David Saunderson, Chief Executive, with Micky Steele-Bodger CBE before the start of the Cambridge University Rugby Union Football Club match against the Steele-Bodger XV
CURFC 1st XV played the M. R. Steele-Bodger XV, raised each year as a scratch side from clubs around the country, at Grange Road on Wednesday 26 November and, after a tough game, conceded a score of 26 – 16.
This was the 67th occasion that Micky Steele-Bodger has raised a team to play the University, traditionally as the last game before the Varsity Match which this year is on Thursday 11 December.
Micky gained 9 caps for England, is President of the Barbarian Football Club and was President of the Rugby Football Union in 1973-74. He played for Cambridge in the Varsity Match in 1945 and 1946.
Further information:
Michael Roland “Micky” Steele-Bodger CBE (born 4 September 1925) is a former English rugby union footballer who played flanker for Harlequins, England and the Barbarians, and is currently the President of the Barbarian Football Club and President of the East India Club, London.His father Harry Steele-Bodger was a noted veterinarian. He was educated at Rugby School, and Cambridge University, and played for Cambridge in The Varsity Match in 1945 and 1946. On graduation he studied at Edinburgh and he represented the Edinburgh University club for two full seasons. Steele-Bodger followed his father by becoming a veterinarian, as did his elder brother Alasdair Steele-Bodger who was also of the Edinburgh University club.He gained 9 caps for England, playing in all 4 matches in the 1946-47 season and all 5 matches in the 1947-48 season. In his final international, against France in March 1948, Steele-Bodger had to move to scrum-half when Richard Madge left the field, despite suffering from concussion himself. An anterior cruciate ligament injury ended his playing career however in 1949. Subsequently he was a selector for England and the Lions, President of the Rugby Football Union in 1973-74, and Chairman of the International Rugby Board.In 1948, he inaugurated the annual tradition of bringing a guest Steele-Bodger XV to play Cambridge University as a warm-up to The Varsity Match.Source: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micky_Steele-Bodger
