Kevin Friend is another referee who started refereeing at age thirteen within his home county of Leicestershire.
His route to the National List was via the Leicester Senior League and Midland Football Alliance before being promoted to the National list in 2000. After three more seasons he reached the National List of Referees.
The last time Friend was in charge of a Blackburn game was 17-01-2010 when Rovers took on Fulham at Ewood Park and ran out 2-0 winners with goals from Samba and Nelsen.
So far this season Friend has been in charge of 8 games and has handed out 27 yellow cards and two reds, five of those yellow cards came in the Carling Cup game between Wigan and Swansea recently.
Assistant 1 - Jake Collin
Assistant 2 - Mick McDonough
4th Official - Mark Clattenburg