AMI ban for streaker

A brass-necked streaker who braved sub-zero temperatures to run onto the field during Saturday's All Blacks test against Ireland has been banned from the new AMI Stadium in Addington for two years.

But the 21-year-old Christchurch woman who stripped naked to entertain the sell-out 21,000 crowd during half-time will not face the courts.

The woman was locked up and spent a night in the cells at the central police station, and Senior Sergeant Scott Banfield, head of Christchurch's team policing unit, told The Star that he'd recommended the woman be charged with disorderly behaviour.

But police yesterday confirmed that she was left off with a pre-charge warning.

The crowd roared when she was carted off the near-frozen pitch by three security guards rugged up in beanies, gloves and heavy-duty jackets.

Temperatures dropped below zero during the match which the All Blacks won 22-19 after a last minute Dan Carter drop-goal.

Events organisers Vbase, which manage AMI Stadium on behalf of charity Christchurch Stadium Trust, said they took a dim view of pitch invaders.

"We haven't had it (a streaker) for such a long time," general manager Russell Kenny said.

"Gone are the days when it is seen as fun. You invade a pitch now and you'll get a ban."

The woman is not the first streaker to entertain crowds at Addington over the last 12 months. At last November's New Zealand Trotting Cup at Addington Raceway, Christchurch interior designer Hayley Jan Scheerhoorn, 32, delighted many in the Cup Day crowd when she jumped the fence, ran onto the racetrack, and stripped to her underwear.

She was charged by police with disorderly behaviour and later granted diversion, which meant she avoided a criminal conviction.

And it's not the first streaker for an All Blacks versus Ireland test either. In June 2006, Lisa Lewis became a household name after streaking in a bikini during a match in Hamilton.

They all follow the most famous streaker of them all: Englishwoman Erica Roe, who ran topless across the pitch at Twickenham during an England versus Australia rugby match in 1982.

Roe, who later claimed to have been fuelled by alcohol, ran onto the field during half time, exposing her 40-inch bosom.

She was shepherded off the pitch by blushing bobbies who covered Roe's chest with their police helmets.

The BBC has described it as "perhaps the most famous of all streaks".

Englishwoman Erica Roe during her famous streak in 1982