Graham Poll

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Graham Poll (born July 29, 1963 in Tring, England) is a football referee in the FA Premier League. With 26 years of experience^[1], he is regarded as one of the most prominent referees^[2]^[3] in the Premiership in recent years, often taking charge of high-profile events, such as the Manchester United vs Arsenal meetings^[4]^[5]. He rose to prominence on the world football scene after his performance in the Croatia vs Australia match at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, due to what BBC called "a series of high-profile errors", most notably booking the same player three times before sending the player off. Poll has retired from refereeing international tournament finals matches citing his error in the match but will continue to referee in the Premiership, Champions League and on International Games - but he has said he will not allow himself to be nominated to represent The FA at any Tournament Finals as he feels he has had his chance.^[6] Poll is an active contributor to the SOS Children's Villages charity. As part of the project, Poll recently visited a school in Hertfordshire, and oversaw a 'Keepy Uppy' session, in aid of the charity.^[7] He was an "invigilator" for group and individual competitions. The collection of the £1 entry fees raised money for the villages. The active involvement of a World Cup referee boosted the profile of the day.

1 Football career
2 France v Czech Republic 2000
3 World Cup 2002
4 World Cup 2006
5 Career highlights
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Football career

The Hertfordshire official has taken charge of quite a few European matches, of which his most important to date was the UEFA Cup final between CSKA Moscow and Sporting Lisbon in 2005. Poll has also taken charge of many international matches, for which he has held a FIFA badge since 1996, refereeing at top FIFA and UEFA tournaments such as Euro 2000, where Poll took charge of France vs Czech Republic, and Norway vs Slovenia in the group stages.

[edit] France v Czech Republic 2000

Poll first attracted controversy on the international stage for a decision in the above game played on July 13, 2000, in Bruges at Euro 2000. During the first half Poll awarded a penalty kick to the Czech Republic. However, before awarding the kick Poll ventured over to the Assistant Referee to confirm where the foul had occurred. Despite being unsighted Poll awarded the penalty.

[edit] World Cup 2002

Poll attracted controversy for his role in the Italy v Croatia game at the 2002 FIFA World Cup played on Saturday June 8, 2002. His two assistants that day were England's Phil Sharp and Denmark's Jens Larsen (football referee). In the opening minutes, Poll had waved away a protest that a Croatian player had been injured, instructing the player to stand. When play was eventually stopped the player left the field with a bloodied nose.

Just after half time Christian Vieri had a headed goal disallowed for offside; TV replays clearly showed the Italian player to be on-side when the pass was made. Fortunately, perhaps, Vieri netted the ball again minutes later to give his side the lead. Italy then had a second goal disallowed for shirt pulling, after a long free kick had found its way in. Both goals had been flagged for infringement by the Danish Assistant Referee Jens Larsen (football referee). Croatia then found an equaliser through Ivica Olić, and a winner just fifteen minutes before the end via a deflected shot from Milan Rapaić. Poll had a busy game, as there were forty-two fouls, three goals scored, two goals disallowed, and two bookings.

After the game, Vieri said "Those weren't division one or even division two referees, they were village referees...".Francesco Totti also complained about the lack of protection Poll had offered him: "I took a lot of kicks. He was an English referee in every way". ^[8]

As a result of the game FIFA were asked about the standard of refereeing at that World Cup. Their spokesman, Keith Cooper said "Generally the overall standard (of refereeing) is more than satisfactory. It is acknowledged that mistakes may be made. I'm not necessarily saying this was the case last night. I do want to emphasize that. It is in the nature of the beast that mistakes can happen. Referees are humans just like players and we shouldn't look at isolated matches .... but the standard as a whole."

[edit] World Cup 2006

Poll was the only British referee at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

[edit] Togo v South Korea

This was the first game of Poll's second FIFA World Cup, with first time Finalists Togo taking on 2002 semi-finalists South Korea. Poll sent off Jean-Paul Abalo of Togo for a second bookable offence, although the decision was possibly unclear as he showed the red card before the second yellow. Lee Chun-Soo netted an equaliser for Korea from the resultant free kick.

