Aitken played for his hometown club Penicuik, before moving to First Division Gala. He was the Gala Captain for their 3 League Championships in 1979/80, 80/81 and 82/83.
Aitken was capped by South of Scotland.[2]
Aitken played for Scotland Probables in the Trial match against Scotland Possibles on 11 January 1975.[3]
Aitken was capped twice by Scotland 'B' - in 1975 and 1976 against France 'B' - before receiving a full senior cap.
Aitken won 24 international caps and scored one try, playing at loose head prop, between 1977 and 1984,[1] and captained the Scottish Grand Slam side in the 1984 Five Nations Championship.[4]
Aitken won his first cap for Scotland at the age of 29 against England in 1977, but was then replaced by the legendary two-time Lion, Ian McLauchlan, because of concerns about his scrummaging. After working hard on his technique, he returned in 1981 and played 21 of the next 24 tests. He captained Scotland to victory against England at Twickenham in 1983, Scotland's first win there since 1971. He played in Scotland's 25–25 draw against New Zealand, still the closest that Scotland have ever come to beating the All Blacks.
The next season, Scotland won the Grand Slam under his guidance, and he scored a crucial try against Wales to set up a winner-takes-all match versus France, which Scotland won 21–12. It was Scotland's first Grand Slam since 1925. He played one more game for Scotland against Romania before retiring with a Scotland captaincy record of played 7, won 5, drew 1, lost 1. A magnificent achievement to be remembered as one of Scotland's most successful ever skippers.[5] In recent years he has been critical of the state of Scottish rugby, describing it as "a mess", particularly former Scotland coaching duo, Ian McGeechan and Jim Telfer.[5]