We look at the man in charge of tonight's trip to Notts County.
| What is rightly being billed as the biggest game of the season in League Two has earned the right to have a Select Group official appointed to oversee it. The familiar figure of Mark Halsey will step out at Meadow Lane on Tuesday and referee-baiting aside, it will be good to see the Bolton-based official in action after his well-publicised problems with cancer this season.
He refereed Arsenal’s 6-1 win at Everton on the opening day of the campaign, when his medical condition wasn’t public knowledge.
Mark then embarked on a sustained period of treatment and rehabilitation that eventually allowed him to return to refereeing action at Rotherham v Port Vale on Easter Saturday.
He has stated he wants to referee in the Premier League again before the season’s end and his appointment to what could be the League Two title decider is a sure sign that his recovery is now complete.
The 48-year old does have some significant history with Dale going right back to 1996/97, which was his debut season on the league list.
Based in Welwyn Garden City at the time, one of his early matches was Rochdale v Doncaster. Mark hit the headlines by showing first half red cards to both Keith Hill and Mark Leonard, and when Rovers took the lead, the game seemed up for Dale.
However, we staged an amazing fightback and remarkably won 2-1 thanks to John Deary’s penalty and an Andy Gouck goal.
Mark was also the referee when Gary Jones made his debut at Peterborough in January 1998 and took charge of both games with Burton in the first round of the FA Cup in 1999/2000.
His only other Dale game was a 3-1 defeat at Mansfield in March 1999.
Full Dale record:
Famous Marks |