Premier League referee Simon Hooper will be officiating the friendly between Swindon Town and Swindon Supermarine this weekend.
As Town and Marine get their pre-season schedules started this weekend with the traditional opening friendly between the two Swindon clubs, there will be a high level of officiating.
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The match will kick off at 12 pm on July 4 at the Imagine Cruising Stadium as both clubs play their first friendlies.
For the second straight year, Hooper, who has been part of the Professional Game Match Officials Select Group since 2018, will be refereeing the match between two clubs from his home town.
Hooper is one of two Premier League referees who support Swindon Town, along with Graham Scott, who was born in Oxford.
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The 44-year-old officiated the match last year, and was generally quite lenient, having not carded Tom Nichols as he chopped down Frankie Monk as he was racing through on the halfway line.
Whilst Bobby Wilkinson will be bedding in a number of new signings in the game, as he looks to build upon a strong end to last season, Ian Holloway has said that he intends to field two separate teams during the match, with them getting 45 minutes each.
Town only returned to training at the start of this week and will head for Alicante on July 6, and are still building up the fitness of the squad.
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A number of trialists are set to be part of the group, with Holloway looking to give them an opportunity to stake a claim to be in his squad moving forward.
Whilst the match occurs slightly earlier in the schedule than he would have preferred, largely due to the trip to Spain, the former Blackpool boss is very excited about the occasion.
He said: “It is a community exercise. What I want to do is embrace our football club, our brand, our community and make sure that the community is getting a much better experience than it has for a while.
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“I can’t guarantee results, I’ll try, because I think that’ll help, but I want my players belonging to that community, understanding the community, and being part of it. And I think Supermarine is a part of that.
“If you want to come along and you want to see everybody that we’ve got, please come along and do that. It’s a wonderful day.
“Hopefully, the weather will be nice; it is a fantastic venue. I’m very jealous of the venue.”
