Sam Purkiss will referee Dale’s vitally important relegation six-pointer at Crawley on Saturday.

The London official is in his fourth season on the National List and this will be his fourth Dale appointment.

We first saw him at Burton in October 2020, where Matty Lund scored in our 1-0 win, while in November 2021 he was in the middle at the Bescot Stadium for Dale’s 0-0 draw with Walsall.

Earlier this season, Sam refereed our 3-0 defeat at Northampton.

Promoted from the National League at the end of the 2018/19 campaign, Mr Purkiss began his EFL life at Exeter v Macclesfield in August 2019.

He has continued to referee throughout League One and League Two since then, with several EFL Cup, EFL Trophy and FA Cup ties thrown in for good measure.

This season Sam has overseen 26 matches, which have yielded 97 yellow cards and ten reds. His most recent appointment was Sheffield Wednesday v Bolton last Friday night, which is one of several games he has refereed in the north, including Tranmere v Barrow, Hartlepool v Harrogate (FA Cup) and Accrington v Lincoln.

An interesting aside is that away from football, Mr Purkiss is a lawyer with the firm Harbottle & Lewis. One of his most well-known cases was acting for England cricketer Alex Hales in the disciplinary proceedings brought against him by the ECB in relation to the much-publicised incident in Bristol and social media posts.

Photo: Action Images

Rochdale Polls