A rugby charity has raised more than £64,000 in memory of 13-year-old rugby fan Olly Stephens, who was murdered near his Reading home in January.
Hundreds of players competed in Vets Fest, Birmingham, for the ‘Olly Stephens Trophy’, presented by his dad Stuart.
Working with Olly’s family, organiser Wooden Spoon children’s charity will donate the funds to regional programmes for disengaged children and young people across the UK and Ireland.
“Something like this today has a deeper meaning for us because our whole support structure has come through rugby,” said Stuart, a London Irish supporter, at Bournville Rugby Football Club, where the competition was hosted for 450 players.
“The social aspect of it and the fact that everyone looks after each other is brilliant. Rugby is brutal as a game, but afterward, everyone stands up, shakes hands, and has a drink at the bar.
“We’re so engaged with the rugby now because we feel like we had so much out of it, and we feel like we need to give something back; if we can help raise awareness to benefit the charity, then we will do that.”
Read more: Olly Stephens killers sentenced to 28 years in prison in total
In January, Olly was lured to Bugs Bottom Fields by a teenage girl, where he was stabbed to death by two boys waiting for him.
The offenders were sentenced last month, with one boy receiving 13 years minimum in prison, the other a minimum prison sentence of 12 years and the girl three years and two months in a young offenders institution.
Stuart said: “Olly was bright, great fun, loyal, compassionate, full of love and giving but would stand his ground. Olly was taken from us this year in the most tragic of circumstances. He left the house to see someone we knew, and he never returned home.
“Olly had autism with suspected Pathological Demand Avoidance, but we loved him for it and it made him special. He could not sense danger or deceit and trusted people too much. He always stood up for the underdog and never backed down from a fight. Sadly It cost him his life.”
The event hosted by Wooden Spoon was its first national fundraising event since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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