Dale’s first away game of 2021 on Tuesday will be officiated by a headline writer’s dream in the shape of Leicestershire referee Trevor Kettle.

References to whistling and things boiling over are sure to surface, especially if Mr Kettle grabs the headlines as he has been prone to do down the years.

He joined the league list in 2003 and one of his first appointments was Dale’s fine 3-1 win at Torquay in which Robert Betts scored twice and Michael Simpkins was sent-off.

Later that term Trevor was the referee for the famous ‘goose game’ at Scunthorpe, where the invading bird was one of the few performers on the pitch not to be shown a yellow card — Mr Kettle ridiculously booking 11 players having made a rod for his own back early in the match.

However, as time has gone on, Trevor appears to be mellowing and although he can still produce random penalties and red cards on the EFL Highlights shows, these are less frequent than in the past.

Kettle’s most recent Dale appointment was in November 2019 when he refereed our 0-0 FA Cup draw at Wrexham and the full list of his Dale games is:

Aug 03 Torquay v Rochdale W 3-1
Apr 04 Scunthorpe v Rochdale D 2-2
Oct 06 Rochdale v Stockport L 1-3
Feb 09 Rochdale v Grimsby W 2-0
Jan 12 Rochdale v Preston D 1-1
Oct 12 Rochdale v Oxford W 2-0
Apr 14 Mansfield v Rochdale L 0-3
Jan 15 Rochdale v Crawley W 4-1
Dec 15 Rochdale v Colchester W 3-1
Nov 16 Gillingham v Rochdale L 0-3
Mar 18 Rochdale v Fleetwood L 0-2
Sep 18 Sunderland v Rochdale L 1-4
Aug 19 Rochdale v Doncaster D 1-1
Nov 19 Wrexham v Rochdale (FAC) D 0-0

Mr Kettle has refereed 15 matches this season, in which he showed 38 yellow cards and two red.

Photo: Action Images

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