Ken was awarded a retrospective Scotland cap in February after a lifetime of service to the game.

“Ken was a big man, with an out-going personality.  His passion for rugby knew no bounds,” declared Scottish Rugby President, Colin Rigby this afternoon.

“He took immense pride in being awarded a Scotland cap and was determined to ‘give something back’ after such a rich and fulfilling rugby career.

“ He set out on a three-week cycle around Scotland, covering the 76 clubs he had visited as a player to raise funds for four charities that meant a lot to him – the Murrayfield Injured Players’ Foundation; Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland; Prostate Scotland; and the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation – and he completed the 1,000 miles plus at Gala Rugby Club on Saturday night.

“It was a measure of the esteem in which he was held that former Scotland players and British & Irish Lions joined him on legs of that cycle, as well as friends from the wider rugby family in Scotland.

“It is devastating news to hear of Ken’s passing, so soon after he had completed such a selfless mission, and we send all our love to his family and friends.”

Ken arrives into Netherdale, home of Gala Rugby, on Saturday following his epic charity cycle around Scotland. Image by Bryan Robertson.

Kenneth Richard Macaulay was born in Northampton on 5 October 1957. It was typical of the man that he set out on his charity cycle from Gala YM rugby club on his birthday earlier this month.

Ken’s father, Angus, had played for Gala and West of Scotland.

Ken was introduced to rugby at Queen Elizabeth GS, Wakefield, where he was first XV captain and also played for Yorkshire Schools, North-Eastern Counties (Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland) and North of England.

He also played for the Morely club in Leeds while he was still at school, scoring on his first XV debut as a 17-year-old against Otley on Boxing Day 1974.

In 1976, he moved to study at the Scottish College of Textiles in Galashiels and joined Gala.

In total, he played some 317 games for Gala, over 13 and a half seasons, scoring 35 tries. Among his happiest Gala memories were matches on Gala’s first tour to California in 1979 and their tour to Canada in 1986.

In 1989, having moved the family home to East Lothian and working for the Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh – a job that saw Ken operate in branches, business banking and corporate banking – he left Gala and joined Heriots.

He helped the Goldenacre club to the River Series Trophy in 1990, courtesy of success in the final against Edinburgh Accies at Meggetland, where he appeared as a second-half replacement on the flank.

He was Heriot’s vice-captain in season 1991-92. As he recalled with a rueful grin: “One game sticks out – returning to Netherdale to play against Gala in a league match. We lost badly!”

In 1993, Ken became player-coach at North Berwick and was then heavily involved in the club for the next 20 years,  other than two years where he was Head Coach at Musselburgh.

Over the ten years from 1989, he took part on eight occasions in the World Rugby Classic in Bermuda, representing Scottish Classics, the Celtic Barbarians and a Classic Lions team. It was the kind of tournament where you knew Ken would be in his element.

He also coached at North Berwick High School and continued to play, finally retiring at the end of season 2005-06 aged 48 after playing in 21 of their 22 games. His last game was a Bowl semi-final against Highland.

After hanging up his boots, Ken continued to coach at North Berwick, while at the same time assuming the roles of Fixture Secretary and Youth Co-ordinator.

The club nurtured such talent as Edinburgh Rugby centre, Chris Dean; his team-mate and Scotland cap Tom Brown, and more recently, the Glasgow Warriors and Scotland openside flanker, Rory Darge.

Ken’s final season of coaching was 2009-10, which saw North Berwick promoted from East League 1 to National League Div 4 and win the Bowl competition on Finals Day at Murrayfield.

He stayed on as Director of Rugby until the end of the 2012-13 season, when his vast and generous contribution to the game saw him presented with the SRU Spirit of Rugby award.

Outside of the club game, Ken represented the Anglo Scots; the South at both age-grade and full level; and was a reserve for both the International Trail and Scotland B.

In 1980, he was selected for a three match Scotland tour of France, and on 26 April, he partnered his fellow Gala lock, Tom Smith, in the boiler-house  against a French Select in Bordeaux.

The French team included such luminaries as Serge Blanco and Philippe Dintrans and though Scotland lost the match, it was that game which saw Ken awarded his retrospective cap, and duly presented with cap number 1215.

Some months after retiring from all active involvement at North Berwick, Ken and his wife Pat relocated to the Isle of Lewis, though he remained a member at both North Berwick and Gala.

Ken loved his time on the Isle of Lewis where he ran a small gardening business and a home-from-home dog boarding service with his wife Pat. He was a proud grandfather and enjoyed spending time with his grandchildren and his family as much as he could.

Scottish Rugby is flying flags at half-mast at Scottish Gas Murrayfield stadium in Ken’s memory and will mark Ken’s passing at the Scotland v Fiji game in the Famous Grouse Autumn Nations Series on Saturday.

You can still make donations to Ken’s charity cycle via his fund-raising page https://donate.giveasyoulive.com/fundraising/kens-retrospective-challenge, which just before 12 noon on Monday 28 October stood at £13,396.

Scottish Rugby extends its sincere condolences to Ken’s wife Pat, son Richard, daughter Joanna and their families and his many friends.

A celebration of his life
There will be a celebration of Ken’s life at North Berwick Sports Centre on Friday 13th December, 2pm – 4:30pm.
There is limited capacity, anyone wishing to attend must register for a ticket HERE.
For those unable to attend Ken’s family are hoping to be able to offer the facility to attend online with a live stream but cannot confirm this at present. If you would like to attend online, please email: [email protected]

After his charity cycle Ken’s fundraising efforts stood at just over £13,000, now at the end of November it sits at over £22,000.