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June 27, 2006   





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Referees in the spotlight

Referee: Graham Poll
Country: England
Highlight match: Croatia versus Australia

In football, if you show a player the yellow card twice in the same match, that amounts to a red card, and the player is expelled from the field.

FIFA referee Graham Poll forgot this basic rule in the Croatia-Australia match. He booked Croatia defender Josip Simunic three times, and finally expelled him the third time, into injury time in the second half!

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And, he also missed Simunic's tackle on Mark Viduka that might have been declared illegal even in rugby.

Poll has been a referee for the last 10 years, and he made his international debut in a 1997 match between Azerbaijan and Finland. FIFA has now told him to pack his bags.

Image: Have I given you my card? Poll flashes the yellow to Josep Simunic, one of the three times the referee booked the Croatian defender.

Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images

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