About

2013 State of Origin Streaker is a nickname given to Wati Holmwood, an Australian man who interrupted the third game of the 2013 State of Origin series^[1] between Queensland and New South Wales rugby teams by streaking through the field. Online, he became the subject of a photoshop meme in which his naked body is placed into various images.

Origin

On July 18th, 2013, the third game in the State of Origin rugby series was interrupted by a drunken man who streaked through the field with three minutes of the game left.^[2] The man, who was later identified as Wati Holmwood, ran approximately 100 meters in nothing but a pair of Nike sneakers before he was tackled to the ground by security. Holmwood, who allegedly covered himself in grease prior to entering the field, is now facing a lifetime ban from Australia’s ANZ Stadium.^[3]

Spread

As the incident was taking place, fans discussed it on Twitter with the hashtag #OriginStreaker.^[4] Soon after, a Facebook fan page^[5] launched, gaining more than 104,000 likes in two days. The same day, two different photos of Holmwood were submitted to the /r/PhotoshopBattles subreddit^[7][8], soliciting photoshopped images of him. Also on Reddit, a parody Nike advertisement featuring the streaker (shown below) was submitted to /r/Funny^[6] where it gained more than 5,000 upvotes and 2,000 points overall. The following day, a number of news sites around Australia and New Zealand reported on these photoshopped images including the Newcastle Herald^[9], the Daily Telegraph^[10] and the Sydney Morning Herald.^[11]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References