A kick-off to history: English Premier League gets its first Indian-origin referee

When Sunny Singh Gill blows the whistle at London’s Selhurst Park Stadium on Saturday, he will become the first person of South Asian origin to referee a match in the English Premier League. And in doing so, the 39-year-old will be carrying forward the family legacy.

Sunny’s appointment to officiate the match between Crystal Palace and Luton Town was announced Tuesday by the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), which appoints referees for Premier League games.

While the game itself might not be a marquee clash for a majority of football followers beyond those of the two clubs, for the Gills, from Iver near London, it’ll be a moment for generations.

Sunny is the elder of the two sons of Jarnail Singh Gill, 62, who remains the only referee to have worn a turban in the English Football League or EFL, the division below the Premier League.

“It’s a very proud moment not just for the family or me but the whole Sikh and Asian and Indian community in England,” Jarnail told The Indian Express.

“Many of us will be seeing one of our own officiating as a referee at the highest level of football in England.”

The Gills are trailblazers of sorts when it comes to people of Indian descent officiating in English football. The family has its roots in Kokri Beniwal village near Moga in Punjab and moved to England when Jarnail was just three.

At 20, Jarnail officiated his first local league game and it wasn’t before long that he discontinued his mechanical engineering diploma to join a cab rental service at Heathrow Airport. Then for five years, he worked with the Metropolitan Police before returning to his passion — refereeing, which he did 150 EFL matches until 2011.

Sunny’s brother, Bhupinder, is also a referee. In fact, the