Who is referee Sunny Singh Gill? Premier League’s first British South Asian official
SUNNY SINGH GILL is making Premier League history at Selhurst Park this weekend.
The 39-year-old will become the first British South Asian to referee a match in the Prem when he takes charge of Crystal Palace vs Luton.
Who is referee Sunny Singh Gill?
Sunny Singh Gill is a football referee who took charge of his first Sunday League match aged only 17.
Now 39, he had also worked as a prison officer alongside refereeing matches in the EFL.
The whistler had made history earlier this year when he became the first British South Asian to referee a game between two Premier League teams for for Brighton’s FA Cup fourth-round win at Sheffield United in January.
Though he has TWO other history-making referees in his own family.
His father Jarnail is still the first and only English Football League referee to wear a turban, taking charge of 150 matches between 2004 and 2010.
And his brother Bhupinder became the first Sikh-Punjabi to serve as a Premier League assistant ref when he worked as the linesman in Nottingham Forest’s 1-0 win at Southampton in January 2023.
Sunny told EFL.com: “Football has always run in the family. Me and my brother grew up loving the game and like most young kids, we just wanted to play.
“But in our household it was a bit different because when we were going to primary school, we knew our dad was going out to referee on a weekend.
“There were times he was a fourth official in the Premier League and our friends would say they saw him on Match of the Day!”