Real estate advisor and Eastern Echo partner Savills was a headline sponsor for a long-standing rugby fixture widely regarded as an institution within the East of England property sector.
Every year a Cambridge University XV takes to the field against an ‘all-star’ Micky Steele-Bodger XV at the city’s Grange Road ground.
To date 73 matches have taken place since Micky Steele-Bodger selected his inaugural side in 1948.
The game – largely held as being the second most important date in Cambridge University RUFC’s fixture list behind the Varsity match – attracts more than 3,000 spectators every year, the vast majority from within the property sector.
As well as sponsoring the Steele-Bodgers XV team shirts for the third year running, Savills also hosted more than 100 clients during and after the closely fought match, which Cambridge University won 34-28.
Tom Fraser, head of office at Savills Cambridge, said: “The match against the Steele-Bodger XV is a tradition that stretches back decades and one of the most eagerly anticipated days in the local sporting and property calendar.
“We were delighted to be involved once again and were only too happy to show our support by sponsoring the team’s playing jerseys.
“It was a fantastic afternoon and I’d like to say a big thank you to all our clients who came along to make the event such a success.”
Micky Steele-Bodger – who died in 2019 – was an England international who became one of the global game’s foremost administrators and was admired throughout the world by generations of players whose careers he helped influence.
His playing career was cut short at the age of 24 by a serious knee injury by which time he had already won nine caps in the back row for England as well as representing Cambridge University, Edinburgh University, Harlequins and the Barbarians.
He also went on to become a selector for England and the British and Irish Lions, served as president of the Rugby Football Union in 1973-74 and then as chairman of the International Rugby Board. He was appointed a CBE in the 1990 New Year’s Honours List for services to the sport.
Image (l-r): Cambridge University captain Fergus Hughes, Tom Fraser and Abigail Jones from the development team at Savills Cambridge and Steele-Bodgers captain Ben Penfold.
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