Carl Boyeson is the man in the middle, but over the years he has proved himself to be one of the least popular referees among Dale fans.

However, we have seen Mr Boyeson twice in recent seasons when his performances have been more acceptable.

Our last encounter with him was at Morecambe in October 2008 for a game which ended 1-1.

He had also turned up at Bradford earlier that year, where we were too busy laughing at Matt Clarke’s own goal and Alfie’s last minute winner to notice much about the referee’s display.

He was due to take charge of the home match with Rotherham a month ago, but was replaced at the 11th hour by Steve Tanner.

This will be Mr Boyeson’s 12th game in charge of Dale since joining the league list in 2002 and his full record is:

31 August 2002 Rochdale v Southend U D3 Lost 1-2
21 January 2003 Rochdale v Lincoln C D3 Lost 0-1
03 January 2005 Notts Co v Rochdale L2 Drew 0-0
09 April 2005 Rochdale v Leyton Orient L2 Won 2-0
23 August 2005 Rochdale v Bradford C CC Lost 0-5
25 April 2006 Rochdale v Barnet L2 Drew 1-1
30 September 2006 Rochdale v Shrewsbury T L2 Drew 1-1
15 December 2006 Hartlepool U v Rochdale L2 Lost 0-1
2 October 2007 Darlington v Rochdale L2 Drew 1-1
16 February 2008 Bradford C v Rochdale L2 Won 2-1
18 October 2008 Morecambe v Rochdale L2 Drew 1-1

Up to Saturday, when he was due to referee Oldham v Gillingham, Carl had officiated at 28 games this season, showing 55 yellow cards and five red.

One of those matches was Bournemouth’s 2-0 win at Darlington in September.

Refworld Profile: http://www.refworld.com/referee/128/1

Some famous Carls

Karl Kennedy
Karl Douglas
Carl Cavanah
Carlisle
Carl Harris
Carl Parker
Carl Hooper