We’ve got a bit of an interesting and weird character story for you.
53-year-old Mark Roberts is a painter and decorator from Liverpool. At a first glance, the British man seems to be fairly average, but take a moment to talk to him and he’ll surprise you. What makes Roberts so special? He has streaked at more than 500 sports events around the globe.
Talking to Sky News, Roberts shares that his hobby and side-career started in 1993 while he was at the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament. After experiencing the rush that comes with streaking, Roberts decided to keep going and he has for the past two decades. And he does it all for the love of creating “something visual for people to laugh at.”
But it's not all fun and games. Mark Roberts is well aware of the hard work players put into their sports, so he tries not to disturb them too much.
“People have trained for years to reach these finals, and I fully appreciate that,” he said. “I’m not out there to scupper their chances or take anything away from them.”
Despite having more than 500 events under his easy-to-rip-off belt, Roberts remembers one event that remains special to this day. Streaking during Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston, Texas in 2004.
Roberts says he was sponsored by Golden Palace to commit the act. He used that money to order a referee outfit and have it altered for easy removal. Thanks to that disguise, Roberts made it onto the field before anyone noticed to him.
“An American footballer said, ‘What’s up, ref man?’” he said. “I ripped all my clothes off and said — ‘Sod all is wrong, mate.’ Then I started to river dance.”
Even though he has streaked at over 500 events, Roberts says he’s only rarely been punished. In fact, he’s only been arrested a handful of times, been to court 11 times, and convicted of a crime only three times. The Super Bowl incident was one of them.
After being found guilty of criminal trespassing at the Super Bowl, Mark Roberts was fined $1,000.
But all things must come to an end, it seems, as Roberts says he wants to retire from streaking. He planned his final stunt to be at the World Cup in Russia this year, but forgot to get a visa to visit the country. Who knows if he’ll decide to end it here or go for one last run.
h/t: Sky News