The return of football this week has reminded us that despite a 100-day layoff, some things really don’t change.
David Luiz is still a liability at centre-back, Roy Keane is still a moody so-and-so and Norwich, despite being on the brink of relegation, will still try to play a brand of beautiful, possession-based football which their skill-set just can’t deliver at Premier League level.
Technology causing controversy in football also hasn’t changed, as proven when Sheffield United’s perfectly legitimate goal versus Aston Villa was not awarded by the goalline technology system.
While this was a clear and costly error, I don’t have any real issue with the system, given this was its first mistake in more than 9,000 matches in which it has been used.
I also don’t have an issue with referee Michael Oliver, as his view of the ball was obscured and he is told to rely on the system.
What I did have an issue with, though, was that Aston Villa, upon realising the clear and obvious mistake, didn’t allow Sheffield United to walk the ball into the net to correct the situation.
They could have done this either in the 43rd minute when the incident took place and their management could see live on their monitors, or immediately after half time when the mistake was undoubtably relayed to the players and confirmed by TV.
While I believe wholeheartedly in sportsmanship, I am also a realist. I realise that sometimes your team gets a lucky break and you have to take advantage of it because you could be on the wrong end of a poor decision as soon as in the next phase of play.
While two wrongs don’t make a right, multiple wrongs spread out to all teams, evenly, over time, will at least be perceived as fair.
Sportsmanship would be nice, but teams may believe they can’t really afford it because it won’t necessarily be afforded to them when they are the victims of an injustice.
The problem I have with this week’s Aston Villa incident, though, is the hypocrisy they have demonstrated, given what transpired just last year in a game between themselves and Leeds.
After an Aston Villa player went down injured, Leeds continued to play on, rather than put the ball out of play, and scored a perfectly legitimate goal.
Villa were apoplectic on both the pitch and the side-line. As players grabbed the goalscorer and threw him around, their coaching staff stormed the Leeds bench to remonstrate.
It was an ugly affair that lasted a few minutes until Leeds manager Marcelo Biesla, in a classy and sporting move, ordered his players to let Villa walk the ball into their net. It was a moment of rare sportsmanship which will live long in the memory.
Aston Villa were all too happy to be the beneficiaries of such sportsmanship last season - what a shame that they didn’t extend the same courtesy to Sheffield United when they deserved it.
