Be it playing, officiating or administrating, he has been a man never far away from the oval ball.
For 75 years and more he has been part of the black and whites.
The service of McAuley (90), a life member of the Otago Rugby Football Union and the Southern Rugby Football Club, was recognised by the Southern club over the weekend, in a special presentation at the club
He has been a member of the club for 75 years, and first joined when he moved from Kaitangata in 1942.
``One of the reasons I went to Southern was Crescent, whom I used to play for down south, wore the same black and white jersey down there. And I saw a photo of that first Southern team and there is the old black and white jersey, with the leather on the shoulders,'' he said.
McAuley played through the grades at Southern. In 1946, when he was 18, he was selected for the senior side.
A hooker, he flitted in and out of the senior side and by 1950 decided to give referring a go.
It seemed a natural fit and in his fifth game he officiated in a senior game.
The refereeing soon took over but he still remained a member of the Southern club.
``In those days we [the referees] did not have a clubrooms so you went back to your own club. You learnt a lot about refereeing when you went back there.
``Those guys, Jack Hore, Roy Nieper, would tell you about the game and what went wrong.''
As well as playing for the club, McAuley had been on the committee, been the president and was also a life member.
He had been made a life member of the Otago Rugby Football Union in the 1980s.
He had been the man in the middle for one test - between the All Blacks and Australia in 1962 in Wellington - a game which ended in a 9-9 draw.
``I thought I was going to get the second test but things started getting rough. The touring side had a lot of say back then who was going to be the referee.
``It was hard, too. Not many guys got more than one test.''
McAuley gave up refereeing in 1968 but remained with Southern and was the club's delegate to the Otago union for 14 years. He gets along to the occasional game when he can and leads an active life, tramping and playing golf off a 24 handicap.
He said the game had moved on and as a referee it was a lot easier back in his day.
``I'm sure I got things wrong but that was the way it was.''
