Meet The Ref - Rochdale v Latics

 Latics face Rochdale over at Spotland on Saturday in League One, taking charge of his first Wigan Athletic game in over six years is Wakefield based official, Bobby Madley.

 

Bobby Madley

Madley rose quickly through the ranks and became one of the youngest ref’s to make it to the top, when in April 2013, aged just 27, he took charge of the Premier League game between Southampton and West Brom, this came less than two years after he made his debut in the Football League in the Preston v Notts County League One game in August 2011.

 

The 2013/14 season saw Bobby make it to the Select Group of referees and officiate in five top flight games, though he ended the campaign in the bottom tier with a League 2 encounter between Burton and Chesterfield.

 

In a recent interview Bobby explained how he got into refereeing:

 

 ‘I had played for a Championship team’s School of Excellence and didn’t quite make the grade. I returned to playing for my local junior team, Ossett Town, but had become a little disillusioned with the game.

 

‘I was advised to take the referees course which I did, along with my brother Andy who came to keep me company. I was 16 when I took the course and at 23 I was promoted onto the Premier League as an Assistant Referee.

 

Previous Games

 

Madley has taken charge of three Latics games previously, in January 2013 he was in  charge of our 3^rd round FA Cup tie against Bournemouth which ended 1:1 and of course was the start of our historic run to win the competition.

 

He also took charge of two games in the 2014/15 season, our 1:0 defeat away at Cardiff in August, and our 1:2 away win at Derby in October.

 

Following an incident in 2018, Madley was sacked by the PGMOL, however he was allowed back into the English game in February 2020, initially at grassroots level and subsequently onto the National List for the start of the 2020/21 season.

 

Bobby Madley Card Watch 2020/21

Games – 13

Yellows – 41

Reds – 0

 

Rochdale v Wigan Athletic
Referee - Bobby Madley
Assistants – Lisa Rashid and Paul Graham
Fourth Official - Simon Clayton