The Football League has now announced the officials that will take charge of the match between Rochdale and Lincoln City in League One.
Rochdale host Lincoln City on Saturday, December 5 for the game at Spotland and the match carries a 3.00pm kick-off.
Referee: Sam Allison.
Assistants Refs: Paul Stonier and Kenwyn Hughes.
Fourth Official: Robert Lewis.
You can discuss this refereeing appointment HERE, as well as many other topics on 100% Imps. We have also published a Lincoln City v Rochdale Quiz, which can be found just below. Every page view helps raise money for Lincoln City Football Club!
Have a go at our Lincoln City v Rochdale Quiz below:
Sam Allison was promoted to the Football League by the Professional Game Match Officials Limited ahead of this season, following four seasons as a referee in the Conference.
He is a former semi-professional player and combines working for the fire service with his career as a referee, which he started in 2011.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Allison said: “For me it’s one of the first times in a long while that I’ve enjoyed the moment, because one of the negatives I have about myself is that I’m so self-critical, as I feel that I want to make such a difference.”
I can relate to what he said about being self-critical. For example, I can come home from work some days and feel like I’ve not done enough that day to make a difference to the lives of others, so I will be annoyed with myself and a bit down for a while, before remembering that tomorrow is another day and opportunity to make a difference.
Sam Allison has been the man in the middle for two matches involving Lincoln City:
11/02/17: Lincoln City 3-2 Woking (Conference) – 3 yellow cards
29/04/17: Southport 1-1 Lincoln City (Conference) – 4 yellow cards
TOTALS: Matches: 2 — Yellow Cards: 7 — Red Cards: 0
He received an average rating of 5.08 following the 1-1 draw away at Southport in April 2017. Some of the comments can be found below:
impsimps: “Little communication with his Linesmen who did nothing really apart from the flag for the obvious, some of which they also got wrong. The free-kick to them which lead to their goal should have been the other way, and one classic, pointed for a free-kick to them and then Lincoln took it!
A bit of a shambles really, 2/10 which may be a bit high.
UTI.”
Red Wimp: “Didn’t notice him majorly although I think he missed a yellow or two so 6.5.
The assistant nearest us I assumed was one of the crowd in fancy dress to be fair.”
Rasenimp: “5 for me.
Not sure he was quite as bad as the 2/10 in comparison to some we’ve had but did a few weird things. There was one particularly terrible decision where Muldoon tried to break and their bloke just wiped him out and fell over, ref indicated they had just crossed. Danny couldn’t believe it and even their staff were laughing.”
Scotimp: “5. Should have been wearing L-plates.”
Sam Allison: 2020/21 Stats:
08/09/20: Exeter City 3-2 Forest Green Rovers (EFL Trophy) – 3 yellow cards
12/09/20: Port Vale 2-0 Crawley Town (League Two) – no cards
03/10/20: Newport County 2-1 Mansfield Town (League Two) – 3 yellow cards
06/10/20: Leyton Orient 2-0 AFC Wimbledon (EFL Trophy) – no cards
10/10/20: Salford City 2-2 Tranmere Rovers (League Two) – 3 yellow cards
20/10/20: Cheltenham Town 1-0 Scunthorpe United (League Two) – 3 yellow cards
24/10/20: Northampton Town 0-2 Charlton Athletic (League One) – 4 yellow cards
31/10/20: Stevenage 0-0 Grimsby Town (League Two) – 2 yellow cards
07/11/20: Colchester United 1-1 Marine (FA Cup) – 4 yellow cards
11/11/20: Milton Keynes Dons 1-2 Southampton U21s (EFL Trophy) – 3 yellow cards
14/11/20: Shrewsbury Town 3-3 Swindon Town (League One) – 4 yellow cards
24/11/20: Leyton Orient 1-0 Bradford City (League Two) – 3 yellow cards
29/11/20: Stevenage 1-1 Hull City (FA Cup) – 4 yellow cards
TOTALS: Matches: 13 — Yellow Cards: 36 — Red Cards: 0
Sam Allison oversaw 15 matches last season, all of which were in the Conference. In those matches, he showed 49 yellow cards and 2 red cards.
He was most card happy in the match between Torquay United and AFC Fylde (2-1), when he showed 6 yellow cards.
Allison was the man in the middle for 17 Conference matches in the 2018/19 season. He showed a total of 64 yellow cards and 3 red cards.
During the 18/19 season, he brandished 7 cards on two occasions: Eastleigh 2-1 Braintree Town (6 yellow cards and 1 red card, including a booking for former Lincoln City defender Andrew Boyce) and Havant & Waterlooville 3-3 Ebbsfleet United (7 yellow cards, including one for former Lincoln City defender Chris Bush).
During the 2017/18 season, Allison took in 19 Conference matches, showing a total of 71 yellow cards and 5 red cards.
He was just a little card happy in the match between Maidstone United and Wrexham (2-1) when he showed 7 yellow cards and 2 red cards.
Sources: The Football League, BBC Sport & Soccer Base.
Rochdale (a): Recently Promoted Referee Appointed:https://t.co/4s8eghFeNu#RAFC #ImpsAsOne #ProudToBeImps pic.twitter.com/U5oYNwkGDo
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln1) December 3, 2020
