Dermot Gallagher condemns Portsmouth racism incident v Oxford United live on Sky Sports

Dermot Gallagher has joined forces with Portsmouth and Oxford United in condemning the racist comment which was reported at Fratton Park on Saturday [5 October].

The former Premier League referee discussed the matter live on Sky Sports on Monday [7 October, 11:37am] after the game was stopped during the 77th minute, as the assistant referee reported a remark from the North Stand Lower.

Portsmouth Football Club and the police are cooperating to investigate the matter and have appealed for any information from supporters who were present at the 1-1 draw on the South Coast.

Gallagher said: "The first thing to say is that this is totally out of order. You can’t have this. Zero tolerance. Once it is reported to the referee, he goes and sees the match commander, reports it and asks for it to be identified.

"If they can identify the area, contain it, and then hopefully that will get rid of it. If it doesn’t get rid of it then you escalate it up to the point where, if it goes to be far and it can’t be sorted, you end up with the game abandoned.

"That is the last resort, which you don’t want."

Portsmouth and police investigating racism incident

The first thing to be re-laid on the matter is again to echo what both clubs and Gallagher have said.

There is a zero-tolerance approach to any kind of discrimination both in football, and in our city of Portsmouth.

Bhupinder Singh Gill, of a South Asian ethnic background, was the assistant referee at whom the comment was directed. Now, all hope is that the investigation can be resolved as efficiently as possible and a justified punishment is issued to the individual involved.

Singh Gill made history in January 2023 as the first Sikh-Punjabi to be part of an officiating team in the Premier League, when he was an assistant referee in the match between Southampton and Nottingham Forest [ESPN, 4 January 2023].

He comes from a strong refereeing family, with his brother Sunny becoming the first British South Asian to take charge of a Premier League fixture in March this year after leading Crystal Palace against Luton Town [ESPN, 4 March].

Their father Jarnail was a long-time referee, too, having made history as the first English league referee to wear a turban.

Portsmouth are working with supporters present at the game to gather information to help with the investigation.

Supporters are being asked to email any details to info@pompeyfc.co.uk, while the Hampshire Police can be contacted on 101 – quoting the crime reference number ‘44240432868’.

In other Portsmouth news, the women's team score their first league goal but are defeated again.

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