Mark Blair is an Irish former

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 ...

player, who played lock professionally for

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

RC Narbonne Racing Club de Narbonne Méditerannée (also known as RCNM) is a French rugby union club that play in the third-level Nationale. They are based in Narbonne in the Aude '' département'' of Occitania. They were founded in 1907. They play at P ...

and the

Border Reivers Border Reivers were Cattle raiding, raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border. They included both Scotland, Scottish and England, English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their victims' nationality.Hay, D. "E ...

. He attended

The Royal School, Armagh The Royal School, Armagh is a co-educational voluntary grammar school, founded in the 17th century, in the city of Armagh in Northern Ireland. It has a boarding department with an international intake. It is a member of the Headmasters' and He ...

, and after leaving school attended technical collage for year while playing for

City of Armagh RFC The City of Armagh Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Armagh, Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been ...

,Jonathan Bradley, ''The Last Amateurs'', The Blackstaff Press, 2018, pp. 81-87 and represented Ulster at under-20 and under-21 levels.Micheal McGeary, "Now Eur a star: from Currie to caviar for Mark", ''Sunday Life'', 3 January 1999 He went to

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University () is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and was subsequently granted university status by roya ...

, and played rugby for

Currie RFC Currie Rugby Football Club are an Edinburgh-based rugby union club in the Scottish Rugby Union, they currently play in the Scottish Premiership. Despite the name, " Currie" RFC is actually based in the neighbouring suburb of Balerno, and they ...

. He had a trial for

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 ...

, for whom he qualified through residency. He played club rugby in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in 1996 and 1997, and was selected a few times for

Counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

, where he played alongside

Jonah Lomu Jonah Tali Lomu (12 May 1975 – 18 November 2015) was a New Zealand professional rugby union player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential players in the history of the sport, and as one of the most talented sportsm ...

.Michael Sadlier
"Blair force one: Well-travelled Mark so proud of Euro joy with Ulster and playing with Jonah Lomu"
''Belfast Telegraph'', 21 June 2020 He signed a professional contract with

Edinburgh Reivers Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...

for 1997-98, The following season he had offers from Edinburgh and

, and chose to sign for Ulster, joining

Ballymena R.F.C. Ballymena Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in the town of Ballymena, Northern Ireland, playing in Division 2A of the All-Ireland League. It is affiliated to the Ulster branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union. The club fields five ...

However, he sustained an ankle ligament injury playing five-a-side football in the summer, arrived unfit, and began the season for Ulster behind part-timer Murtagh Rea. He eventually won a starting spot in the second row alongside

Gary Longwell Gary Longwell (born 30 July 1971 in Belfast) is an Irish international rugby player. His usual position is as a lock, or second row. He spent his entire career playing for Irish provincial side Ulster, making his debut aged 19 in 1991. He was par ...

playing in eight successive wins on the way to Ulster's victory in the

1999 Heineken Cup Final The 1999 Heineken Cup Final was the final match of the 1998–99 Heineken Cup, the fourth season of Europe's top club rugby union competition. The match was played on 30 January 1999 at Lansdowne Road in Dublin. The match was contested by Ulste ...

.Bruce McKendry, ''Champions: The Players' Story'', IRFU (Ulster Branch), 1999, pp. 90-111 He made 55 appearances for Ulster over five seasons,"Blair to quit Ulster"
RTÉ, 10 April 2003 and helped Ballymena win the All-Ireland League in 2003, before joining

ahead of the 2003-04 season. He had signed for three years, but left after a single season after the new coach objected to him going home to attend his brother's wedding. He returned to Scotland, signing a two-year deal with the

. The team was disbanded at the end of his second season, and he retired from professional rugby, although he continued to play club rugby with Currie until about 2009. He set up a property development company with his brother-in-law,"Class of 99: Glory day memories still vivid seven years on", ''Belfast Telegraph'', 30 January 2006 and worked for the

IRFU IRFU or Irfu may refer to: * Irish Rugby Football Union, The Irish rugby football union (IRFU), is the national rugby association of Ireland *Interprovincial Rugby Football Union, a four-team league that merged with the Westerm Interprovincial Rugb ...

Exiles Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

programme until 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blair, Mark Living people Irish rugby union players Edinburgh Rugby players Ulster Rugby players RC Narbonne players Border Reivers players Rugby union locks Sportspeople from Armagh (city) People educated at The Royal School, Armagh Alumni of Heriot-Watt University Currie RFC players Ballymena R.F.C. players Year of birth missing (living people) Irish expatriate rugby union players in France