Sir Ian McGeechan exclusive interview: Lions legend reveals his prostate cancer battle

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11-05-2025

It has been an emotional week for Sir Ian McGeechan. The moment every four years when the British and Irish Lions squad is announced tends to do that to him; increasingly so with the passage of time. It stirs up the most glorious of memories both as a player on the tours of South Africa in 1974 and New Zealand in 1977, reminding him of the lifelong friendships they left him with.
Then there are the cherished memories of four tours as Lions head coach, to Australia in 1989, to New Zealand in 1993, and twice to South Africa (1997 and 2009), while he was also one of Sir Clive Woodward's assistant coaches on the tour of New Zealand in 2005.
Sitting in the coaches' office at Doncaster Knights' Castle Park stadium, he is recalling stories from all of his involvements, which remarkably totals 90 games either as a coach or player, and how they enriched his life in some way.
The conversation then swings around to his health. 'The Lion King' has an important disclosure to make, and in the moment, displays all the leadership skills that guided the tourists to series victories in 1989 and 1997.
'I have prostate cancer,' he says, matter-of-factly. 'I have just completed a six-week course of radiotherapy. I feel all right, really, just a bit more tired. I always sleep well anyway so it has probably just added to it. I have to wait six weeks then have scans and a review of how effective the treatment has been.
'I have told the players here before the treatment started because there would be times when I would not be around for meetings or on the training field with them. The players have asked me how it is going and have been very good.
'I don't want to make a big thing of it, but it is important to get the message out about urging people to go and get tested. I said that to our players here. I said to them that they make sure they get themselves tested. If you are younger, it is more important.
'Hopefully this interview can be educational. What I would say to people is don't back off it. It is a blood test, it is not what you always think. Just get it done. I have good people looking after me. It is the very good side of the NHS. The staff of the Bexley Cancer Wing at St James's Hospital in Leeds have been absolutely brilliant.
'When I had my last treatment, from the receptionist to the radiographer, they all said: 'Well done, good luck, have a happy time.' Everyone. They all knew. When they are looking up your details and you are going on to your next step, it says which number of treatment is it, and it is what they say to every person when they get to their last treatment, which I think is great. That support and the environment is so positive. What will be, will be.'
McGeechan said the problem first emerged just over a year ago. 'I started getting up to go to the loo in the middle of the night, which I have never done before,' he adds. 'As my wife would say, I can sleep through most things, so the fact that I was on the move in the middle of the night was something different.
'Judy told me to get a blood test to check and the PSA [prostate-specific antigen] was higher than normal. I was sent to a special consultant in Leeds and then he put me on a monitoring system – regular blood tests, MRI scans and two biopsies. It was after the first biopsy they said there was definitely cancer there. A lot of it was level two or three but a little bit was level four, which is the dangerous one.
'It was continually being monitored and to make sure I had another biopsy and scan last October and it had changed, and the decision was made to look at treatment and look at it more closely to not let it get out of hand.
'The doctor who is looking after me is a Northern Irishman and is a rugby man, so he did recognise me and some of the other doctors came to see me in the waiting area to shake my hand. It is nice. It still means a lot because the Lions have been such a big part of my life, and my family's life.
'I was booked in for treatment for the start of April after a month-long course of pills, and I did 20 days of treatment. They put little tattoos on your stomach and around your pelvis where the cancer is and then they line up with lasers to accurately target with the radiotherapy.
'After treatment in the morning I would try to come up here to Doncaster for training in the afternoon.'
In October, McGeechan will enter his 80th year, but he looks at least 20 years younger, his athletic frame that won him 32 caps for Scotland at fly-half or centre still visible as he sports a Doncaster tracksuit. He joined the championship club as consultant director of rugby last year as a mentor to head coach Joe Ford.
McGeechan clearly has no intention of letting cancer get in the way of his passion for the game. 'You just deal with it and get on with it. I have got a brilliant wife. Judy recently reminded me that we have been together 60 years,' he adds. 'She looks about 40 and I look about 80!
'I have an opportunity here at Doncaster and I have a good family, and I just don't think any differently. I am trying to do all the right things for my health and fitness.
'I am still determined to do a little bit of running out there,' he says, pointing to the pitch. 'At the end of a session, I would run 10 lengths of the pitch just so I can say that I can still do it. We have two dogs, so I walk them every day at home, although Judy is having to do a lot more now with me working here.
'It started off just as a couple of days with me here to just oversee and mentor really. But it is like anything, I think I only miss one day out of the week. We have just naturally evolved what we are trying to do and how we are trying to do it and just feeding off each other, which I still enjoy. That is the bit that doesn't change, here or on a Lions tour, that sharing of ideas. It is such a good coaching group, and it is nice still to be able to be part of something like that.'
But as much as he is enjoying his time in Doncaster, the Lions will always remain in an unimpeachable position.
'I was at a charity event after one of the Lions games in 2009 and an elderly lady came up to me and said: 'Thank you,'' McGeechan recalls. 'I said I was glad she had enjoyed the evening, but she replied: 'No, thank you for what the Lions are.'
'She went on to tell me that she and her husband had saved up for four years to come out to South Africa but that he had died in the January before the tour. Her family had persuaded her to go anyway, as it is what her husband would have wanted. 'I put a Lions jersey on and for three weeks in South Africa I was never alone,' she added. 'Simply because I was wearing a Lions jersey. It didn't matter if they were English, Irish, Scottish or Welsh supporters. I felt I was part of something unbelievable.'
'That is bigger than a team, that is what makes the Lions different. When there's a Lions announcement, I think it naturally takes you back to when you were in that position as a player, and when you received the letter through the post. It is a very special time.
'For the players who were named on Thursday, I want them to feel the way I did when I played. The chemistry and relationships that are built with the players you tour with never go away.
'Andy Farrell gets it because he was part of the tour to Australia in 2013 and New Zealand in 2017. I recommended to him to keep coaching through last autumn because it is important to keep involved as long as you can.
'The environment hits you when you first go in it because of the impact. That is why the Lions are so important because of what it means to the players and coaches, and if that is ever lost, the Lions will go. It will have no meaning.
'I remember when Warren Gatland came on tour with us in 2009, he said early on that he had seen something outside of New Zealand that he never thought he would see. 'I have seen British and Irish players look at a jersey the way a New Zealand player would look at the All Black jersey.'
'I have been on every Lions tour since 1989, but this year because of my treatment, I will not be going but will be doing some work with Sky Sports from London so I will be involved in those games ahead of the Test matches, which is nice that I will still have an involvement.
'Every tour is unique, and the 2025 Lions now have a chance to create their own history. I can't wait to watch them do it.'
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