George Yuill Mackie (19 April 1949 – 3 April 2020) was a

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 ...

international

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.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He first joined an Aberdeen club called 'the Hairies'; before joining an established team Montrose. He then moved to Highland club in Inverness. He was the only player capped by Scotland while representing

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

for all his caps. Colin Baillie, who coached him at the club, stated:

He was an extraordinary ball player, great with his hands and he could run all day. He was one of the fittest boys I worked with. He led by example and was always there. On the pitch he would do any task and off the field he was the same. He did what some might have regarded as mediocre jobs, working as a janitor or in a distillery and he never took defeat easily.

Provincial career

Mackie played for

North and Midlands North and Midlands - and now known as Caledonia - is a select provincial amateur rugby union team that draws its players mainly from north of Scotland, roughly corresponding from around Stirling northwards. Historically the North and Midlands te ...

International career

He played for Scotland 'B' against France 'B' in 1974. Mackie played for the

Scotland national rugby union team The Scotland national rugby union team represents Scotland in men's international rugby union and is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union. The team takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship and participates in the Rugby World Cup, ...

between 1975 and 1978 and took part in the 1975 Scotland rugby union tour of New Zealand.

Political career

Outside rugby Mackie was a local councillor for

Nazeing Nazeing is a village and parish in Essex, England. Within the parish are the separate settlements of Upper Nazeing, Middle Nazeing, and Lower Nazeing. The Prime Meridian passes to the west of Lower Nazeing. Location and topography Nazeing is ...

in Essex, England. He ran for the Bumble's Green ward in Nazeing in 1987 as a Labour councillor.

Farming career

He had a 500 acre farm in

inherited from his father. He sold Christmas trees when in season and logs the rest of the year.

Family

His father, John Mackie, was a Labour MP who went into the House of Lords. and who bought the farm in Essex while MP for Enfield East. His uncle,

George Mackie, Baron Mackie of Benshie George Yull Mackie, Baron Mackie of Benshie (10 July 1919 – 17 February 2015) was a British Liberal Party politician. Mackie was commissioned in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in 1940. He served with RAF Bomber Command and was awar ...

, was Baron Mackie of Benshie, a Liberal Democrat peer. Another uncle was Sir

Maitland Mackie Sir Maitland Mackie, (16 February 1912 – 18 June 1996), often known as Mike Mackie, was a British Liberal Party politician, farming pioneer, educational innovator and Lord-Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire. Background and family He was the son of ...

. His wife Catherine was a journalist, a former political editor of the ''Glasgow Herald''; and adviser to

Alastair Darling Alistair Maclean Darling, Baron Darling of Roulanish, (born 28 November 1953) is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Member ...

in the Treasury. He had 2 sons, Robert and Hector. Robert is now in the Treasury, while Hector runs the farm.

Death

Mackie was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died from the illness.

References

1949 births 2020 deaths Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Highland RFC players North and Midlands players Scotland 'B' international rugby union players Sons of life peers Rugby union players from Aberdeen Rugby union number eights {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-stub