A lot of observers have been moaning recently about how referees no longer show consistency in their decision-making.

In some games you get cases where one player is booked for committing an offence while another gets off scot free despite doing exactly the same thing. Alternatively, a player is sent off for something seemingly innocuous while another commits assault and battery without even getting a warning.

Fair enough, that sort of inconsistency is incredibly irritating for players, managers and fans alike.

However, is this really a new problem? Is this lack of consistency from officials something that has started happening now?

Not in my mind it isn’t – it has been around since the dawn of the beautiful game.

I’m fairly sure that at the end of the first properly refereed game, the players walked off mumbling about why the official had given one penalty claim but not another and the fans headed to the pub to whinge about the man in the middle not knowing what he was doing.

It’s just part and parcel of the game of football. It is annoying, it is irritating and it is often teeth-itchingly frustrating.

But it’s football.

Referring inconsistencies and errors actually contribute to the beauty of football

Referees, no matter how well trained and experienced, are only human and, unless video replays are introduced for every single little incident, mistakes are entirely inevitable.

For example, two tackles which look almost identical on our televisions may look completely different to the referee based purely on where he is standing, who is in in his way or the speed at which they happen. One gets a yellow, one doesn’t.

There is absolutely nothing new in that.

The only difference is that these inconsistencies are massively more exposed these days than in the past. Television replays from a hundred angles, for example, allow us to pick up on errors that would have gone unnoticed in the past.

I’m not saying referees are entirely blameless. There are some cases of ridiculously blatant inconsistency that are grossly unfair, and every effort should be made to help officials stamp these out.

But don’t anyone tell me that a referee ever thinks to himself ‘that foul was exactly the same as that other one but I don’t think I will book the player this time’. If a referee is inconsistent it is down to human error, not personal preference.

To be frank, I am getting really bored by the people who are constantly whining about this situation. The only thing that would make them happy is a totally sanitised, perfectly refereed sport, devoid of mistakes and misjudgements.

And while that may sound like a football utopia, I am pretty sure it would quickly become incredibly boring.

Like it or not, referring inconsistencies and errors actually contribute to the beauty of football. Mistakes give us something to moan about, something to talk about over our pints and something to cry about when a five-foot-nothing striker outjumps a six-foot-something goalkeeper.

It’s just the way football was meant to be: controversial, passionate and, above all, imperfect.

Is AVB on his way?

Slowly but surely, Andre Villas-Boas is being exposed for what he really is: a decidedly average manager.

At Porto, he was the best thing since sliced bread, the young wonder manager with a charming grin and Midas touch. A new and improved Jose Mourinho with the footballing world at his feet.

But he failed at Chelsea, his Tottenham Hotspur side are coming apart and, as it all starts to unravel, what we are left with is a manager who is simply not showing any of the skills needed to run a top football club.

I’m not denying he had a first good season at White Hart Lane. But it is now looking clear that was because he just happened to have one of the world’s best players in his team. Take away Gareth Bale’s contribution and where would Spurs have finished? Mid-table at best.

Having spent nearly £110 million (€132m) on players, it was expected that this version of Spurs would be a better overall package than last year’s. But they aren’t. Most of AVB’s signings are struggling to cope with the pace and power of the Premiership. Those that he even bothers to pick, that is.

More than that, however, Villas-Boas has entirely destroyed the beautiful attacking fluidity that was the hallmark of his White Hart Lane predecessor. Under Harry Redknapp, Tottenham were a joy to behold; today they are like watching grass grow against a backdrop of drying paint.

In their 12 games so far, they have managed just nine goals. That’s only one more than rock bottom Sunderland, 15 less than Arsenal and 25 less than Manchester City.

But of course, absolutely none of this is his fault.

And that is what makes AVB supremely annoying – his consistent ability to blame everyone but himself for his failures. When Spurs struggled to beat Hull, it was the fans’ fault. When Manchester City spanked them 6-0, it was the players’ fault.

At no point has he held up his hand and said maybe, just maybe, he is to blame for any of the problems Spurs have.

According to reports coming out of London last week, Villas-Boas’ position is seriously under threat and he could, in what is an almost unthinkable twist, end up beating Martin Jol and Chris Hughton in this season’s sack race.

And with a match at home this afternoon against a United team that was rampant in the Champions League midweek, AVB may just find he has run out of other people to point a finger at come Monday morning.

The stresses of travel

Last week, England batsman Jonathan Trott pulled out of the Ashes tournament in Australia and flew home to deal with a stress-related ailment.

Your initial reaction would be what is so darned stressful about cricket? It’s a game played at a leisurely pace over several days, with regular breaks for lunch and tea, for crying out loud.

And I’ve heard a lot of comments to that effect last week.

However, what these people are failing to take into account is that cricket involves huge amounts of travelling. Unlike other sports, cricketers are away from home for incredibly long periods of time.

When footballers, to use the obvious example, fly out for an overseas match they do so a day or two before and often fly back within hours of the final whistle.

Cricketers, on the other hand, go on a full-blown tour. Often they can be away from home for months at a time, sometimes with just a week or two back home before setting off on the next one.

And while staying in five-star luxury, touring the globe and playing the occasional bit of sport might sound idyllic to many, it can’t be easy to be away from your family for such long periods. Month after month, year after year.

Trott isn’t the first England player to suffer from stress either. A while back, batsman Marcus Trescothick was also forced to abandon his international career because of the stresses of being away from home.

Hopefully, Trott will find a way of dealing with his issues and get back to the game he obviously loves. It’s never nice to see a sportsman, especially a very talented one, forced to give up the game for health reasons of any sort.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade