Graham Poll to Retire a Year too late

A little over a year ago at this time many of us got to know the name Graham Poll quite well. You’ll recall that he was the man in the middle of an outstanding match between Croatia and Australia in the group round of the 2006 World Cup. You also probably remember that he is also the one who issued three yellow cards to Croatia’s Josip Simunic and he is the one who blew the final whistle just as Australia was about to score in the 93rd minute.

Ahh, the memories of poorly officiated games. World Cup 2006 sure saw a few.

Poll made it official today that he will blow his final whistle next week when Finland takes on Belgium in Euro 2008 qualifying. The only people probably upset about this are those who support Finland and Belgium who undoubtedly will be treated to 90 minutes of cards and whistles.