Graham Poll was a highly respected referee before the world cup; took years to get himself to the highest ranks of officialdom in the football world, and one game to destroy it all.
Referee Graham Poll has indicated that abuse from fans over his blunder at he 2006 World Cup has lead to him quitting as a referee.
Poll famously awarded Croatian defender Josip Simunic three yellow cards yet failed to dismiss him until the third card was dealt out.
I've been unable to disassociate myself with that," the 43-year-old official told the BBC's Inside Sport.
The Tring official has hit back at Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho over an alleged disrespectful comment aimed at him and Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson.
Whilst Poll has not openly revealed the exact nature of the comment his disgust was evident.
"He knows what he said to me and it was just absolutely disgraceful. I was that shocked to hear it and he knew he had gone too far. That's why he sent himself off before I had the opportunity to do so."
The comment came as the latest incident involving Chelsea and Poll after Chelsea skipper John Terry was sent off during The Blues November defeat to Tottenham.
"If I was wrong to send John Terry off, then I was wrong and it was a genuine mistake," he said.
"But the implication behind all this is that I went out with an agenda to teach Chelsea a lesson and show them some discipline. The implication that I am not impartial hurts more than anything."
Poll also indicated feeling upset after the fallout of his mistake at Germany 2006.
"People ask how on earth you are a referee, why do you do it and doesn't it hurt you when you have 60,000 fans chanting at you 'the referee is a w*****?'," added Poll.
"Well what we do is disassociate ourselves with that, that's not Graham Poll, they don't know who Graham Poll is, it's 'the referee is a w*****' or 'who's the B****** in the black?"
"It's not a personal thing, it doesn't affect me. This season the chant from the home fans - 95% of the spectators - for me is 'World Cup and you've f***** it up'."
"That is difficult to ignore because you know it's true, but that's been something this season which has been difficult for me. That clearly affects my enjoyment of refereeing that game and takes your concentration away from key decisions."
Always thought Poll was a good referee but he had a shocker in the Australia v Croatia game.
It was a monumental mistake - he made it - not the fans he is complaining about.
Just imagine if Simunic had scored the winner for Croatia after receiving two yellow cards. It would have been a huge and embarrassing mess for FIFA and the World Cup.
If there is anyone Poll should be pointing the finger at it is FIFA. The World Cup showed that the game is getting extremely demanding on the one referee - they are struggling to keep up with the increasing speed and physical demands of the game. Referees need better support from FIFA during the World Cup- at a minimum they need to make use of technology to assist the referee.
Platini's idea of having 2 extra referees - one at the each end of the field for the goalmouth action might have some merit for the big international and European matches.
admin wrote:Always thought Poll was a good referee but he had a shocker in the Australia v Croatia game.
It was a monumental mistake - he made it - not the fans he is complaining about.
Just imagine if Simunic had scored the winner for Croatia after receiving two yellow cards. It would have been a huge and embarrassing mess for FIFA and the World Cup.
If there is anyone Poll should be pointing the finger at it is FIFA. The World Cup showed that the game is getting extremely demanding on the one referee - they are struggling to keep up with the increasing speed and physical demands of the game. Referees need better support from FIFA during the World Cup- at a minimum they need to make use of technology to assist the referee.
Platini's idea of having 2 extra referees - one at the each end of the field for the goalmouth action might have some merit for the big international and European matches.
Anyway this is just some thoughts.
what are you on about admin? The guy is a muppet, all referees are muppets. How does the pace of the game stop him from realising he has given two yellows out. 2 extra referees is a joke, this aint aussie rules where they just swamp the ground with these muppets. If you want correct decisions you simple put one muppet referee in a box watching the tv to make all the decisions and another muppet referee being a puppet and following orders.
you're an absolute spanner (only cos i feel restained from calling you what i really think). referees stuff up occassionally, but you rarely hear about them having a good game. poll was a good referee, he stuffed up royally but then again it happens to everyone. evne collina was booed at the champions league final despite having a decent game...
for every 100 footballers there is 1 referee, and i bet there are more good referees for that ratio than there are good players.... and thats coming from a player
Funny because when he announced his retirement he said it was nothing to do with the abuse he recieved, now he's changed his mind.
He's one of the last of the old school refs. He wasn't the robot that modern refs are made to be. Mark Shields does everything FIFA tell him to do, Poll didn't.
How many games did Poll referee and he made how many mistakes? Not that many (all be it one very high profile one). Referees make mistakes, players make mistakes. End of story.
