Originally Posted by
Monty92
Yes, it's because the authorities consider refereeing inconsistency to be a feature of the game, when it is in fact a bug.
It's the same with the commonly accepted habit of refs "evening things up" or being less likely to give early bookings in high profile games, or shirt grabbing at set pieces being treated more leniently than in open play. Nothing at all in the laws about any of these things, yet we all accept them, for right or wrong. Then occasionally the FA will arbitrarily decide to clamp down on one of them, as they have with shirt pulling this season.