June 28 - Exit Poll

ARE you planning a charity event or gala dinner for your social club? Do you need a famous after dinner speaker to draw in the crowds and entertain them with witty anecdotes? Has Sue Cook cancelled on you at the last minute? If so, why not hire Graham Poll now!

According to his official website www.grahampoll.co.uk: “Graham has become one of the most popular and sought after speakers on the after dinner circuit.

“Free from the restrictions of being actively involved in top level football after 16 years he gives open, honest and frank views on his major matches and decisions as well as a look at the top issues of the day.”

Hardly a night with George Best we would imagine but no doubt a rip-roaring evening full of why none of it was his fault.

On this day in 2006 Graham paid dearly for his most famous cock up when he was sent home early from the World Cup in Germany.

On June 22 he refereed the crucial group match between Australia and Croatia with both in with a chance of going through. Poll had a shocker, missing a blatant hand ball and failing to spot that Harry Kewell looked suspiciously offside when he scored the equaliser to take the game to 2-2 and send the Austalians through at the expense of Croatia. Both bad errors, but worse still Poll had managed to give a yellow card to Croatia’s Josip Simunic not once, not twice, but three times before eventually sending him off.

FIFA issued this statement: “Thursday evening’s 2-2 draw between Croatia and Australia in Stuttgart saw referee Graham Poll make an error.

“The experienced official is disappointed at having committed the error, the first such mistake in his 26-year career.

“The Fifa referees committee also recognised the oversight and the fact that none of the match officials at the stadium picked up on the error.

“In explaining his actions to the committee, Poll said he incorrectly noted down the name of the Australia number three Craig Moore when booking Simunic for the second time and failed to realise his error.”

So Poll was going home early, with pre-tournament predictions that he might ref the final looking laughable.

If Tring’s most (only?) famous son ever wants to get some laughs on the after dinner speaking circuit, he could do worse than look up his comments to the BBC before the 2006 World Cup began.

Before jetting out to Germany he said: “There is a very high standard of performance expected of us.”

“We have to make sure this World Cup is not seen as a poor one for refereeing.

“Fifa has prepared us the best they can with this two-year programme to reduce errors.”

Nostradamus-like he added: “You will make mistakes, you have to accept that, what you have to deal with is whether it affects the outcome of the match,” he explained.

“We have to accept that part and parcel of football is controversy of the referee’s decisions.

“We can’t expect them to get everything right.”

Wise words indeed Graham. Here’s a clip of him trying to claim that the people of Tring had nothing but support for him after his most humiliating episode - atta boy Graham, stiff upper lip.

(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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