Memorial Match New Anniesland, Glasgow 24 Aug 2012
What: The Gordon MacKay Memorial Match
When: Friday, 24th August 2012 from 6.15pm
Where: New Anniesland, Glasgow
Who: All friends, family, former team-mates, pitch adversaries and rugby supporters to celebrate the life & times of the great man!
Featuring: A host of legendary players including Craig Chalmers, David Officer, Iain Sinclair, Fergus Wallace, Martin Waite and many others!!


Come celebrate the life and times of a true Glasgow Rugby legend!
Gordon McKay was one of the more memorable characters to have been involved in Glasgow Rugby over the years and his influence and character extended well beyond the Glasgow boundary leaving a positive impression on all those who were lucky enough to spend time in his company.
He started his playing career at The Glasgow Academicals Club and played a vital part in the history of the club both as a player and as a coach.
Gordon was schooled at Glasgow Academy and was a Scottish schools cap. He went on to gain further international representative honours as an U21 Scottish cap.
His rugby career started with Glasgow Academicals for whom he played whilst still at school and then for a few seasons after, before leaving to further his ambitions with Stirling County Rugby Club during the mid nineties. He returned to Anniesland in 1997 when the ambitious new club Glasgow Hawks was formed through the amalgamation of the Glasgow Academicals and GHK.
Within this new club, Gordon played alongside Fergus and Murray Wallace ,Tommy Hayes, Glen Metcalfe and Derek Stark in what was arguably the best club team in Scottish Rugby. In their first season, this Glasgow Hawks team won their league, the cup and beat one of Europe’s best club teams, Toulouse and Gordon loved every minute of it.
Gordon also played for Glasgow in their first season in European competition which history will show was a win for Glasgow against Newbridge.
When Glasgow became a fully professional outfit he was offered a contract and went on to make many appearances before leaving to play Rugby in France for Lyon where a neck injury ended his playing career.
His love and commitment to the game allowed Gordon the opportunity to play for the combined district teams against touring international teams Australia and South Africa.
Gordon was a dynamic, powerful, abrasive rugby player who gave everything to the game when he crossed the white line. Off the pitch there was a complete transformation but he was keen to instill a mindset within colleagues that anything can be achieved with hard work. It was due to his dynamic approach to both life and rugby that Glasgow Academicals were delighted when Gordon chose to return to the club as a coach once his playing days were over. He brought with him a strong vision on how to move Accies forward based on the wealth of experience gained through playing rugby at many levels. This experience mixed with a strong belief that passion for the game mixed with a healthy attitude to hard work for the coaches as well as the players would provide the backbone to a successful club.
Gordon, unfortunately, will not have the opportunity to see the great strides that have been made with the plans that he and Donald Reid put in place four years ago before his untimely death.
At that time, his influence on the coaching set up was beginning to bear fruit and I am certain that he would have been as big a success in coaching as he was as a player.

This article was originally posted on 31-Jul-2012, 21:23 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 31-Jul-2012, 21:45.