.
“Of course, there are risks in contact sport, but these sporting organisations and codes have done a huge amount of work responding to the research over many years to try to reduce the risk.”
In a statement to 1News yesterday, RUNIT, the organisers of the Runit Championship League events, called Satterthwaite’s death “tragic news”.
“Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Ryan.
“Any contact sport like boxing, martial arts or combat-style activities should only be held in highly controlled environments, which include professional medical supervision and support.”
It said all RUNIT events followed established protocols, which included the screening of participants for suitability, strict guidelines around where and how to tackle (between the shoulders and hips only), as well as having medical support and assessments both during and after competition.
“We do not encourage any copying of the sport as it should only be done under the strict conditions outlined above in sanctioned RUNIT events.”
Family speak out after tragedy – watch on TVNZ+
