Sunderland star becomes latest Premier League player to be sent off for pulling hair

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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'.

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 told Sky Sports .

"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.

"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."

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.

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