FA probes alleged discriminatory remark to referee

Sunny Singh Gill became the first British South Asian referee in the Premier League in March 2024 [shutterstock]

The Football Association is set to investigate an alleged discriminatory remark made towards referee Sunny Singh Gill during Solihull Moors' National League game with Boston United on Saturday.

Gill took both teams off the field shortly after Solihull's Conor Wilkinson was shown a straight red card in the 66th minute.

An FA spokesperson said: "We are aware of an alleged incident of discrimination towards the referee during the National League match between Solihull Moors and Boston United.

"We are taking this matter very seriously and will review the details of the match official's report before taking the appropriate action."

A spokesperson for refereeing body PGMOL added: "We are offering our full support to the referee following an alleged discriminatory comment directed towards him during the National League match between Solihull Moors and Boston United.

"The referee will submit his match report and we will work closely with the FA on this extremely important and concerning matter."

Play was halted for around 20 minutes, with the score at 0-0, before the teams re-emerged to finish the match. Boston scored three times in the final 23 minutes to win 3-0.

Solihull Moors manager Chris Millington's post-match interview implied it was one of his team's players who had been accused of making the comment.

Speaking to the club's social media, he said: "There's been an accusation made against a player who isn't ever going to be guilty of that type of behaviour, and who definitely isn't based on the weight of evidence supplied by our players and the opposition players, who all tell a very different story to the one that the referee believed to be true."

Boston boss Paul Hurst, meanwhile, also suggested the incident may have been a case of a remark being misheard.

"The assistant has heard [a player] say a word and I think he has come up with the wrong word," Hurst told the Non-League Paper. "I don't believe that was said and that's from numerous people out there."