Sunny Singh Gill is all set to become part of history books by becoming the first British South Asian to officiate a Premier League match this weekend. The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) has declared that Singh Gill take charge of Crystal Palace vs. Luton Town on Saturday.
Earlier this year, Sunny created history by officiating a match between two Premier League teams as the first British South Asian. In January, he was in charge as Brighton rallied to victory against Sheffield United in the FA Cup fourth round.
Bhupinder, Sunny’s brother, created history at the start of the previous year when he became the first Sikh-Punjabi assistant referee to officiate in the Premier League. Sunny had earned promotion to the EFL’s national group of match referees six months ago.
At the age of just 17, Sunny officiated his first Sunday league game. In April 2021, he and Bhupinder made history by being the first two British South Asians to officiate in the same Championship game.
When their father, Jarnail Singh, officiated Bristol Rovers vs. Bury in August 2004, he became the first official in the EFL to do so while sporting a turban. Singh senior continued to officiate nearly 200 EFL games until 2010.