[edit] Saudi Arabia v Ukraine

Poll's second game of the 2006 FIFA World Cup saw Saudi Arabia meet Ukraine. The Ukrainians finished 4-0 winners. Poll received slight criticism from commentators for not booking players for unsportsmanlike 'diving' when turning down a penalty appeal (as referees have been instructed to do by FIFA). In all, he showed six yellows, three to each side. There was an unfortunate moment in the first half for Poll, after he accidentally deflected the ball into the path of the Ukrainian, Maksym Kalynychenko. The midfielder crossed the ball in front of the goal, and Andriy Shevchenko only narrowly avoided making contact.

[edit] Croatia v Australia

His next game was the Group F match between Croatia and Australia on June 22. Tom Dart, in his Times article on the match, commented that, "The choice of Graham Poll as referee was surprising since he is familiar to the Australians who play in the Barclays Premiership."^[9] Inside the first ten minutes of the game, Poll did not see a rough tackle by Šimunić^[9] as a foul. Poll also chose not to award a handball foul on a Croatian defender, although he indicated through an Australian corner that the ball left the field off a Croatian player.

After already sending off two players, Poll failed to send off Josip Šimunić for a second yellow card late in the match, eventually sending him off for a third yellow^[10] for dissent at the final whistle.^[11]

Controversially, Poll also stopped play and blew the final whistle 15 seconds before stoppage time (as viewed on the television coverage's clock) expired, just as the ball was about to cross the Croatian goal line at the 93'. The game ended 2-2, putting Australia through to the next round. A FIFA spokesperson did comment that "had Australia lost the game and gone out of the World Cup, they would have had grounds to request a replay."^[12] Poll's assistant also missed that the second Australian goal by Harry Kewell was shot from an offside position.^[13] "Within half an hour of the game ending, UK bookmaker Coral offered odds of 10-1 against Poll refereeing another match at the tournament."^[14]

[edit] Outcome

On June 28, Poll was named as one of 14 officials dismissed by FIFA from the remaining World Cup 2006 matches following his error in the Croatia v. Australia match.^[15] Maria Villar Llona, president of the FIFA referee's committee, said of Poll, "He is an exceptional referee and a great sportsman, who will be able to overcome the situation thanks to his strong personality and love of the game."^[6]

Poll retired from international tournament finals football on June 29, 2006, citing the error as the reason. He said in his retirement announcement,

"What I did was an error in law. There can be no dispute. It was not caused by a FIFA directive, it was not caused by me being asked to referee differently to the way I referee in the Premier League. The laws of the game are very specific. The referee takes responsibility for his actions on the field of play. I was the referee that evening. It was my error and the buck stops with me."^[6]

He will continue to referee in the Champions League and on International Games, but he said he will not allow himself to be nominated to represent The FA at any tournament finals. "It's time for somebody else in England to have a go and I will do everything I can to prepare them. But for me tournament football is over," Poll said.^[6]

However, following the release of the draw for the qualifying round for Euro 2008 Poll had been selected, and accepted an appointment to referee a qualifying match for the tournament. Of this decision Giles Smith in The Times wrote,

"He said that he would never tour again, that it was over for him, that his confidence was shot to pieces and that we would never again know the privilege of seeing him grace the big stage. But guess what: after three weeks of reflection, and as a result of Lord knows how much sentimental pressure from the fans, Graham “Ol’ Three Yellows” Poll is back on the international block, and down to referee at the Euro 2008 group A qualifier between Poland and Serbia and Montenegro on September 6. Kill for a ticket. Because this really could be the last time. Until the next." ^[16]

[edit] Career highlights

FA Cup Final, May 20, 2000, Chelsea v. Aston Villa (last Cup Final at old Wembley Stadium)

Worthington Cup Final, February 24, 2002, Blackburn v. Tottenham

2002 FIFA World Cup, June 8, 2002, Italy v. Croatia (only English referee)

Championship Playoff Final, May 29, 2004, Crystal Palace v. West Ham

UEFA Cup Final, May 18, 2005, Sporting Lisbon v. CSKA Moscow

2006 FIFA World Cup, June 2006, Togo v. South Korea, Saudi Arabia v. Ukraine, Croatia v. Australia - (only English referee)

