Bland, a native of Sydney, was educated at Manly High School and St Mary's Cathedral College.
[1] Primarily a lock forward, Bland was a line-out specialist and began his first-grade career with Manly in 1925.
Two year later, he achieved a New South Wales call up for the eight-month long 1927–28 tour of the British Isles, France and Canada, playing six matches over the course of the trip.
He was also a member of the New South Wales team that toured New Zealand in 1928 and played in a win over a NZ XV in Christchurch, which would retrospectively become his Test debut (due to the fact the Wallabies were not competing at this time).
After a four-year hiatus, Bland made further Test appearances in 1932 and 1933, this time in Wallabies colours, which included matches on the 1933 tour of South Africa.