Sunderland go into the weekend’s round of fixtures in the Championship desperate to bounce back with a win after the defeat against Leeds United, with Hull City standing in their way.
The Black Cats were gutted to lose the game on Monday night in the dying moments, with the result arguably seeing Sunderland fall away from the title race once and for all.
Regis Le Bris’ side are now having to get back on track as soon as possible to ensure they don’t see their hopes of automatic promotion ended, too.
Championship experts believe Sunderland will beat Hull on Saturday, but there’s sure to be a few eyes on the referee for the game after he caused some controversy in his recent outings.
Who is the referee for Sunderland vs Hull City?
Farai Hallam has been appointed as the referee for the upcoming fixture.
He will be assisted by Andrew Fox and Blake Antrobus, while Lewis Smith will be the fourth official on the day.
Farai Hallam referee record explained
Interestingly, Farai Hallam has barely refereed in the Championship (five games), and is more often than not delegated to games in League One (six games) and League Two (seven games).
So far this season, he’s shown one red card, which came in the second tier clash between Swansea and Luton, with Joe Johnson picking up two yellows for the Hatters.
| Statistics | Farai Hallam (2024/25) |
| Games | 18 |
| Yellow cards | 61 |
| Yellow cards per game | 3.39 |
| Red cards | 1 |
| Penalties awarded | 2 |
| Fouls per game | 24.56 |
| Fouls per tackle | 0.68 |
Hallam has brandished 61 yellow cards, at an average of 3.39 per game, which is slightly on the lower-to-average side compared to other referees.
He has awarded just two penalties this season, which is also on the lower side. One was given to Sheffield United in their win over Plymouth Argyle, and another was given to Birmingham City in their recent win over Rotherham — more on that one in a moment.
Farai Hallam criticised by two managers in the last month
It’s safe to say Farai Hallam is not the most popular referee at the moment, having upset not one but two managers within the last month alone.
First of all, John Mousinho insisted Hallam was responsible for Portsmouth’s defeat to Blackburn Rovers in mid-January, after refusing to award a penalty to Pompey despite his assistant suggesting there should be a spot-kick.
Speaking to Portsmouth News after that 3-0 defeat, Mousinho said: “You probably saw from my reaction, I knew it was a penalty at the time. Pears comes out, Callum Lang gets the ball ahead of him – and Pears just takes him out. I can’t understand why it’s not given. I’ve just spoken to the referee and had his explanation, I’m not happy with it.
“I go in and speak to referees after games and most of the time give them honest feedback and qualify anything I say, such as by no means was it the referee’s fault that we lost or they didn’t have an influence over the result. That wasn’t the case today – the referee’s decision did cost us the game.”
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Then speaking after his Rotherham side lost to Birmingham City in League One, Steve Evans revealed he had already asked for an experienced referee to control the game, and was ‘disappointed’ that Hallam may not have been up to the task after awarding the Blues a controversial penalty to win it late on.
Evans said: “It’s not a penalty is it? I understand the player goes down and tries to get a penalty in that situation. Before the game, before I’d even seen the officials, I requested an experienced, strong referee who can handle this when they are going for promotion.
“It’s a fervent atmosphere here, so you need a strong referee that is going to stand strong, particularly when they are attacking the home end. That’s the end where they get the penalty. There’s probably 15,000 up there screaming ‘Penalty’ and it’s human nature.”
Let’s hope for none of that on Saturday, as the fans in the Stadium of Light will be livid if any dodgy decisions cost them the game.