Gordon Matthew Strachan (16 November 1947 – 3 May 2016) was a Scottish

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player who was capped five times by his country.

Biography

Strachan was born in 1947 in Littlemill,

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

.Gordon Strachan
,

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, retrieved 2010-12-04 After leaving

Ayr Academy Ayr Academy (Scottish Gaelic: ''Acadamaidh Inbhir Àir'') is a non-denominational secondary school situated within the Craigie Estate area at University Avenue in Ayr, South Ayrshire. It is a comprehensive school for children of ages 11–18 fro ...

, he played rugby for

Ayr RFC Ayr Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club. Its professional men's side currently plays as Ayrshire Bulls in the Super 6 competition; and its women's side play in the . The club also runs a "Club XV" which competes in the Tennent's Nationa ...

and then

Jordanhill College Jordanhill Campus is an historic estate within the boundaries of Jordanhill, Glasgow, Scotland, which developed as a country estate. It is best known and most recently used as the home to the Faculty of Education of the University of Strathcl ...

.History of Ayr Rugby Club
", ayrrugbyclub.co.uk, retrieved 2010-12-04 While a Jordanhill player, he played five times for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

at number 8, his first appearance being in the match against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in March 1971. He received his final cap against Presidents XV in 1973. He returned to Ayr in the late 1970s, when he captained the team, and after retiring from playing, coached Ayr, taking them from the third division to the first. He later worked as a P.E. teacher at Kyle Academy in Ayr.Oswald, Nick (2003)
Caught in Time: Scotland’s rugby team, 1973
, ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'', 9 November 2003, retrieved 2010-12-04 His daughter Shonagh was a member of girl band Lemonescent in the 2000s.Smith, Ken & Belcher, David (2003) "The Diary: Strip Show", ''

Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'', 29 August 2003, p. 20 He died on 3 May 2016, aged 68, after suffering from

cardiac amyloidosis Cardiac amyloidosis is a subcategory of amyloidosis where there is depositing of the protein amyloid in the cardiac muscle and surrounding tissues. Amyloid, a misfolded and insoluble protein, can become a deposit in the heart's atria, valves, or ...

.Vallance, Matt (2016)
Obituary - Gordon Strachan, rugby international capped five times for Scotland
, ''

'', 7 May 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2016

References

1947 births 2016 deaths Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Rugby union players from East Ayrshire Jordanhill RFC players People educated at Ayr Academy Ayr RFC players Rugby union number eights {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-stub