Referee Darren England will make the trip across from Barnsley to take charge of Saturday’s home game against Southend.

The official is in his second season on the referees’ list and this will be the third time we have seen him at a Dale game in that time.

In July 2015 he was in the middle for a pre-season friendly defeat at Accrington, while last November, Darren was at Spotland for Dale’s 2-1 defeat of Port Vale.

Since his appointment to the league list, Mr England has refereed in League One and League Two, as well as at various cup ties.

His most recent outing was last Saturday when he took charge of AFC Wimbledon v Gillingham and ended-up sending-off The Gills’ Rory Donnelly for a gesture to the crowd.

Up to his promotion to the referees’ list, Darren was an assistant referee (linesman) at the highest level of the game, with weekly appointments in the Premier League and regular jaunts around Europe to ‘line’ at Champions League matches and international fixtures.

His lining career finished in May 2015 when he achieved the most prestigious domestic appointment as one of referee Jonathon Moss’s assistants for the FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Aston Villa.

Coming back to this season and Darren has refereed nine games to date, showing 19 yellow cards and four reds.

Photo: Action Images

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