Archie Goodburn to deliver match ball at Scotland v Australia

Edinburgh born Goodburn, 25, has taken the campaign to bolster brain cancer treatment and research, humbly but directly to UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney in recent weeks with some success.

Thus, when he is guest of honour at Scottish Gas Murrayfield for the Wallabies visit on Sunday 15 November, supporters will have the chance to donate to two charities leading the fight to help those with brain cancer – Brain Tumour Research and the Astro Brain Tumour Fund.

Archie told scottishrugby.org: “This means the absolute world to me. The most people I have ever ‘performed’ in front of before, was an audience of 10,000 on the Castle esplanade for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

“I was 12 and I sang a solo – What a wonderful world!  So, this is an incredible opportunity to deliver the match ball in front of 60,000 plus people.

“Some amazing people have done this job for many other good causes.   This cause is so important to my heart.

“Brain cancer is the biggest cancer killer of those aged under-40 in the UK and, for some 25 years, it has received less than 2% of the national cancer budget.

“Things are beginning to move, and this kind of initiative can make a difference.”

Goodburn, a former pupil of Stewart’s-Melville College in Edinburgh played rugby at the beginning of senior school as a blindside flanker.

But swimming was his first love, having started as an eight-year-old at the renowned Warrender Baths Club in Edinburgh, where the illustrious Olympic champion and fellow breaststroke specialist David Wilkie was also nurtured.

Goodburn won a bronze medal in the 50m breaststroke at the 2019 World Junior Swimming Championships in Budapest and won the gold medal at the 2023 British Swimming Championships over the same distance.

In December 2023, he won bronze at the European Short Course Swimming Championships as part of Britain’s 4x50m Medley relay team. At the same meet he also broke the Scottish record in the 50m breaststroke.

In 2024, Archie was diagnosed with a rare brain tumour, known as an oligodendroglioma, and surgery was required.

Some eight months after surgery he was back in the pool, setting a new personal best by 100^th of a second as he competed for Team GB in the world championship.  “I think swimming was an escape for me from the cancer,” he recalled.  “My target growing up was always to represent GB at the world championships or Olympics.  That’s what I would always have written down as a kid, so I was really chuffed when I set a new PB at the world championships.”

Archie’s determination and resilience has been off the scale.  By his own admission, he is not a keen runner but six weeks after his surgery, he decided, as part of his response to his cancer, to run a marathon.

It wasn’t a competitive race, but  he mapped out the distance from Edinburgh to North Berwick and completed it.

He has competed twice for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games – in Birmingham in 2022 and in Glasgow last summer off the back of another PB – and many of his fellow members of Team Scotland will be at Scottish Gas Murrayfield to enable the crowd to acknowledge their collective achievements and for them to show Archie their love.

Managing his condition, following the training programme required to swim internationally and graduating with a first-class undergraduate master’s degree in chemical engineering from Edinburgh University, Archie has continued to approach life with gusto.

Team Scotland 26thJuly 2026 – Tollcross swimming
Team Scotland Swimming
Archie Goodburn

He chose to research a novel nanoparticle-based brain cancer drug delivery method for his master’s thesis following his diagnosis and was also awarded the University’s prestigious Principal’s Medal in 2024.

In addition, he was one of six UK finalists in a Young Engineers Award for Innovation and Sustainability, recognised for his work on Clean Energy and Climate Action.

Archie added: “I don’t need any kick up the backside to appreciate the small things in life.  I just hate it (the cancer).  It probably does fuel things a little bit for me.”

Archie is now working in London, but he will return home next month, visiting his 96-year-old granny Mollie Gordon in the north-east of Scotland on the Saturday, before arriving at Scottish Gas Murrayfield on the Sunday.

He will be joined at the stadium by mum Susie, dad Rob, sister Katie and girlfriend, silver medal winning swimmer from Team Scotland, Ciara Schlosshan.

Tickets are still available for Scotland v Australia: https://www.eticketing.co.uk/scottishrugby/EDP/Event/Index/5653?position=2