LONDON -- Players going to the World Cup know that, if they make a big blunder in their first game, they probably won't play another.

According to World Cup-bound Graham Poll, the same applies to the referees.

"If you make a big mistake in your first game, it will be your last game, and that's something that has been made very clear to us," said Poll, one of 22 referees headed for the June 9-July 22 championship in Germany.

"The message is very, very clear. You have got to allow people to make decisions and do their very best. But there is a very, very high standard expected."

Poll, England's only referee at the World Cup, also took part in the 2002 event in South Korea and Japan.

"What I do, money can't buy," he told BBC Radio Five. "It's something that's a massive challenge. It's a huge challenge to try to control 22 top-class athletes playing football with a whistle and two cards as your friends.

"It's a huge, huge challenge. Maybe you don't always get the recognition you think you deserve. But you know yourself when you have done a good job and you know when you have made a mistake."