Whad'ya Know?

The Streaking Spectator

There are really two issues here.

The first is the game itself.  Obviously the game has to be stopped (if it hasn't already) to get rid of the streaker.  In a professional game there will probably be police around to chase him down, but in a men's amateur game it should be no surprise that the players would take care of this problem on their own.

The correct restart is a drop ball, assuming the ball when was in play when you blew the whistle to stop the game.  This is covered in Law 8, the Start and Restart of Play: "A drop ball is a way of restarting the match after a temporary stoppage which becomes necessary, while the ball is in play, for any reason not mentioned elsewhere in the Laws of the Game."  I do not believe streakers are covered in the Laws.

What's much more interesting is the player who tackled the streaker.  In this case the Referee sent him off (Red Card) for Violent Misconduct!  Law 12 states a player should be sent off if he "is guilty of violent conduct".  "Violent Conduct" is undefined and this is where common sense comes in.  If the player tackled the streaker, then beat him up, I think we'd all agree that was Violent Conduct.  If he just grabbed him and wrestled him to the ground I don't think any of us would even think of doing anything, other than thanking the player for helping out.  You've got to be there to make this call.