Scott Mathieson is probably the smallest referees in the Football League, but definitely the longest serving.
He joined the list in 1994, meaning he is now in his 21st season at this level.
Mr Mathieson has never looked like making any progress up the ladder, but has enjoyed some prestigious appointments in recent seasons.
In April 2010 he was the referee for the JPT Final at Wembley between Southampton and Carlisle, while in the 2010/11 and 2011/12 campaigns, he took charge of play-off semi-finals at Torquay and Huddersfield.
Scott’s most recent Dale game was the JPT tie at Port Vale early last season, while he was last at Spotland in January 2012 for John Coleman’s first match as manager when we thrashed Bury 3-0.
In total, he has been in charge of 20 of our matches down the years, with mixed results:
Aug 95 York C (h, C) W 2-1
Feb 96 Scarborough (h) L 0-2
Sep 96 Hull C (a) D 1-1
Jan 97 Chester C (a) D 0-0
Jul 97 Preston NE (h, F) W 1-0
Aug 97 Stoke C (a, CCC) D 1-1
Sep 97 Brighton & HA (a) L 1-2
Mar 98 Doncaster R (h) W 4-1
Mar 00 Carlisle U (h) W 3-2
Mar 01 Kidderminster H (h) D 0-0
Aug 02 Darlington (h) D 1-1
Aug 03 Stoke C (a, CC) L 1-2
Apr 04 Lincoln C (h) L 0-3
Apr 06 Bristol R (h) W 2-0
Nov 06 Mansfield T (h) W 2-0
Feb 08 Hereford U (h) L 2-4
Mar 09 Bradford C (h) W 3-0
Aug 11 Chesterfield (h, CC) W 3-2
Jan 12 Bury (h) W 3-0
Oct 13 Port Vale (a, JPT) W 1-0
So far this season Mr Mathieson has refereed 13 matches, showing 25 yellow cards and five red.
His most recent appointment was Wrexham v Maidstone in the FA Cup, while his last league game was MK Dons’ 6-0 win over Colchester at the end of November.