Experienced Football League referee Eddie Ilderton is the man in the middle when Dale entertain Crewe on Tuesday night.
Mr Ilderton is in 14th season as a league referee and this will be his 15th appointment at Spotland.
In fact, Spotland was the venue for his first Football League game on the opening day of the 2002/03 campaign when Dale recorded a 1-0 win over Leyton Orient.
Just four months earlier Eddie was one of the assistant referees when we lost at home to Rushden & Diamonds in the play-offs.
He has been a frequent official at Dale games since then and we last saw him in August at the Capital One Cup tie against Coventry, which Dale won on penalties.
Eddie also refereed Dale’s 3-0 home win over Oxford in March 2014, in which Scott Hogan netted a fine hat-trick, as well as the home games against Yeovil and Gillingham last season.
The full list of Mr Ilderton’s Dale matches as a referee is:
Aug 02 Rochdale v Leyton Orient W 1-0
Feb 03 Darlington v Rochdale W 1-0
Apr 03 Rochdale v Kidderminster L 0-1
Sep 03 Lincoln v Rochdale D 1-1
Sep 04 Rochdale v Scarborough (LDV) W 4-1
Nov 04 Rochdale v Oxford (FAC) W 2-1
Dec 04 Rochdale v Bristol R D 0-0
Aug 05 Rochdale v Macclesfield W 3-1
Apr 06 Rochdale v Peterborough W 1-0
Feb 07 Notts Co v Rochdale W 2-1
Oct 07 Rochdale v Bury (JPT) L 1-3
Mar 11 Rochdale v Charlton W 2-0
Jul 11 Crewe v Rochdale (Friendly) L 1-2
Aug 11 Oldham v Rochdale L 0-2
Apr 12 Rochdale v Sheffield U L 2-5
Nov 13 Morecambe v Rochdale W 2-1
Mar 14 Rochdale v Oxford W 3-0
Oct 14 Rochdale v Gillingham D 1-1
Mar 14 Rochdale v Yeovil W 2-1
Aug 15 Rochdale v Coventry (COC) D 1-1 (won on pens)
Eddie’s most recent appointment was Fleetwood v Barnsley in the JPT northern final second leg and in total this season he has refereed 19 games, showing 40 yellow cards and two red.