Sikh brothers to make history in Bristol vs Nottingham match

Sikh brothers Bhups and Sunny Singh Gill will make English Football League history this weekend when they become the first pair of British South Asians to officiate in the same Championship match.

Bhups and Sunny, sons of the first turbaned Sikh to referee in the English Football League, Jarnail Singh, will be part of the officiating quartet for Saturday’s game between Bristol City and Nottingham Forest.

The match takes place on April 10, ahead of the spring harvest festival of Vaisakhi early next week. Vaisakhi is widely celebrated in India and beyond, and is Sikhism’s most important festival.

Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) – the body responsible for appointing match officials across the EFL – have confirmed Bhups as one of two assistant referees for the Championship clash at Ashton Gate, with Sunny named fourth official.

PE teacher Bhupinder, 36, started refereeing in his mid-teens and is England’s highest-ranked South Asian assistant referee. Sunny, 37, is a prison officer at HMP Feltham and started refereeing at 15. He is the most senior British South Asian referee in the country.

Their appointments come a day after English football history was made on Easter Monday when Rebecca Welch refereed the League Two clash between Harrogate Town and Port Vale, becoming the first woman to referee a full EFL match.

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Dermot Gallagher says all referee Rebecca Welch’s hard work is paying off after she earned plaudits for her handling of her first-ever EFL match  Harrogate Town vs Port Vale on Easter Monday

The Berkshire brothers have both officiated in the Championship this season but have so far yet to be part of the same game in the division.