THE PROBLEM WITH CORNERS

IN his fascinating refereeing memoirs, Seeing Red, Graham Poll highlights the problem faced by officials at corners.

He writes: "The shirt-tugging, wrestling, holding, blocking and general free-for-all at corners and set pieces is a problem fo referees   - but it is not a problem for players.

"They accept it as part of the game and practise it every day in training."

He continues: "For referees, the difficulty is that there are at least three or four offences at every corner. Both sides are at it, so who do you penalise?"

Poll is refreshingly candid in his conclusion. "The easiest thing for me to do, now that I am retired, would be to deliver a stern sermon to my former colleagues.

"Yet the truth is that I didn't solve the problem when I was refereeing."

• Seeing Red was published in paperback by Harper Collins in 2007.