After a career playing scrum half for a number of clubs including West Leeds, Carnegie College, Morley, Yorkshire, and Old Crossleyans, Brian took the whistle in the early 80s and joined West Yorkshire Referees Society. Brian went on to become only the second Yorkshire referee, along with the late Peter Brook from Ilkley, to referee top level international rugby and in 1999 Brian refereed at the Rugby World Cup in South Africa. Brian in 1996 famously also refereed a "Clash of the Codes" game of Rugby Union between Bath RUFC and Wigan RLFC at Twickenham in front of 42,000.

He was the referee technical advisor with England from 2003-2015 and employed by the RFU as Pro Ref Development Manager from 2001-2019.

For a number of years he has been a member of Discipline Meetings concerning consistency of discipline issues in Premier Rugby.

Portugal v Uruguay Referee Brian Campsall
3 Apr 1999: Referee Brian Campsall in charge of the Rugby World Cup Repechage game between Portugal and Uruguay at the Estadio Universitario de Lisboa in Lisbon, Portugal. Uruguay won 33-24. \ Mandatory Credit: Jamie McDonald /Allsport