[edit] Red card trivia

3 red cards in the same game

Wimbledon (Cort, Euell) v. Manchester City (Morrison), January 2, 1999, FA Cup
Sunderland (Rae, Gray) v. Manchester United (Cole), January 31, 2001, Premiership
Croatia (Šimić, Šimunić) v. Australia (Emerton), June 22, 2006, FIFA World Cup

2 red cards in the same game

Bolton (Todd) v. Aston Villa (Collymore), October 4, 1997, Premiership
Chelsea v. Leeds (Haaland, Kelly), December 13, 1997, Premiership
Arsenal (Keown) v. Blackburn (Gillespie), April 6, 1999, Premiership
Chelsea (Wise) v. Leicester (Walsh), January 30, 2000, FA Cup
Arsenal (Vieira) v. Liverpool (McAllister), August 21, 2000, Premiership
Arsenal (Parlour) v. Newcastle (Bellamy), December 18, 2001, Premiership
Everton (Arteta, Neville) v. Liverpool, December 28, 2005, Premiership

Clubs with most dismissals

Everton have received 6 red cards
Arsenal has received 5 red cards
Aston Villa and Leeds have each been shown 4

Late in the game

Has shown a red card to 8 different players in the 90th minute (Moore, Todd, Collymore, Wise, De Zeeuw, Arteta, Duljaj, Šimunić)
There are 8 other players who have been shown the red card in the last five minutes of a game (Euell, Dunne and Šimić - 85 minutes, Emerton - 86 minutes, Dichio - 87 minutes, Unsworth - 88 minutes, Robinson - 88 minutes, Smith - 89 minutes)^{[citation needed]}

Goalkeepers

Has only ever sent two goalkeepers off (Schwarzer for Middlesbrough in 2001, and Robinson for Leeds in 2004)

Three yellow cards to one player in one game

Croatia v Australia , Simunic 61' 90' 93' World Cup 2006 (due to him neglecting to send the player off following his second caution)

[edit] By year and cards given

Season	Games	Yellows	Y per game	Reds	R per game
1995/1996	21	62	2.95	3	0.14
1997/1998	28	113	4.04	12	0.4
1998/1999	32	119	3.71	9	0.28
1999/2000	40	136	3.4	6	0.15
2000/2001	43	119	2.77	11	0.26
2001/2002	45	120	2.66	6	0.13
2002/2003	40	119	2.98	5	0.13
2003/2004	42	114	2.71	4	0.1
2004/2005	45	124	2.75	5	0.11
2005/2006	49	166	3.41	10	0.2

[edit] 2005 - 2006 season facts and trivia

Issued, on average, a red card every 4.9 games
Only refereed six games in which no cards were shown
Did not show more than ten cards in a game (although 9 yellows were brandished in the Fulham - Bolton clash in November 2005)
Gave four red cards in the Premiership, three for second bookings, and one for violent conduct
Refereed Chelsea seven times, and Manchester United, Arsenal and Birmingham each six times
Was in charge for both West Midlands derbies (Aston Villa vs. Birmingham City)
Officiated both Arsenal vs. Manchester United games
Refereed every team in the Premiership that season, except Sunderland

[edit] 2006 - 2007 season facts and trivia

After a game between Spurs and Chelsea at White Hart Lane on November 5, in which Poll controversially sent off John Terry and disallowed a Chelsea goal, Chelsea players claimed that Poll told them during the match that they needed to be "taught a lesson" and were "out of order"^[17]^[18] over their on-pitch behaviour, a claim which Poll later denied. Referees' chief Keith Hackett who will investigate Chelsea's claims said "The player who has made the comments should be aware that the referee, along with his assistant referees, were all wearing microphones."^[19]

Poll refereed the Carling Cup 4th Round match between Everton and Arsenal at Goodison Park on Wednesday 8th November in which he controversially sent off James McFadden after 19 minutes for alleged foul and abusive language after the referee had waved away a certain foul in the penalty area on Andrew Johnson. Poll argued that McFadden had called him a cheat, but the player denies such a claim, saying he swore at Mr. Poll.^[20]