10 Ridiculous Refereeing Decisions That Almost Ruined Football

5. Graham Poll (Croatia vs. Australia, 2006)

http://youtu.be/caYdeTLSW-o Speaking of Mr. Poll, it is remarkable that he could be so strict with the time he blows his whistle, as this World Cup game between Croatia and Australia was a demonstration in his own rare strand of discalculia. One of the first lessons of refereeing school is that if a player is shown two yellow cards, then he is brandished with a red card and forced to leave the pitch. Unfortunately, Poll, who up to this game had be considered a prime contender to referee the World Cup final match, had been absent from that day of school and had neglected to catch up on his work. Therefore, when already booked Croatian full-back Josip Simunic roughly tackled an Australian opponent, Poll reached for his pocket to show a second yellow card, and then allowed the player to keep playing. Considering the fact that Poll had gladly sent off two other players prior to this incredible error, it would not seem that Poll had little qualms in trying to ensure that the game did not digress into a mass of bookings and red cards. Maybe him and Simunic had some sort of deal outside of the game that would justify such a horrendous blunder? But no, it was more innocent than this, as Poll has admitted that when he originally booked Simunic, he placed a mark in his now infamous notebook against the Australian No. 3 instead of Simunic. In a way, it is fortunate that Poll only made the mistake of booking Simunic three times before sending him off, as if this story about the mistaken booking is correct, an Australian player may have been sent-off after getting one yellow card. However, the scale of this mistake led to Poll being sent home from the World Cup and swiftly brought about his retirement from international refereeing. Remarkably, Poll is still regarded as the greatest English referee of the last 25 years, which just makes you wonder about how bad the state of refereeing has to be.