Streaking

‘Lets take of all our clothes and run around naked in a field full of people, hopefully without getting caught by a bunch of security guards’

I am pretty sure that’s what goes in a streaker’s mind. While some think that streaking is hilarious, others find it outrageous. Streaking has almost become an indispensable part of sports. All of us have seen streaking in some sport or the other, be it cricket or football, or any other sport for that matter.

On 5 July 1799, a Friday evening at 7 o’clock, a man was arrested at the Mansion House, London, and sent to the Poultry Compter. He confirmed that he had accepted a wager of 10guineas (equal to £873 today) to run naked from Cornhill to Cheapside.

Streaking is relatively quite a recent phenomenon that dates back to the 1970’s when students of US used it during protests and demonstrations. It wasn’t long when streaking started to be done just for the heck of it. Streaking in sports has been quite common. There have been numerous instances of people running stark naked on the field. The first major public streak came at Lords in 1975 when Michael Angelow, a navy cook, leapfrogged over a set of stumps during the Ashes, wearing just his plimsolls and a smile. It set a trend for dozens of other wannabe streakers nationwide.

So why do you think streakers streak anyway?

There’s no doubt that streaking takes a lot of guts and not everybody can do it.

You would be amazed by the reasons streakers have. Some do it just for the fun of it, while some do it to get some message across.

One guy believed that it would make a great story for his grandchildren, while another streaked because he had upset a little girl and streaking seemed the ideal plan.

Streaking has become one universal theme of sport. Name a sport and there have been stories of streakers associated with it. Cricket, basket ball, football, snooker, almost every sport!

Its another one of those things that is done without any proper logic. Streaking is embarrassing and not at all funny if you ask me. There are people who love doing this and have done it more than once or twice too. The excitement that is felt they say is beyond explanation.

Mark Roberts is well-known as a ‘serial streaker’, having exposed himself 150 times including streaks at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light, the FA Cup Final, and the Grand National (imagine that!).He plans his streaks with meticulous care and attention to detail. His most memorable streak was jumping naked onto the floating weather map on TV’s “This Morning” in 1995.

The world definitely is becoming a weird place to live in.

Today it’s even possible to buy streakers, to go alongside your football strikers.

It’s a sign of the times that streaking has finally become almost respectable!