Declan Bourne is the man in the middle for Dale’s home game versus Salford City on Saturday.

The Nottinghamshire police officer is in his third season on the National List and this will be his sixth Dale appointment, although one of the games never took place!

That was on New Year’s Day when Mr Bourne was appointed to our home fixture versus Mansfield, only for Covid to force a postponement.

When the match was rearranged, Seb Stockbridge stepped into the middle instead.

However, he did come to referee at the Crown Oil Arena in April when Dale and Swindon played out a 0-0 draw.

Last October, Declan was in the middle for Dale’s 2-1 win at Barrow, while in January 2021, he oversaw another 2-1 away win, this time at Bristol Rovers.

Two months before that game, Mr Bourne had been at Spotland, where a customary injury-time goal for AFC Wimbledon gave them a 1-0 victory over Brian Barry-Murphy’s hapless Rochdale team.

Declan’s first match at EFL level was Port Vale v Tranmere in the Papa John’s Trophy in September 2020, before he refereed Oldham v Leyton Orient in his debut league fixture.

Saturday will be his fifth appointment this season, with the previous four producing 19 yellow cards and one red. Mr Bourne’s last game was Leyton Orient v Hartlepool a fortnight ago.

Photo: Action Images

rochefort added 06:49 - Sep 11 Let’s hope he does a decent job.
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