Three Cards and you’re still not Out
I’d love to be a World Cup referee. Not matter how bad I do my job in front of a worldwide audience my bosses at FIFA would defend me. That is apparent from the way FIFA is publicly treating English referee Graham Poll’s blunder of issuing three yellow cards to one player in last week’s Australia-Croatia match.
Instead of sending Poll home with a one-way ticket, FIFA’s referees committee will decide Poll’s fate on Wednesday. Amazingly, he could referee another game in this competition.
FIFA referees committee president Angel Maria Villar Llona described Poll as “an exceptional referee and a great sportsman who would be able to master the situation.”
Perhaps the reason why Poll isn’t being singled out by FIFA is because there are so many referees lacking competence in this year’s tournament. Poll’s blunder is the most visible, but his colleagues have also made more than their share of mistakes.
Officiating mistakes have always been a part of football and the World Cup, but after the disasterous performance of the referees in 2002 FIFA vowed things would improve this time.
On that count they have failed, but in the world of FIFA there apparently is no such thing as failure and everyone deserves a third chance but not a third card.
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Comments
By Kent Baker | June 26th, 2006 at 4:20 am 
Its a Shame. Poll is actually a great referee in the Premier League. I think other Referees have done a worse job.
Posted from 
Canada
By Jeremy | June 26th, 2006 at 4:50 am I think that while Poll may be a great referee in the Premier League, he has not shown it in the World Cup. I do not think he deserves to referee another match because of what the 3 yellow cards showed, that he was not in control of the game. If he cannot control the game, he should not be able to referee another match
Posted from 
United States
By Euler | June 26th, 2006 at 5:08 am Agreed, Jeremy.
By Jaffar | June 26th, 2006 at 5:31 am I dunno how Poll could make mistake like this one…
maybe his mind was with someone else ,who knows :)…
Jaffar From Saudi Arabia.
Posted from 
Saudi Arabia
By Andy | June 26th, 2006 at 6:02 am What I find astonishing is that FIFA’s official match report only shows Simunic receiving TWO yellow cards, at 61′ and 93′ (http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/match/44/mr.html). The yellow card he received in the 89th has been WIPED OFF THE BOOKS.
Obviously, that yellow card did exist: a referee showing a card always holds it up high so that there can be no mistake that a player is being booked or sent off. Everyone watching saw it, and this Web site’s LiveBlog recorded it (http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2006/liveblog-croatia-australia.html). The referee’s decision is supposed to be final, but in this case, it wasn’t. Poll’s decision to show Simunic the yellow card in the 89th was effectively reversed by FIFA.
This, to me, creates a troublesome precedent.
In the future, could a player who was unjustly booked make an appeal to FIFA to have his yellow card expunged from the record, on the grounds that the referee issued the card in error? After all, a precedent now exists for precisely that sort of thing.
Hmmm, makes you wonder…
Posted from United States
By Dave The Hat | June 26th, 2006 at 7:02 am So long as he doesn’t referee Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, England, Australia, Italy, Ghana, Switzerland, France, Spain or Ukraine, he can stay as long as he likes.
Posted from 
Australia
By matilda | June 26th, 2006 at 7:08 am FIFA amended their official match report of the Australia-Croatia game and removed the original reference to Simunic’s 3 yellows. They’ve basically re-written history and that’s more disturbing to me than Poll’s blunder.
Posted from Australia
By papa larbi | June 26th, 2006 at 7:17 am please fifa, keep this poll guy away from such important matches…my son’s high school team might need his services though.
Posted from United States
By Rafael | June 26th, 2006 at 7:47 am I think people are being too harsh on Poll. Everyone has bad days, and in this case, a bad game. If a player has a bad game, do you bench him for the rest of the season? I think Poll should have a chance at redemption.
Posted from United States
By Malaika | June 26th, 2006 at 8:21 am Rafael, I agree completely but redemption should not come at this World Cup, pressure will be way to high for him if he has to ref a 1/4 final and he might really lose his job for good if he messes up.
So I’d say, let’s forget about that and see you Mr. Poll in the Premier League and for the euro 2008 qualifiers.
Posted from 
Switzerland
By Ekwosi Elo | June 26th, 2006 at 8:50 am Poll has messed up himself,since he is only good in premiership,see you there and no more in the world cup. See you poll
Posted from United States
By notoveryet | June 26th, 2006 at 8:57 am what was the emergency ref doing!
and what are the headsets for!
Posted from Australia
By CTL | June 26th, 2006 at 9:45 am I think Graham Poll has reached his level of incompetence. While he may be respected in the English Premier League, his clout has not been transferred on the world stage.
He never gave Wayne Rooney a booking despite been sworn at countless of times at the Man Utd/Arsenal match, yet was more than card happy when Serbian players questioned his judgement. Where’s the consistency? Or does he just give superstars the benefit of the doubt?
Blowing for fulltime just as the ball crossed the line deprived Australia of a historic second victory. That stunt has been pulled before, remember that b**tard in black called Clive Thomas in 1978?
Graham Poll, in my opinion, is a showboater who has just diverted attention to himself. Dissatisfied with the real stars getting all the limelight, he wants to be part of the show.
And he has succeeded, and joined the World Cup Referee’s Hall of Shame, together with the likes of Charles Corver (Schumacher’s protector 1982), Sergio Gonella (friend of the Argentine junta 1978), Ali Benaceur (blinded by the Hand of Maradona 1986), Byron Moreno (honorary citizen of South Korea 2002) and Terje Hauge (fan of Barcelona 2006).
Shame, shame, shame!!!
Posted from 
Singapore
By CTL | June 26th, 2006 at 9:50 am Sorry, Terje Hauge does not qualify for the World Cup Referee’s Hall of Shame not having officiated at this World Cup, but ALL TIME Referee’s Hall of Shame.
Posted from Singapore
By troy | June 26th, 2006 at 1:18 pm this world cup shows that there are higher agendas among referees. the bigger teams get the benifit i notice on occasions when the ref can get away with it, obviously they still punish them when they cant be hidden. it saddens me that the refs are taking away the games from the players. the world cups are for the players and fans. i’m still waiting for the crowd to be filled with supporters in refs colours. it seems to be a world wide trend in all sports that the refs are making themselves more noticeable against whats good for the game.
Posted from Australia
By Steve | June 26th, 2006 at 3:05 pm I really don’t see why everyone is focusing so much on this one mistake. Granted he gave a player 3 yellow cards which should not have gone unmissed.
However, if you saw Valentin Ivanov’s attempt at refereeing last night, this incident pales in significance.
How likely is Graham Poll to make this mistake again?
Posted from 
United Kingdom
By enzo | June 26th, 2006 at 3:49 pm Yeah! I suppose we can also say that a judge, who has made many just decisions for 26 years, but then incorrectly finds an innocent man guilty of a misdeamour should still be respected because he still loves the law.
Posted from Australia
By paddy | June 26th, 2006 at 3:57 pm Amazing isn’t it. With all that money sloshing around FIFA etc, they still can’t afford to pay for full-time referees.
It’s understandable in the smaller leagues and with the poorer nations that coming up with money can be a problem.
But this is the world’s cup for god’s sake!!
Pay peanuts and you get monkeys.
Posted from Australia
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