Poll: Personal abuse taxed me
Soccer referee Graham Poll has admitted the personal abuse he received this season from fans ridiculing his error at the World Cup played a part in his decision to retire.
The Tring official came under widespread criticism after failing to dismiss Josip Simunic until he had shown him three yellow cards in the group game between Croatia and Australia last summer.
And the 43-year-old revealed supporters’ taunts were affecting his focus on the pitch.
Poll told the BBC’s Inside Sport programme in a season-long video documentary to be aired this evening: “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*****?’.
“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’ and that is difficult to ignore because you know it’s true but that’s been something this season which has been difficult for me.
“I have unable to disassociate myself with that situation. That clearly affects my enjoyment of refereeing that game and takes your concentration away from key decisions.”
Poll made backpage headlines last November amid claims from Chelsea and England captain John Terry that the referee had changed his reasons for sending him off, claiming they needed to be “taught a lesson.”
The official, who has since criticised the Football Association and chief executive Brian Barwick for their handling of the matter, believes no referee should ever have their impartiality called into question in such a manner.
He said: “What makes it even more unfair is that I am not permitted to speak in the media.
“The thing that grates more than anything is that I will make mistakes. If I was wrong to send off John Terry, then I was wrong. It was a genuine mistake.
“The implication behind all this is that I went out with an agenda before the match to teach Chelsea a lesson to show them some discipline.
“That is implying I’m not impartial and that’s what hurts more than anything.”
