Micky Steele-Bodger influence on Cambridge University RUFC hailed by greats
As Micky-Steele-Bodger walked out to take his place in the middle of a photo with former captains and players from the annual select match against Cambridge University last week, it offered a moment to reflect on the fixture.
Really, it is startling to think that in the year the NHS started, the state of Israel was declared and the World Health Organisation was established by the United Nations, the first Steele-Bodger XV match was played.
And that year was 1948.
Many similar fixtures hold their own for a while, in some instances maybe a couple of decades, and then slowly start to wane.
But no-one can say the same about the annual celebration at Grange Road, which was played for the 70th time last week, and that is in no small part to the drive and determination of Steele-Bodger.
It is not only amazing that the game is still riding on the crest of a wave but also that its originator is still as bright as the day of the first select side’s conception.
Steele-Bodger may now be in his 92nd year, but he is still as sharp as a knife, opinionated as ever and on the pulse of rugby’s button.
Those qualities were to the fore at a dinner on the eve of the annual fixture, when Steele-Bodger held court with some of rugby’s great and good, including former British Lions Mike Gibson, Gavin Hastings, Rob Andrew, Bill Raybould, Ken Scotland and Alun Lewis, among others.
They were some of the best players in the world of their generation and to a man they were hanging on the every word of one of the doyens of the game.
It was probably the clearest indication of the esteem and regard in which Steele-Bodger is held by those who know more about the sport than any others, with his razor wit still prominent.
And it is hard to think of many others in the sport who would garner such a turnout, but the Steele-Bodger XV fixture is more than just a rugby match, it is about everything that made the sport so great in the past.
Before the advent of professionalism, Steele-Bodger was able to bring together some of the best players in the world to help Cambridge University to warm-up to face Oxford at Twickenham, and the camaraderie then came through as the players bonded over a meal in the evening.
Fiercest of foes on the pitch, greatest of friends off it, the Grange Road match acted as a shop window to reach the top, and the players also ended up making lifelong friendships.
And it was why the Steele-Bodger match became so important for generations of Cambridge University players, such as Huw Davies, who was captain of the Light Blues in 1981 and earned 21 caps for England.
“A lot of it was the build-up to the Varsity Match and when I was here we generally played Northampton on the following Saturday, but the Steele-Bodger’s game was the key game,” said Davies.
“It was the time when you really had generally sorted your team out for the Varsity Match and everyone knew it was a critical game.
“Everybody knew what it was all about, it was a reasonably important game in regards to the city; it’s an even bigger game now.
“It always had a lot of importance and Micky would always get a pretty decent team together; if you came out of it and won, a lot of the team were quite relived as they’d obviously put in a decent performance.
“It was critical to most of the people that were playing in it; if you didn’t perform, it gave hope to people with one more game to go.
“It’s always been pretty critical and the high point in regard to the whole season.”
And to put into context Davies’ comments with regards to the importance of the game to the city; businesses shut their doors for the afternoon with many eager to enjoy the hospitality, including the 1,100 seated for dinner.
So it just shows the tremendous legacy that Steele-Bodger has created not just for the university but also the city.
Cambridge greats reflect on Micky Steele-Bodger and the annual fixture
Ken Scotland
CURUFC 1958 to 1960, 27 caps for Scotland, British Lion 1959
“Probably the main memory would be that it was more or less always the last game before we played against Oxford; and it was always a mark if you were likely to get a Blue against Oxford if you were
in the side to play Micky Steele-Bodger’s. That was always a good run through the form for that season. It was also an opportunity to play against really top-class players in those days.
“It would have been near enough an all international side that Micky raised in those days.
I think it was genuinely felt to be an honour to play against Micky’s side.”
Mike Gibson
CURUFC 1963 to 1965, 69 caps for Ireland, British Lions 1966 to 1977
“In our era, Micky used to bring a side designed to challenge the Varsity side to expose maybe failings, but more importantly to allow the Cambridge students to have an evening with the international players who were then briefed by Micky to ensure that they would maybe cure any technical faults or advice about how they had played.
