Ben Blain (born 16 September 1988) is a professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

referee who represents the

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; ) is the Sport governing body, governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Now marketed as Scottish Rugby, it is the second-oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league sys ...

Rugby union career

Playing career

Amateur career

Blain played with Carlisle RFC as a scrum-half.

Referee career

Professional career

Blain began refereeing with Cumbria Referee Society. By 2015 he was refereeing local English matches in

National League 1 National One, up until 2023 known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Lea ...

. and Academy matches for the English Premiership. In 2016, Blain joined the

to be part of their referee group. He is now a member of the Borders Referee Society. He was promoted to the Elite SRU refereeing panel in 2017. He now referees in the Scottish Premiership. He has now refereed in the

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

. He made his debut in the Dragons v Munster match in January 2019. He has also refereed in the European Challenge Cup. Blain refereed his first Super 6 match on 14 December 2019 when the Ayrshire Bulls played Stirling County. He refereed his first

1872 Cup The 1872 Cup – also known as the 1872 Challenge Cup – is a men's rugby union tournament contested every year between the two Scottish professional clubs, Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby. Under the current format, Glasgow Warriors and Ed ...

match on 21 December 2019.

International career

Blain refereed the Belgium v Georgia in March 2019. Blain has been picked as Assistant Referee for International matches. He has also refereed in U20 Six Nations matches.

Outside of rugby

Blain is a chartered surveyor and has a degree in Estate Management from Northumbria University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blain, Ben Living people Alumni of Northumbria University Scottish rugby union referees Rugby union officials 1988 births United Rugby Championship referees Super 6 referees 1872 Cup referees