Darren Handley is the referee for Dale’s crucial League Two relegation encounter at Hartlepool on Saturday.

The Bolton official is in his ninth season on the National List and this is his 11th Dale appointment as the man in the middle.

The first of those games was in February 2016 when Darren took charge of a 1-0 midweek win over Fleetwood, while in the following summer he refereed Dale’s 1-1 friendly draw with Blackburn.

In November 2016 he oversaw a fine 4-0 thrashing of Swindon, which was followed in July 2017 by a 2-0 win for Dale in a pre-season friendly against Middlesbrough.

In November 2017, Darren was back as referee for the Checkatrade Trophy tie against Doncaster, which Dale won on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

He refereed friendlies at home to Hull in the summer of 2018 and against Bradford 12 months later, although torrential rain and a waterlogged pitch saw Mr Handley abandon that game at half-time.

In September 2019, Darren was in the middle for Dale’s 3-0 home defeat to Wycombe and in August 2020, he refereed our 4-1 pre-season win at Atherton Collieries.

More recently, Handley was at the Crown Oil Arena in September for the 1-0 win over Liverpool U21 in the Papa John’s Trophy.

Promoted from the Conference list at the end of the 2013/14 season, Darren’s first league appointment was Oxford United v Burton Albion.

He has officiated mainly in the bottom two divisions since then, as well as a handful of Championship fixtures in 2015/16.

Saturday will only be Darren’s 11th game of an injury-hit season and his ten appointments to date have seen 41 yellow cards and three reds.

Photo: Action Images

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