Dan Ballard was sent off in the first half of Sunderland’s Premier League game against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux, but the reason for his sending off has now been explained.
Dan Ballard was sent off in Sunderland vs. Wolves.
Sunderland star Dan Ballard has become the latest Premier League player to be sent off for hair pulling.
The defender was caught pulling Wolves’ Tolu Arokodea’s hair against Molineux on Saturday. Ballard initially remained on the pitch, but was sent off after referee Paul Tierney confirmed the incident on the VAR screen.
A statement on the incident read: “Following a VAR review, the referee gave Ballard a red card for violent conduct.”The referee’s statement read: “As a result of the review, the Sunderland No. 5 was clearly pulling the hair of a Wolves player.The final decision was a red card for violent conduct.”
Despite the decision going their way, Wolves fans, who have long made their feelings on VAR known, echoed it again, shouting things like “It’s boring” and “It’s not football anymore.”
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Ballard’s sending off is the second time this season that a player has been sent off for pulling Arocadea’s hair, after Everton’s Michael Keane was given a red in January.
The topic of hair removal has been gaining particular attention in recent weeks. Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez was recently sent off for similar behavior towards Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
United manager Michael Carrick was furious at the decision. He told Sky Sports: “It wasn’t a tug, a pull, it wasn’t aggressive. He just touched it and got sent off. The worst part is that he was sent off to cover it up as a clear mistake. It’s shocking.”
“It made him lose his balance and he touched half the back of his hair and it pulled his bob down and it looked like this – I don’t even know what that looks like.
Ballard was sent off after a VAR review (Image: Getty Images)
“It’s the second game in a row that the decision went against us, and that game was one of the worst I’ve ever seen.”
The Football Association’s disciplinary committee reviewed the incident and explained: “Given the broader interests of the football community, ‘hair-pulling’ behavior should not be tolerated and should be deterred by consistent discipline.” However, he acknowledged that other forms of violence “carry a much higher risk of harm to the other person.”
In fact, Calvert-Lewin recently escaped his own dismissal when he was seen grabbing Marc Cucurella’s hair during Leeds’ FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea. VAR investigated the incident but did not consider the striker’s actions to warrant a sending off.
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