“It was all designed to improve the standard and quality of the Varsity side. So it was always a massive match for the Varsity itself because of the quality of the opposition that Micky produced.
“It was laden with internationals who were all delighted to play because it was always going to be a good match with plenty of movement, and then there was a dinner afterwards which was a
rarity in those days. It was a very significant match in the calendar.
“The opposition that I played against, he brought along Tony O’Reilly, Noel Murphy and Tom Kiernan, players I played with for Ireland so that was particularly interesting for me.
“I had heard of the Steele-Bodger game before I went to Cambridge and it just amazes me that a person who was invited 70 years ago to bring a side is still turning up; it’s an exceptional
achievement. When you see him, he still has the same enthusiasm.”
Bill Raybould
CURUFC 1966, 11 caps for Wales, British Lion 1968
“When we were playing rugby, it was the amateur era and the Varsity Match mattered, it was an important time because all the international teams were selected by a big five selectors. They knew
there were some crucial games that mattered in an individual rugby player’s career, one of them was the Varsity Match.
“If you performed in the Varsity Match there was every expectation that you would perform. The big five [selectors] would be there, they would want to see the players that were coming through and
could possibly be internationals.
“Playing here at Cambridge, the Bodgers match was simply the game you hoped to get through in order to make sure you played in the Varsity Match the following month.
“It was in November and you wanted to be ready and fit for the December game. It was the warm-up game, you knew you were playing against internationals, but you weren’t necessarily going to have all the selectors there.
“It was the final game when you showed what you were capable of. In those days the Bodgers team played ex and full internationals, ex-Blues who’d come back and play against us.”
Tony Rodgers
CURUFC 1968 to 1970, & head coach 1980 to 2011
“It will never ever be bettered. It’s just a fantastic institution. I know it has changed a lot now because of professionalism and the leagues but it still resonates with a lot of people.
“I played in a side that had Mike Gibson in it, it had Gerald Davies and Phil Bennett in it, it was unbelievable. Cambridge had done very well during that term, and they put 40 points on
them. It was an amazing game.
“Micky is an institution; it’s difficult to describe. They all talk about legend but he is a true legend in the truest definition of the word.
“He is always the same; 92 and he is still as sharp as ever, and he was usually the last to bed and the first up in the morning.
“He’s an extraordinary man; he has done so much in his life and hasn’t changed at all.”
Ian Metcalfe
CURUFC 1978 to 1979, 3 England caps, chairman of the Rugby Professional Game Board
“It was a huge game in those days; it’s moved on in the professional era. I went on from that to playing a final trial that season.
“They were extraordinary occasions. The ground was full and if you were in the home team you knew it was one step to the Varsity Match, and if you had a good game you were guaranteed your place.
“And if you were in the Bodger’s side it was one of the great days of the season as you knew that you would be surrounded by other great players, who you rarely got the opportunity to play with.
“It is unbelievable it can survive that long, and also that it continues to have the place in the game it does today. It is recognised as one of the great days in the game.”
Rob Andrew
CURUFC 1982 to 1984, 71 caps for England, British Lion 1989 and 1993
“The Steele-Bodger game was a really big landmark because if you got picked it was almost like the rubber-stamping for selection for the Varsity Match. It was a big landmark game to get to, and arguably although we played some big fixtures during the term, it was one of the biggest at Grange Road.
“It was a big crowd and I will just always remember it as being almost the final launchpad – you probably had one or two games after Bodgers before Twickenham; it was late November and if you’re
in the Bodgers game you’re within touching distance.
“It’s like a lot of sports traditions. It sums up what sport is all about and the longer these things go on, whether it’s Lions tours, the Ashes series or a Varsity Match, they get bigger and bigger because they go on for as long as they do.
“This is unprecedented, it will never happen again – this will never be repeated.
“We’re actually part of something that will be a unique thing, there will not be another Micky Steele-Bodger, there will not be another game that takes on this name that last 70 years."
