THE referee at the heart of the Melbourne derby penalty blunder has been given a week off from A-League duties.

Kurt Ams, who awarded a turning-point penalty after video review to Melbourne City in their 2-1 defeat of Melbourne Victory, wasn’t among the officials named for round two of the season.

Whether by design or otherwise, Ams’ omission fulfils the desire of ex-Socceroo Mark Bosnich to see referees benched for poor performance.

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Bosnich, a Fox Sports commentator, railed at Ams for his call on Saturday night, insisting the 36-year-old be stood down for awarding the spot kick.

“It’s an absolutely disgraceful decision. I’m sick of this,” he said.

“The reason why we’ve got the VAR is so that referees can have a re-look at it and realise it wasn’t even a foul ... if this is going to continue, they need to lose their job for a couple of weeks.”

A-League chief Greg O’Rourke admitted the referee’s mistake after the match.

With just five games each round, it’s not unusual for the A-League officials to miss a weekend in the middle, though often they are assigned to fourth referee duties.

Ams won’t be officiating anywhere at A-League level in round two.

Referee Kurt Ams. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images

The 36-year-old whistleblower is one of the league’s most-trusted officials, seen fit to oversee one of last year’s semi-finals - Victory’s extraordinary 3-2 defeat of Sydney FC.

A FFA spokesperson said the organisation had no comment to make regarding referee appointments.

— AAP