Dave Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Tonight at 11.05pm on BBC1. Followed him for the last nine months of his referreeing career, should be interesting. Heard some snippets this morning on the radio. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6717887.stm Personal abuse forced Poll to go Graham Poll says abuse from fans over his World Cup blunder influenced his decision to quit as a football referee. Poll failed to dismiss Croatia's Josip Simunic until he had shown him three yellow cards at the 2006 tournament. "I've been unable to disassociate myself with that," the 43-year-old official told the BBC's Inside Sport. Poll also accused Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho of "an unrepeatable and disgraceful personal comment," about him and Sir Alex Ferguson. Although Poll has not revealed the details of Mourinho's comment, he added: "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." That episode was the latest in a series involving Chelsea who remain aggrieved that Poll controversially sent off skipper John Terry in November's defeat at 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." And Poll also revealed continued fall-out from the Simunic error in the World Cup group match between Croatia and Australia had hurt him. "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. Got to admit the bit in bold made me laugh. Mourinho must have said they were bumming or something. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Poll really lost it this year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest graemeh72 Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 So was this programme planned as a year in the life of Poll, which then turned into the last year of Poll or was his retirement planned all along? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Not sure when he announced his retirement, whether it was after the World Cup or what. I'm sure Paul will enlighten us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Graham Poll hogging the limelight again tbh. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 More background to the programme here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6716997.stm Just on the three bookings thing, don't the refs mark the actual yellow card any more? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 More background to the programme here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6716997.stm Just on the three bookings thing, don't the refs mark the actual yellow card any more? Go in the book dont they? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Not sure they all bother with actual books any more, but they used to defo mark the actual yellow card itself. They probably have lines and boxes on them for ease of use. My point was, surely he'd see that he'd already booked the guy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kasper Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Not sure when he announced his retirement, whether it was after the World Cup or what. I doubt that he announced it after the WC. Just a few weeks ago he was named to referee Finland vs Belgium on this Wednesday Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ridzuan Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Poll really sound like a very depressed guy.I really pity him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmy Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 After the year he has had, I would be surprised if he wasn't depressed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
midds Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Wonder if he's got an autobiography in the pipeline? Arrogant twat. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tisd09 Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 The best refs are the ones that you hardly know their name. Poll is just a self promoting idiot. Sure at times he has been hard done by he got the majority of decisions right throughout his career but the ones he gets wrong will obviously get highlighted, but becoming professional went to his head. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PM Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 To answer a few things in here: His retirement was only announced in the closing weeks of this season. Whether it was planned last summer or not, we may never know (but as midds correctly surmises, there's an autobiography on the way I believe). For cautions, some referees still like the old notebook system to write everything down, but at the top they tend to use tick boxes and write on cards. The problem in this instance was that when he showed one of the first 2 cautions to Simunic, he ticked the corresponding box on Australia's side (Craig Moore). For once in his life, Moore hadn't already been booked, so Simunic stayed on until he got his third a few moments later. Had Moore been old and slow and fouling as usual, it'd never have happened. Probably. But he messed up. He's no longer doing Finland vs Belgium, duties have been passed to Mike Riley. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 To answer a few things in here: His retirement was only announced in the closing weeks of this season. Whether it was planned last summer or not, we may never know (but as midds correctly surmises, there's an autobiography on the way I believe). For cautions, some referees still like the old notebook system to write everything down, but at the top they tend to use tick boxes and write on cards. The problem in this instance was that when he showed one of the first 2 cautions to Simunic, he ticked the corresponding box on Australia's side (Craig Moore). For once in his life, Moore hadn't already been booked, so Simunic stayed on until he got his third a few moments later. Had Moore been old and slow and fouling as usual, it'd never have happened. Probably. But he messed up. He's no longer doing Finland vs Belgium, duties have been passed to Mike Riley. Cheers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dev Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 I feel a bit sorry for him I have to say, even tho I'm Australian. The Aus v Croatia game was probably only matched by the Germany - Italy game for sheer pace, intensity and end to end action. By the end he must have been absolutely knackered and he's had a brain explosion, which plenty of players do (in that game Kalac and Simunic did, of course Zidane later on). After the debacle at the final whistle of that game though he should have just put his hand up and retired. Dunno why he hung around for another year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Swift Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 He made a mistake, one which didn't end up being costly btw so I don't see why he needed to retire. Or why he's still retiring now. The fans will get over it, and it'll blow over eventually. No need to give it all up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crumpy Gunt Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Self pitying cunt. Spent a whole career trying to put himself in the spotlight and his biggest moment he got his comeuppance and fucked up big style. Whinging twat! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robster Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 I dont dislike Graham Poll and I thought it was a good documentary I think the game promotes limelight seekers so he is no different to everyone else in the professional game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sam Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 If you really squint your eyes you can see his side of the arguements, and feel some sympathy for him. Still an arrogant c*** though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robster Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 If you really squint your eyes you can see his side of the arguements, and feel some sympathy for him. Still an arrogant c*** though. That was the main thing I disagreed with when he said he wasnt arrogant. His arrogance doesnt bother me because I think you need it to be a ref and to get to the top of any profession. Is Mourinho not arrogant... or Ferguson Anyone meek and mild isnt going to succeed and is just going to get stamped on. Of course he cant sit there and say "oh yes I am arrogant". Stupid question by the interviewer really. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sam Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 I agree, refs need to command respect, but this documentry just showed how much he loves the limelight. Calling himself "the best english manager around" is just plain arrogance and cockiness. He had good ideas regarding the improvement of grass roots refereering, and I wish him luck in whichever position he chooses to go into, but it can only be good for the game now that the constant controversy that folllows him everywhere is going to disappear. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheKingOfNewcastle Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Being a referee is an almost impossible job. Your bosses (The FA) are fucking useless and their bosses (UEFA/FIFA) are even worse, tinkering with the rules of the game every season. And then you've got 22 screaming, cheating prima donnas diving round a football pitch in front of thousands of rabid, pissed up morons every weekend. I have no idea why people put themselves forward to do it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PM Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 I have no idea why people put themselves forward to do it. Nor do I. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delima Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Being a referee is an almost impossible job. Your bosses (The FA) are f****** useless and their bosses (UEFA/FIFA) are even worse, tinkering with the rules of the game every season. And then you've got 22 screaming, cheating prima donnas diving round a football pitch in front of thousands of rabid, pissed up morons every weekend. I have no idea why people put themselves forward to do it. And you watch the game, support the tream, and pour money into it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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