Portrait of the referee as a human being

The BBC programme about Graham Poll's last year as a referee was admirable. As a portrait of the intolerable pressure placed on professional referees, the documentary proved that top referees can handle players with relative ease, but it is impossible to deal with managers, the media and spectators, especially when all three combine to form a common enemy of the referee. Poll is, or has become, a tough character. Mentally, most of us would have cracked years ago, while Poll actually made it to the end of his career, choosing his own time to go. There's little doubt though, that the end of his careeer was hastened by people like Jose Mourinho, who smile to the TV cameras while using the most obscene insults at the referee, spectators who take joy in shouting that they wish the referee would die and journalists who jump on the bandwaggon to accuse referees of grandstanding and arrogance when they're simply giving decisions. It was a sad sight to see Poll parking his car in a layby before a match, unwilling to turn up to a League One match because of his experience in Germany. But he lasted the season and went out with his head held high, departing with a play-off final at the new Wembley.