Graham Poll Ridiculously Blames Buffon For Attempted Referee Attack By Fan

No one thinks that Gianluigi Buffon was anything other than out of line when he screamed at Michael Oliver, and then failed to apologise, but now the Italian goalkeeper is being blamed for something that happened in League One.

Buffon's actions towards Michael Oliver were unbecoming of such a legend when the Juventus goalkeeper was sent off for screaming at the referee following the awarding of a penalty in the Old Lady's Champions League quarter final with Real Madrid.

After the match Buffon doubled down on his actions by saying the Englishman had no guts, which was totally wrong, and then refused to apologise days later. It led to Oliver's wife getting abuse on social media and the police needing to get involved.

It was really stupid by the 40 year old to that there's no doubt, and it's not a good look towards respect to referees but Graham Poll has taken it a little too far.

Writing in his column for Daily Mail the man who once booked a player three times in the same game said, "This shameful incident at Rochdale took place less than a week after Gianluigi Buffon's abuse of Michael Oliver. It is unlikely that this was a coincidence.

"If respect is not shown to referees at the highest level, then this kind of behaviour can trickle down to the lower leagues.

"While Buffon is not solely to blame, his actions were symptomatic of how officials are now being treated.

"As a referee, you never expect to be threatened by supporters on the pitch. It is high time officials were given the respect they deserve."

The now infamous moment. Image: PA Images

It's really good of Poll not to solely blame Buffon considering the Italian doesn't have anything to do with what happened in the League One game.

Sure the knock on effect from Buffon's actions might be that someone screams at a ref that wouldn't usually, but that's players, not fans, probably kids at that. And besides the former Parma man was punished with his red card.

This is akin to blaming the dog for eating your homework, utter nonsense.

Topics: Football News, League One, Gianluigi Buffon, Juventus

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

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