Deadballs

There isn’t a lot of thought that goes into answering the question, “Will you run naked onto a football pitch and do a cartwheel for $50?” It’s a yes or no thing. But an answer in the negative to that could bring a future of bad things. For example, being left unconscious, face up on the pitch, onlookers verbally berating you. At least that’s what happened to Nathan Roberts.

The 25-year-old Salisbury, Australia, man says he’d had a few when friends suggested he streak during an Adelaide Plains Football League preliminary final.

“There was $50 on the table,” Roberts explained. “I had to do it.”

That pay-off was conditional on Roberts completing a cartwheel, but Roberts said he second-guessed himself during the cartwheel, resulting in his landing headfirst.

About a minute passed, the crowd shouting insults at his unconscious form, before someone bothered approaching Roberts and realized he was out cold. And then the crowd shouted insults again as medics hauled Roberts off the pitch. In addition to his $50 take, Roberts received a sore neck and head.

by SCOTT SAXON