Seb Stockbridge travels down from Tyne & Wear to take charge of Dale’s first-ever league fixture with Salford City on Tuesday.
This will be the third time Seb has refereed Dale in 2021 after he officiated at both of our games versus Doncaster last season.
Mr Stockbridge was also at Spotland in September 2020 when he refereed Dale’s Carabao Cup defeat to Sheffield Wednesday.
Now is in his ninth season on the National List, Tuesday is Seb’s 13th Dale game at this level.
In 2019/20 he refereed our FA Cup replay win over Wrexham, while 11 months earlier, Seb was also at the Crown Oil Arena in FA Cup action as Dale took on Portsmouth, although this time we lost 1-0 in the second-round tie.
Before that, Stockbridge had officiated Dale four times in 2017, starting with the first match of the year at Walsall, which ended in a 2-0 victory thanks to goals from Ian Henderson and Joe Thompson.
Two months later he was at Spotland for the thrilling 3-3 draw with Sheffield United and after another month he returned for Dale’s 3-0 midweek defeat of Port Vale as a late replacement for Ben Toner.
Towards the end of 2017, Mr Stockbridge was back at the Crown Oil Arena when Dale entertained Blackburn in the Checkatrade Trophy, a game which ended 1-1 before Keith Hill’s men won on penalties.
In August 2013, Seb’s second Football League appointment was Dale’s match at Burton.
Fans will remember Peter Cavanagh being sent-off early in that game, before Dale slumped to a 1-0 defeat courtesy of Olly Lancashire’s own goal.
Early in 2015/16, Seb was in charge at the Crown Oil Arena for the visit of Shrewsbury, a game in which Dale raced into a 3-0 lead, before being pegged-back to 3-2 before half-time. Thankfully, there was no further scoring.
He was also the referee for our friendly at Bury in August 2014 which ended in a 3-3 draw.
In summary, the full record of Seb’s Dale games is:
Aug 2013 Burton (a), L 0-1
Aug 2014 Bury (a, F), D 3-3
Sep 2015 Shrewsbury (h), W 3-2
Jan 2017 Walsall (a), W 1-0
Mar 2017 Sheffield U (h), D 3-3
Apr 2017 Port Vale (h), W 3-0
Nov 2017 Blackburn (h, Checkatrade), D 1-1 [Dale won on pens]
Dec 2018 Portsmouth (h, FAC), L 0-1
Nov 2019 Wrexham (h, FAC), W 1-0
Sep 2020 Sheffield W (h, CC), L 0-2
Jan 2021 Doncaster (a), L 0-1
May 2021 Doncaster (h), L 1-2
Mr Stockbridge’s life on the National List has been fairly uneventful and he has largely refereed in League One and League Two.
Before the weekend, when he was due to referee Doncaster v Wycombe, Seb had overseen 10 matches this season, showing 32 yellow cards and one red.