Dale’s maiden game at the DW Stadium on Easter Monday will be refereed by Mark Brown.
This is the first time Dale have seen the Hull-based official since December 2014 when he was in charge at Spotland for the 4-1 FA Cup replay defeat of Aldershot.
Earlier last season Mark refereed of the Capital One Cup first round tie against Preston, which Dale lost 2-0, while in July 2014 he was the man in the middle for the home friendly versus Middlesbrough.
In our 2013/14 promotion season, Mr Brown took charge of two Dale victories, once at Spotland and once on the road.
In September he was the referee at Accrington for a game which Dale won 2-1 despite having George Donnelly sent-off shortly before half-time.
Four months later Mark refereed the 3-0 home defeat of Plymouth which was memorable for two great goals by Ian Henderson and Michael Rose, while Argyle finished the game with ten men after Andres Gurrieri had been dismissed.
Currently in his sixth season as a league referee, this will be Mark’s 11th game involving Dale. The summary of his previous ten appointments is:
Nov 10 Rochdale v Swindon D 3-3
Mar 11 Hartlepool v Rochdale W 2-0
Aug 11 Rochdale v Carlisle D 0-0
Apr 12 Rochdale v MK Dons L 1-2
Oct 12 Rochdale v Fleetwood D 0-0
Sep 13 Accrington v Rochdale W 2-1
Jan 14 Rochdale v Plymouth W 3-0
Jul 14 Rochdale v Middlesbrough (F) L 1-3
Aug 14 Rochdale v Preston (COC) L 0-2
Dec 14 Rochdale v Aldershot (FAC) W 4-1
So far this season Mr Brown has taken charge of 29 games, showing 84 yellow cards and two red. His last appointment was Blackpool v Coventry a fortnight ago, although on Good Friday he was fourth official at Barnsley v Scunthorpe.