Referee John Brooks will take charge of Dale’s home game versus Shrewsbury on Saturday.

The Leicestershire official is in his third season on the National List and this will be his fifth Dale appointment in that time

We first saw him at Millwall in September 2016 when Dale won 3-2 thanks to a last-minute Ian Henderson penalty, shortly after the home side had been reduced to ten men!

Last season John refereed three Dale matches, all of which ended in draws.

He was in the middle for the 0-0 home draw versus Bury at the end of August in which he sent-off The Shakers’ goalkeeper, Joe Murphy, for handling outside the area.

Surprisingly, Bury managed to get the decision overturned on appeal!

Seven weeks later Brooks refereed our 2-2 draw at Fleetwood in which the home side’s Wes Burns was sent-off for a bad tackle on Callum Camps.

Surprisingly, Fleetwood managed to get the decision overturned on appeal!

We most recently saw him at Scunthorpe just short of a year ago, where Camps scored in the 1-1 draw that gave Dale a crucial point on their way to League One survival. There were no red cards in that match!

Mr Brooks was regarded as one of the EFL’s best referees in his first two seasons on the list and his form and marks saw him promoted to the Select Group 2 band of officials for this campaign.

This means he referees mainly in the Championship, with his last game in the middle being Rotherham v Blackburn a week ago.

John then returned to South Yorkshire on Monday night as the fourth official for the Sheffield derby.

All told this season he has overseen 30 matches, showing 109 yellow cards and five red. Nineteen of his matches have been in the Championship and John also refereed Everton v Lincoln in the third round of the FA Cup.

Prior to joining the National List, Mr Brooks was an assistant referee in the Premier League and for FIFA.

Lining duties took him to Poland (Legia Warsaw v Midtjylland), Greece (PAOK v Borussia Dortmund) and Cyprus (Cyprus v Bosnia), among several other appointments, while in 2016 he was on the line for the FA Cup Final between Manchester United and Crystal Palace.

Photo: Action Images

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