Jamie Bloem (born 26 May 1971) is a former dual code rugby player and rugby league referee. He currently coaches amateur rugby league side Elland ARLFC. He played representative rugby league for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. At club level for Cape Town Coasters (South Africa),

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England. They play their home games at Wheldon Road (currently known as the Mend-A-Hose Jungle for sponsorship reasons) and compete in the Super League, t ...

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

Widnes Vikings The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the RFL Championship, Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at DCBL Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twe ...

Halifax Panthers The Halifax Panthers are a professional rugby league club in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They play home games at The Shay and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Halifax Panthers have won the League Ch ...

Huddersfield Giants The Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Huddersfield play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league sy ...

and

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

for Stainland Stags ARLFC, as a , or . In rugby union he played for

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

at representative level, and at club level for Union Milnerton RFC (

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

Racing Métro 92 Racing 92 () is a French professional rugby union club based in the Hauts-de-Seine department, Paris' western inner suburbs that competes in Top 14. The club plays its home matches at the 30,681-capacity domed stadium Paris La Défense Arena, l ...

, Halifax RUFC and

for Thornensians RUFC, Old Brodleians RUFC, Old Rishworthians RUFC, and Halifax Vandals RUFC.

Rugby league

Club career

Bloem initially played his club rugby league for the Cape Town Coasters in

, he also played in France and has travelled extensively as a player, he became

at Stainland Stags ARLFC (

Halifax, West Yorkshire Halifax is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. It is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. In the 15th century, the town became an economic hub of the old West Riding of Yorkshire, primarily in woo ...

) during the Pennine League 2010–11 season.

Drugs ban

In November 1994, Bloem was the first rugby league player to test positive for performance enhancing anabolic steroid

nandrolone Nandrolone, also known as 19-nortestosterone, is an endogenous androgen. It is also an anabolic steroid (AAS) which is medically used in the form of esters such as nandrolone decanoate (brand name Deca-Durabolin) and nandrolone phenylpropionate ...

, he was banned for two years.

Representative career

Bloem was the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

(RL) during the 2000 World Cup, he was eligible for

(RL) through his mother's nationality.

Rugby union

Bloem has also had spells with rugby union sides; Halifax RUFC, Thornensians RUFC ( Thorne,

), and Old Brodleians RUFC (

Hipperholme Hipperholme is a village in West Yorkshire, England, located between the towns of Halifax, West Yorkshire, Halifax and Brighouse in the Hipperholme and Lightcliffe ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale. The population of this ward at ...

), whom he took to their first promotion in 75 years, he transferred to Old Rishworthians RUFC ( Rishworth,

) as

for the 2007–08 season, he was the top point scorer for Old Rishworthians in 2007–08, breaking the club record with 375 points in the season, he became

at Halifax Vandals RUFC at the start of the 2013–2014 season.

Later years

Bloem became a BBC radio rugby league sports summariser, and a rugby league referee and controlled the Nordic Cup match between

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

at Partille Ground ( Spartacus Rugby Club),

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

on Saturday 30 October 2010.

Personal life

Bloem was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Victoria, Australia to Scottish and South African parents, his twin sister died at the age of six weeks. He was brought up in apartheid-torn South Africa on a military base where his father was stationed. Bloems father died in action when he was 15. After retiring from rugby Bloem set up a

landscape gardening A landscape is the visible features of an area of Terrestrial ecoregion, land, its landforms, and how they integrate with Nature, natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Diction ...

business in

. Bloem was wrongly accused of having sex with a minor, the charge was found to be completely without foundation.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloem, Jamie 1971 births Living people Afrikaner people Australian emigrants to England Australian people of Dutch descent Australian people of Scottish descent Australian people of South African descent Sportspeople of South African descent Australian rugby league commentators Australian rugby league players Australian rugby league referees Australian sportspeople in doping cases Castleford Tigers players Doncaster R.L.F.C. players Doping cases in rugby league Footballers who switched code Halifax Panthers players Huddersfield Giants players Oldham R.L.F.C. players Rugby league centres Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Melbourne Rugby league second-rows Rugby league wingers Scotland national rugby league team players South Africa national rugby league team captains South Africa national rugby league team players South African emigrants to the United Kingdom South African people of Dutch descent South African rugby league players South African rugby league referees South African sportspeople in doping cases Widnes Vikings players South African rugby union players Halifax RUFC players