A ripped pensioner who went on the run from police earlier this year after the latest scandal in his streaking career has resurfaced, gleefully exposing himself just meters from a group of footballers training under quarantine.
Ernst Wilhelm W – nicknamed Ernie during a notorious career that has seen him flaunt his naked body in front of football stadiums and flash his genitals at judges during sentencing – reportedly went into hiding in the German city of Bielefeld as prosecutors pursued him earlier this year.
A two-month search ended when he handed himself in to a police station in early January, but he was back in action just hours later, taking his top and trousers off outside the training ground of local football club Hannover 96.
Security staff who might have thought they had seen the last of Ernie when he was duly arrested have now received an eyeful from the persistent stripper again at the Bundesliga 2 side’s base.
As the quarantined players went through their paces on the pitch, their visitor was filmed practising his customary strongman pose outside the gates wearing only a pair of shorts, red socks, a dark hat and sunglasses.
He then took down the shorts, flexed his biceps and finally dropped his underpants, revealing his lower half to the footballers, who could be glimpsed through the entrance.
A member of the club’s coaching staff seemed oblivious as they carried equipment to and from a nearby building while Ernie flashed them.
The players, including former World Cup winner and Manchester United goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler, were said not to have hired bodyguards or encountered any issues as they walked the short distance to the facilities from their hotel, where they are quarantined for the remainder of the Bundesliga season as part of guidelines aimed at ensuring players are not infected with COVID-19.
They walked along a public footpath to reach the pitch, but Ernie is believed to have been the only outsider to have been party to the session while the public are banned from being near players.
The incident could spell more trouble for Ernie, who is a well-known figure of fun among fans, having first shot to fame by running onto the pitch during televised matches.
The 72-year-old, who considers his body as art and has spent decades cycling naked through the Reeperbahn area of Hamburg, has described himself as Germany’s most beautiful streaker, although police have repeatedly failed to share that view during his frequent unsolicited exposures in public spaces.
He has been the subject of numerous talkshows and media reports, enjoying his highest profile outing when he streaked in front of 76,500 fans at Borussia Dortmund in 2005, striking his bodybuilder pose in the center circle before being led away.
His appearances have been met with a succession of fines and punishments, including a five-month spell in a Bielefield correctional facility in 2007 and an 11-month sentence for flashing at a judge in court in 2009, although that term was suspended after the defendant promised to curb his behaviour and refrain from causing any further public outrage.
In 2018, he received a nine-month sentence for exposing himself in a youth hostel, having previously told a judge: “The people there wanted to see something – they knew me from television.”
He was investigated again in August after allegedly posing in a high school playground and has previously been arrested for driving illegally.
Hannover had been due to resume their season against Dynamo Dresden on Saturday, but had the weekend off after several members of their opponents’ squad tested positive for COVID-19, meaning they could not play for two weeks as part of quarantine conditions for infected players.
