Declan Bourne is the man in the middle for Dale’s home game versus Harrogate Town on Saturday.
The Nottinghamshire police officer is in his third season on the National List and this will be his seventh Dale appointment, although two of the games never took place!
The first was on New Year’s Day when Mr Bourne was appointed to our home fixture versus Mansfield, only for Covid to force a postponement.
When the match was rearranged, Seb Stockbridge stepped into the middle instead.
Earlier this season, Declan was appointed to the home game against Salford, but that was called-off due to the Queen’s passing and Peter Wright took charge of the rescheduled fixture.
However, Mr Bourne did referee at the Crown Oil Arena in April when Dale and Swindon played out a 0-0 draw.
Last October, he was in the middle for Dale’s 2-1 win at Barrow, while in January 2021, Declan oversaw another 2-1 away win, this time at Bristol Rovers.
Two months before that game, Mr Bourne had been at Spotland, where a customary injury-time goal for AFC Wimbledon gave them a 1-0 victory over Brian Barry-Murphy’s hapless Rochdale team.
Declan’s first match at EFL level was Port Vale v Tranmere in the Papa John’s Trophy in September 2020, before he refereed Oldham v Leyton Orient in his debut league fixture.
Saturday will be his 11th appointment this season, with the previous ten producing 41 yellow cards and three reds. Mr Bourne’s last game was AFC Wimbledon v Weymouth in an FA Cup first round replay.