Dan Ballard was sent off during the first half of Sunderland’s Premier League clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux and it has now been explained why he was dismissed
15:35, 02 May 2026Updated 15:50, 02 May 2026
Dan Ballard was sent off during Sunderland’s clash with Wolves
Sunderland star Dan Ballard has become the latest Premier League player to be sent off for pulling hair.
The defender was caught pulling the hair of Wolves‘ Tolu Arokodare at Molineux on Saturday. Initially, Ballard stayed on the pitch but was dismissed after referee Paul Tierney reviewed the incident via the VAR screen.
A statement about the incident read: “After VAR review, the referee issued a red card to Ballard for violent conduct. Referee announcement: ‘After review, Sunderland 5 clearly pulls the hair of the Wolves player. Final decision is red card, violent conduct.'”
Despite the decision going their way, Wolves fans, who have long made their feelings clear about VAR, did so again, chanting ‘boring’ and ‘it’s not football anymore’.
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Ballard’s sending off also marks the second time this season that a player has been sent off for pulling Arokadare’s hair after Michael Keane was shown red for Everton back in January.
The topic of hair-pulling has become a particularly prominent talking point over recent weeks. Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez was recently sent off for a similar offence on Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
United boss Michael Carrick was left incensed at that decision. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “It’s not a pull, it’s not a tug, it’s not aggressive, he touches it and gets sent off. Worst of all is he was sent to overturn it as a clear and obvious error. It’s shocking.
“He’s off-balance because of that, he half touches the back of his hair which pulls the bobble out and leads it to look like – I don’t even know what it looks like.
Ballard was sent off after a VAR review(Image: Getty Images)
“That’s two games in a row we’ve had those decisions go against us, but that one was one of the worst I’ve seen.”
A Football Association disciplinary panel looked at the incident and explained that “in the wider interests of football ‘hair pulling’ ought not to be tolerated and should be discouraged through consistent punishment.” They did however concede that other forms of violent conduct “carry a much higher risk of harm to an opponent”.
Calvert-Lewin actually escaped a dismissal of his own recently, having been seen grabbing Marc Cucurella’s hair in Leeds’ FA Cup semi final with Chelsea. VAR took a look at the incident but did not deem the striker’s actions to be worthy of a dismissal.
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