FORMER World Cup referee Graham Poll has praised the genuine sportsmanship of ex- Manchester United star David Beckham.

Poll received a telephone call of support from then England skipper Beckham after making the biggest blunder of his refereeing career.

Poll revealed Beckham’s staunch support at Westfields Football Club’s Sportsman’s Dinner last week.

The referee told the 300- strong sell-out audience in Hereford that his three-card trick had cost him a place in the 2006 World Cup final in Germany.

Although he was hurt by his error, where he showed three yellow cards to Josip Simunic in the game between Croatia and Australia, Poll received plenty of support.

"I thought it was going to be me out of the game, ridiculed for cocking up the World Cup,” recalled Poll.

“That’s as low as I thought I’d ever feel about football and refereeing.

Themedia hounded me and a reporter even stopped my daughter on her way to school and asked her ‘if she was ashamed of me.’ There were phone calls from David Beckham and Sir Alex Ferguson and members of the public wrote to me.”

Poll gave a fascinating insight into his career and urged Westfields’ players to take note of his 1997 FA Vase Cup final appearance at Wembley.

“All the spectators were on one side of the stadium, the other parts were empty but the atmosphere, the game and the day is just as an FA Cup Final,” he recalled.

He told the Westfields’ players: “You lads are already in the second round. You want to get to Wembley. It’s an unbelievable experience.”