Frozen In Time: Helen D'Amico wows Richmond-Carlton fans at the 1982 Grand Final

THE shy man of football, Carlton defender Bruce Doull, had good reason to blush in the middle of the MCG during the 1982 Grand Final.

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THE shy man of football, champion Carlton defender Bruce Doull, had good reason to blush in the middle of the MCG during the 1982 Grand Final against Richmond.

A 17-year-old American-born stripper stole some of the Blues thunder with the first Grand Final streak and the Flying Doormat was the centre of her attention.

The image of Doull backing away from Helen D’Amico clad only in a Carlton scarf ranks high among the most remembered Grand Final moments.

“When I got out to the middle I had no idea what to do. I ran to Bruce Doull. He looked like my father,” said D’Amico a few years ago.

While Doull was embarrassed, the streak didn’t harm Carlton’s premiership chances -- in fact many say it set back the Tigers in their last appearance in a Grand Final.

After Carlton had opened with a flurry of three goals at the opening, Richmond had grabbed the ascendancy and led by 11 points at half-time.

The Blues had mounted a comeback and current AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick had just put them in front at the 10-minute mark of the third quarter when D’Amico did her famous streak.

Carlton continued the momentum to hold on to a handy three-goal lead as the Tigers seemed to lose their way.
Richmond great Kevin Bartlett, a little tongue-in-cheek, has blamed the loss on the streaker.

“Helen D’Amico came on the ground and stuffed it up,” he says in his book.

“We know she was blonde or brunette, depending on which way you looked.

“But we were a young team and we lost focus. I was the only one old enough to handle it.''

That wasn’t so with the Blueboys. Aside from Doull who shied away, burly ruckman Wow Jones deftly sidestepped her charms and the brilliant Wayne Johnston sent her on her way.

The Dominator dragged her by the scarf out of the centre square and told her in no unmistaken language to get off the ground.

D'Amico, a stripper in Adelaide’s Crazy Horse Club, was paid to do the streak with those organising it even engaging the city’s leading firm.

Frank Galbally QC represented her in court and she was fined $1000.

D'Amico resurfaced in Darwin in 2008 as a mother of four and two grandchildren when interest in the incident was raised by an enactment for a great Toyota moment ad.

She was studying nursing at Charles Darwin University after qualifying as a social worker and paramedic.

“It was an out-of-body experience. I just heard the crowd. They were going ballistic,'' she told reporter Nadja Hainke.

“I was 17, I was stupid.''

She denied she had kept a low profile but had moved after her stripping days were over to the West Australian outback where she trained in social work .

“I haven't been hiding,'' she said. “I had a life.''

D'Amico said copycats would find it difficult to match her streak.

“It's just crazy, because they'll never top me,'' she said.

Her streak in front of 107,537 fans is listed in the AFL's official handbook as a Grand Final highlight.

In 2003, Herald Sun football experts judged her run as the MCG's 20th most memorable moment.

There is even a racehorse named after her -- D'Amico (by Dangerous out of Helen).

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POLITICALLY CORRECTNESS OUT THE DOOR

When Helen D’Amico performed her streak, it was not a time for political correctness.

The late Jack Hamilton, the VFL chief at the time, had no qualms about using a colourful expression to describe the incident.

Hamilton claimed that D’Amico had put Tasmania on the football map.

BARE ESSENTIAL

Richmond stalwart Jim Jess was one of those close to the action when the streak occurred.

The Ghost has got plenty of mileage out of the story over the years, especially at home.

According to columnist Scot Palmer his daughter Casey was three days old when her dad played his not-so-gallant role in the streak.

“For 25 years, Casey has heard the raunchy stories of the curvaceous dancer and how close she came to hugging her father in front of 107,000 people,” Palmer wrote in his Punchlines column in 2008.

Casey who lived in Darwin rang her old man to tell him Helen had been seen in the Top End and Jess mentioned he wouldn't mind getting a signed photo for his scrapbook.

Palmer arranged for photographer Clive Hyde to get one and Helen autographed it right across her delightful backside.