| Born | Ben Blain Nickname = the shrub 16 September 1988 Carlisle, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| University | Northumbria University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Rugby union referee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ben Blain (born 16 September 1988) is a professional rugby union referee who represents the Scottish Rugby Union. [1]
Blain played with Carlisle RFC as a scrum-half. [2]
Blain began refereeing with Cumbria Referee Society. [3] [ non-primary source needed ] By 2015 he was refereeing local English matches in National League 1. [4] and Academy matches for the English Premiership. [5]
In 2016, Blain joined the Scottish Rugby Union 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. [6]
He now referees in the Scottish Premiership. [7] [8]
He has now refereed in the Pro14. [9] He made his debut in the Dragons v Munster match in January 2019. [10]
He has also refereed in the European Challenge Cup. [11] [12] [13]
Blain refereed his first Super 6 match on 14 December 2019 when the Ayrshire Bulls played Stirling County. [14]
He refereed his first 1872 Cup match on 21 December 2019. [15]
Blain refereed the Belgium v Georgia in March 2019. [16]
Blain has been picked as Assistant Referee for International matches. [17]
He has also refereed in U20 Six Nations matches. [9]
Blain is a chartered surveyor and has a degree in Estate Management from Northumbria University. [18]