Euan Deamer and Seth Blackmore have been awarded their FIE refereeing licences in epee, and Sam McLellan in foil following the recent FIE refereeing exams held in Madrid.
The most recent FIE refereeing exams took place between the 25th and 28th September 2025 in Madrid, Spain.
Sam McLellan, already FIE licensed in sabre, passed the FIE foil exam and was awarded his FIE foil referee license.
Euan Deamer is already FIE licensed in foil, and Seth Blackmore is already EFC C licensed in epee. Both passed the FIE epee exam and were awarded their FIE epee referee licenses.
All three are active members of the BF Referee Pathway Programme, which is supported by funding from UK Sport.
Upon hearing the news, Euan said:
“I wanted to express a big thank you to British Fencing for the opportunity to represent my country not only for foil, but now for epee. This trust and support has been given consistently by athletes, colleagues, BF support, mentors, and ultimately the FIE. I look forward to continuing the next steps of my refereeing journey.”
Seth commented:
“I am incredibly proud to achieve my FIE license for epee. This has been the culmination of many years of hard work and a goal of mine since becoming a member of the Referee Pathway Programme. I would especially like to give my thanks to everyone who has taken the time to offer mentoring and advice from both British Fencing and the EFC, and a huge thanks to British Fencing for all of the support since the inception of the Referee Pathway programme which has allowed me to achieve this licence. I look forward to what the future has to offer.”
Sam added:
“I am very pleased to have achieved my second licence in Madrid. My thanks go to British Fencing for their continued support, the FIE Referee Commission for their endorsement, and to my refereeing colleagues and mentors for their encouragement and guidance. Most of all, I am grateful to the fencers and coaches across the world whose skills I have the good fortunate to preside over, and whose trust I will continue to work hard to repay.”
Georgina Usher, BF CEO, said:
“These results continue to demonstrate the quality of refereeing and referee development that we have in British Fencing. Sam, Euan and Seth have worked incredibly hard for a number of years to achieve this international success and I am delighted that their abilities have been recognised in this way. All three referees are active in supporting our domestic circuit, bringing world class refereeing quality to our events.”
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