At the 2006 World Cup in Germany between Australia and Croatia (2-2), in which referee Graham Poll involuntarily wrote history with three yellow cards against the same player.
It was the 90th minute when Poll gave the then Hertha player Josip Simunic a yellow card on the Croatian side. So far, so unexciting. But what the English referee overlooked: he had shown Simunic a yellow card 28 minutes earlier. Consequently, the Croatian should have been sent off. But Poll couldn’t seem to remember it, and his notes probably didn’t help much either.
The then FIFA President Sepp Blatter found it anything but funny. “I can’t understand that and I can’t forgive that either. There are five referees in a game, four of whom are connected by radio. I can’t understand why nobody intervened,” said the Swiss after the game. Because the assistant referees hadn’t noticed anything either.
Very different from the Australian Mark Viduka. Because he apparently followed the game more closely than the referee himself. “I asked Poll how many cards Simunic had received. He said only one. It looked like he made a mistake,” said Viduka, but Poll took it Protection: “Everyone makes mistakes. Poll is a top referee. I won’t say anything against him.”
Anyway, it wasn’t Poll’s best game as a referee. After a foul on Viduka and a deliberate handball by Croatian defender Stjepan Tomas in the penalty area, he denied the penalty kick that was due. But above all his faux pas towards the end of the game was remembered.
The retirement
For Poll it was the last game ever at a World Cup. Immediately after this historic blunder, Blatter more or less judged the future of the Brit, at least at that tournament. “I think the Referees’ Committee has enough tact to make the right decision,” he said, not bluntly.
Poll later explained that he had noted Simunic’s warning but in the wrong column because of his Australian accent. So he mistakenly assigned the warning to Australian Craig Moore. A week after the incident, Poll announced his retirement from international duty, saying he himself had asked FIFA to send him home.
Particularly curious: Poll’s error lasted only a few seconds. Because in the third minute of added time he showed Simunic yellow-red after the Croatian complained too much and saw his third yellow card. And it had no effect on the sport either. Australia reached the round of 16, Croatia was eliminated. But these circumstances did not save Poll’s career.
