Gavin Blackburn
| Birth name | Gavin Blackburn | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| School | St Ninian's High School, Giffnock | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Gavin Blackburn is a former Scotland U21 international rugby union player for Glasgow Warriors, who played at the Tighthead Prop position.
Blackburn played for Saracens.[1] He started there as an apprentice.[2]
Blackburn played for London Scottish till 1999, when he was signed by Glasgow Hawks.[3]
He was then called up to Glasgow Warriors.[4] He played in all but one of Glasgow's pre-season friendlies of the 1999 - 2000 season; including the home match against Ulster Rugby[5] and making the trip to Canada to play the Ontario Rugby Union[6] and Uruguay A.[7] The only exception was the final match of the Canadian tour, the Canadian Tri-Continental Tournament final against Edinburgh Rugby, where Blackburn was an unused substitute.[8]
He returned to Glasgow after the successful Canadian tour but his time at the Hawks was short. In November 1999 he was moved on to Glasgow Southern.[9] This move to a lower ranked club effectively ended Blackburn's Warriors career and he did not play a further game for the professional provincial side. Hawks spokesman Hugh Barrow said: "Gavin hasn't been able to establish a regular place since arriving from London Scottish. He can't be blamed for wanting to seek first team action."
In 2001, he moved to Stirling County.[10] An achilles injury curtailed his career.[2]
He later went on to coach Biggar RFC from 2014. "Biggar is a huge club and one I remember playing against," he said. "It was always a hard game and the support was tremendous. They struggled last season but my job will be to create a culture where everybody enjoys rugby and ultimately starts winning again," said the 35-year-old former Dunfermline coach and SRU development officer. "We will look to bring players in but they have to be the right type of player, on and off the pitch."[1] However Blackburn announced he would quit his coaching role in February 2016 due to family commitments and work pressures.[11]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Blackburn Buoyed by Biggar Challenge". Archived from the original on 5 May 2016.
- ^ a b "New coach aims to help Dunfermline bounce back". Dunfermline Press.
- ^ "HERIOT'S OF FIRE THE HOT TIPS".
- ^ "Shepherd Astray". Archived from the original on 3 May 2016.
- ^ "Much to build on for Reds as Ulster triumph in the sun". Herald Scotland.
- ^ "Winning start to Canadian tour for Reivers and Reds Coaches pleased with victories in opening games". Herald Scotland.
- ^ "Dispute settled in talks with coaches". Herald Scotland.
- ^ "Treble wins boost Reds' league aspirations". Herald Scotland.
- ^ "Serious injury leads to appeal". Herald Scotland.
- ^ "Rugby: Melrose bid to leave champs Shiel-shocked".
- ^ "Biggar rugby coach Gavin Blackburn quits".