I’ve got to get one frame where his damn private parts are covered!

November 29, 2016 11:08 AM

Deadspin's David Davis takes a look back at the iconic photo of sports' first streaker (not counting the Olympics). Ian Bradshaw's snap of a naked Michael O'Brien at an England-France rugby match was named the World Press Photo of the Year for humor and won several other awards.
posted by Etrigan (14 comments total)

“What makes Ian’s photo shine is the outstretched arms of the streaker,” according to Duffy. “He looks like a Biblical depiction of Jesus. It’s almost like he’s giving a benediction, like he’s blessing the police or the crowd.”

Yes, that was the first thought I had when I scrolled down and saw the photo. There's a religious quality to it that's quite unmistakable and odd.

Also, this is the first time it had ever occurred to me that streaking has a history. Of course it does. I'd always assumed it was something that just happened, like light rain an hour after lunch that sets in and drives the players off the field for an early tea.

And I have to say that the nationality of the first sporting streaker^TM does not surprise me in the least.
posted by Sonny Jim at 11:37 AM on November 29, 2016

You know that copper got shit from his mates when he had to put his helmet back on.
posted by Bee'sWing at 11:41 AM on November 29, 2016 [4 favorites]

Yeah, historic UK streaker is actually Australian is just about perfect, as is this article with its camera-nerd AND streaking-history-nerd level of detail.

(I've oddly hold a point of pride having been born in 1974, which is basically the year of the streaker.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:42 AM on November 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Photographic evidence from the period suggests 1974 was a year marked by a significant clothing shortage.
posted by beerperson at 11:51 AM on November 29, 2016 [3 favorites]

They let him back into the stadium to catch the end of the match.

Also, the article mentioned it, but The Streak was released in late March, 1974.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 12:23 PM on November 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

It's very jarring to see other pictures of the event, and in color. It's like seeing the outtake photos from the Abbey Road session of them walking across the other way. My brain knows that other pictures were probably taken at the scene, but it wants to believe that the familiar picture is the only one that really exists.
posted by yhbc at 12:32 PM on November 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Thanks for posting this--I'd seen the photo, but never heard the full (har) history. Very interesting!

Also: Their images may have O’Brien’s scrotum, but they lack the compositional balance of Bradshaw’s masterpiece.--not a sentence I expected to read today.
posted by theatro at 12:33 PM on November 29, 2016 [3 favorites]

This was immensely satisfying. I, too, was shocked that he caught the end of the match after paying his fine.

Once, I was working at a food vendor during a large San Francisco music festival. The vendor tent area was enclosed on the front side by impermeable roll down net frons, and on the sides/rear by standard chain link fencing. At some point a very naked person ran through the front of a neighboring stall and the poor guy who was clearly having a bad (and soon to be worse) trip was stuck on the "inside" of the vendor area. I was pretty sure he was going to get some part of him stuck trying to hop the fence to get away from the two bike cops who were on to him. I was so caught off guard as to be nearly immobile. Luckily a neighboring vendor snapped into action and hung an apron over his neck as he was being walked off in handcuffs. . . he did not make it back to see the conclusion of the festival.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:39 PM on November 29, 2016

"What was the bet?"
"Ten quid, m'lud."
"What a coincidence..."
posted by Etrigan at 12:41 PM on November 29, 2016 [3 favorites]

Ten quid, same as in town.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:08 PM on November 29, 2016

But seriously, "did his friends pay his fine AND the bet?" is my main unanswered question.

(Also curious if the cop who used his helmet got a promotion based on that move alone. That's the kind of quick thinking that should get you bumped up.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:23 PM on November 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

The thing that I find jarring about the photos, from a current perspective, is the expressions on the faces of the policeman: amusement and tolerance. Yes, they arrest the streaker, but there is no hate involved. It’s almost as remote in feeling as the thought of Bertie Wooster knocking off policemen’s helmets on Boat Race night.
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 6:18 PM on November 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

"Their images may have O’Brien’s scrotum, but they lack the compositional balance of Bradshaw’s masterpiece."
posted by ChuraChura at 6:59 PM on November 29, 2016

On a tangent I followed the links to another Deadspin article about Mary Decker and Zola Budd at the 1984 Olympics, and from there to the homepage of photographer David Burnett. He turns out to be one of a select few photographers with unrestricted access to the Olympics nowadays, and his pictures from Sochi are absolutely phenomenal if you're into artsy sports photography.
posted by brokkr at 2:07 AM on November 30, 2016