Cry me a river Graham Poll
He stuffed up and as u said he's only human but when u referee at that level u are responsible for the decisions u make. He should have realised he gave Siminic three yellows. If u cant deal with the pressure of refereeing such a high profile game then u shouldnt be there. End of story.
Just thought I'd also add that the whole thing with Terry was a joke too.
zola wrote:Cry me a river Graham Poll
He stuffed up and as u said he's only human but when u referee at that level u are responsible for the decisions u make. He should have realised he gave Siminic three yellows. If u cant deal with the pressure of refereeing such a high profile game then u shouldnt be there. End of story.
Just thought I'd also add that the whole thing with Terry was a joke too.
i agree....why do ref's have a book??? so they write down who they booked!!!!! how the shiraz didn't he realise that he booked Simunic three times
zola wrote:Cry me a river Graham Poll
He stuffed up and as u said he's only human but when u referee at that level u are responsible for the decisions u make. He should have realised he gave Siminic three yellows. If u cant deal with the pressure of refereeing such a high profile game then u shouldnt be there. End of story.
Just thought I'd also add that the whole thing with Terry was a joke too.
Sour grapes mate???
Oh thats right cos if u won that game, U may of had a chance to catch UNITED!!!!
I still believe Poll is and always was a great referee, But Colina Was the BEST
Randoman wrote: referees stuff up occassionally, but you rarely hear about them having a good game. poll was a good referee, he stuffed up royally but then again it happens to everyone. evne collina was booed at the champions league final despite having a decent game...
for every 100 footballers there is 1 referee, and i bet there are more good referees for that ratio than there are good players.... and thats coming from a player
Agreed.
Shame really, one major stuff up and that is all he is remember for. Very young to be retiring, 43.
He will be laughing all the way to the bank. I heard hes got a job with Sky or BBC now, and dont forget 'Im a joke so I will write a book about it' thing that is becoming the standard these days.
speaking of Ref's, what ever happened to Pierluigi Collina...i remember reading that although he was at the finishing age his good record and massive popularity meant the FIGC wanted to give him another 2 years in refereeing SerieA and the UCL...
Having Refereed [amateurs only] it is the easiest thing in the world to stuff up, players do it every 5 minutes, bad ball here bad ball there, missed chances by strikers, fumbles by the keepers.............BUT at the highest level we expect Referees not to stuff up, Poll wasn't the worse referee we had in the world cup, I think the guy that did the Japan game made more errors, look at the challenge on Mark S that lead to their goal, now that could have stuffed up our whole WC campaign had it not been for our true fighting spirit and class.
So no I don't think Graham Poll is a tosser and that as mere humans we are allowed to make mistakes and move on from them.
Sorry to see him go actually and YES I am a Chelsea supporter.
Blue is the color, football is the game.
2006/2007 EPL runner up
2006/2007 Champions League Semi-Finalist
2006/2007 FA Cup winners
2006/2007 League Cup winners
and still considered 2006/2007 to be an un-successful season
what really must be said is why did the linesmen and the 4th official not bring it to poll's attention? poll has 1000 other things to worry about, but the linesmen and particularly the 4th official should have worked it out rather than spending 45 minutes working out how many minutes to show on the board...
43 to be retiring? not that old, i think they're not able to ref past 45 (ish)...
Randoman wrote:what really must be said is why did the linesmen and the 4th official not bring it to poll's attention? poll has 1000 other things to worry about, but the linesmen and particularly the 4th official should have worked it out rather than spending 45 minutes working out how many minutes to show on the board...
43 to be retiring? not that old, i think they're not able to ref past 45 (ish)...
Yes, I always wondered what the Assistant Referees were doing at the time, they obviously weren't offering assistance
Fred Goldstone wrote:The ref could ask the 4th official for confirmation of an incident he was unsure of and it would solve a number of problems.
NO WAY!!!
Mistakes happen, things get missed but they generally even out over a season or a tournament. What would we all talk about in the pub if they brought in video refs.
The only thing they should be used for it retrospective. Players dive then a retrospective booking, violent conduct retrospectively as well. BUT don't take the ability for the 90 minutes away from the man in black (or yellow, green, pink, purple or whatever he's wearing these days).
Hawksey, my point was that we should adopt a system similar to Rugby League where trys (or goals in our case) that the referee was not 100% sure of, or where he suspects there may have been an illegal incident, can be reviewed by the 4th official.
