Sunny Singh Gill will become the first British South Asian to referee a Premier
League match this weekend.
Singh Gill has been appointed to take charge of Crystal Palace vs Luton on Saturday, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) has announced.
At the turn of last year, Sky Sports News broke the news that Sunny’s brother Bhupinder was going to make history as the first Sikh-Punjabi assistant referee to officiate in the Premier League.
Six months earlier, it was revealed that Sunny had earned promotion to the EFL’s national group of match referees.
Sunny took charge of his first Sunday league match aged only 17, and in April 2021, became the first pair of British South Asians to officiate in the same Championship match.
His father, Jarnail Singh, was the first EFL referee to wear a turban when he took charge of Bristol Rovers vs Bury in August 2004. Singh senior went on to referee almost 200 EFL matches up to 2010.
Reflecting on the news, Jarnail told Sky Sports News: “Every father’s dream is to see their children go and be better and do better than themselves.
“As a family we couldn’t be more proud of Sunny, and also his younger brother Bhupinder who became the first Sikh to become an assistant referee in the Premier League at the beginning of last year.
Jarnail Singh flanked by sons Bhupinder Singh Gill (R) and Sunny Singh Gill (L)
“For Sunny to become both the first British South Asian and the first Sikh to referee in the Premier League is something extraordinary and unbelievable. You just cannot put into words.”
In an interview published on the Premier League’s website last month, Sunny Singh Gill said: “You want the younger generation to look at you and think ‘I can also do it’.
“If parents are looking at us thinking, ‘Wow, we have Asian kids in the Premier League officiating games, my son can give that a go, my daughter can give that a go’.
In August 2022 Singh Gill took charge of his first EFL match, a League Two fixture between Northampton and Hartlepool.
He has already refereed 10 matches in the Sky Bet Championship so far this season.
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