They have jumped to the defence of referee Graham Poll after the football official made an embarrassing mistake in the World Cup tournament.

The 42-year-old from Tring became the centre of attention at the tournament in Germany after forgetting that he had already booked Croatian Josip Simunic when he showed him a second yellow card in the dying minutes of their match against Australia in Stuttgart.

The Croat defender should have been sent off as a result of this, but Poll failed to bring out a red card and Simunic stayed on the pitch.
He was finally sent off at the final whistle by Poll after receiving an unprecedented third yellow card.
Football pundits slated the blunder and said it could cost the Miswell Lane resident his chance to referee at the World Cup final.

This week however, residents in Tring said Mr Poll had been let down by his assistant referees and that he still deserved his reputation as a top official.

The landlord of the Kings Arms pub in King Street, Tom North, said Poll's first pint back in Tring would be on the house.

He said: "It was a very difficult situation and I think he was let down by his fellow officials. He's getting all the flak but they make mistakes as a unit."

He added: "I think he'll get some banter the first night he's back, then everyone will forget about it."


At Mr Poll's local shop - the Old Stables convenience store in Miswell Lane - owner Gurunathan Prapaharan said he had seen the match between Croatia and Australia on a small screen while watching the counter.

He said: "I couldn't believe the other two referees didn't tell him he'd already yellow carded the player.I felt sorry for him. I think we all make mistakes. I think he's a very good referee – no doubt about it."

What's YOUR view? Should Mr Poll have been sent home by FIFA? Click here and tell us

YOUR VIEWS:
Name: Garry Brindley
Address: Kiama Downs, Australia
Views: Much mention has been made of the 3 yellow cards Poll gave to the Croat but worse was his miss of 2 penalties, particularly the rugby tackle on Viduka. He is rubbish keep him away from the World Cup.


Name: Albert Fenech
Address: La Salina, Malta
Views: Graham Poll never stood a chance. Undoubtedly, he made mistakes - but was he the only one? It has to be faced up to the the facts that anything English, anything British, that looms before FIFA, will undoubtedly have discriminaton loaded against it. The old, colonial racism still reigns.

May I enquire what happened to the Spanish referee who awarded a most indecent penalty in the final, 5 seconds from the end, to enable Italy to beat Australia? Nothing more has been said, or heard about him. Because Poll made a genuine (and non-effective mistake to the final result), all hell was let loose and he was sent home.

The fact that Italy eliminted Australia on the most atrocious of referreing mistakes has passed muster! Nothing mnore has been heard. I have been researching the FIFA website and all references to the referee's "blunder" have been blotted out!

Now, England approach their Q/Final against Portugal and they have been "awarded" with the appointment of Argentinian referee Elizondo!!!! My God, I am Maltese. my roots are probably Latin and therefore highly volatile and highly suspicious, but until you Brits stand up to be counted, you don't have a hope in hell of winning the World Cup. Meanwhile, good on you Graham.

You are a good referee and very fair. But the World Cup is a long way from Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge and the Stadium of Light. These are localities where real football is played. You didn't stand a hope in hell in Germany...but surely you could have done better for yourself by intimating that you were interested in receiving gifts of alfa romeos, masaratis and exotic holidays!


Name: KEVIN ELLIOTT
Address: MARYLAND NSW AUSTRALIA
Views: YES YES YES-BEFORE THE AUSTRALIA V CROATIA GAME WOULD HAVE BEEN GOOD