A-League boss says VAR did its job after controversial Melbourne derby penalty call

MELBOURNE derby referee Kurt Ams had the power to overrule his Bruno Fornaroli gaffe by calling a “drop ball”, but A-League chiefs say that the VAR did its job.

Referee Kurt Ams signals for the VAR during the A-League Melbourne derby.

MELBOURNE derby referee Kurt Ams had the power to overrule his Bruno Fornaroli gaffe by calling a “drop ball”, but A-League chiefs say that the VAR did its job.

A-League boss Greg O’Rourke conceded the call which gifted Melbourne City an equaliser was wrong, as Keisuke Honda’s opener was cancelled with Melbourne Victory fuming after a Tweet from the official A-League account on Saturday night tried to justify the penalty.

Ams awarded a free-kick to Fornaroli on the edge of the penalty area after deeming he was brought down by a Melbourne Victory defender.

FFA confirmed that Ams could have called a drop ball if he deemed contact was insufficient to award a foul and not simulation.

Referee Kurt Ams signals for the VAR during the Melbourne derby.

It’s understood that Ams privately conceded post-match that he had blundered, after a VAR check saw him stand by his call and upgrade it to a penalty with the incident occurring inside the box.

“It’s subjective because it is determining if there was enough contact to award a foul, however in the opinion of the Elite Referee coach the contact did not meet that threshold and a foul should not have been awarded in the first instance,’’ O’Rourke said.

“On Saturday night Ams made a decision that Fornaroli had been contacted with enough force to award a foul. The VAR only intervened to advise him that the incident had happened inside the box and because of how subjective it was, that he should come to the sideline and review it himself and also confirm what he saw was inside the box.

“So the VAR actually worked as per protocol. The referee reviewed this and stuck by his original decision.”

Victory are fuming at a Tweet from the A-League’s official Twitter handle which justified the decision: “Brown clearly makes contact with Fornaroli’s knee inside the penalty area.”

Muscat remained frustrated on Sunday.

“I haven’t met any yet – apart from City and good luck to them – that’s said it’s a penalty,’’ Muscat said.

“So they (FFA) are supporting that the decision was right (on Twitter).

“They weren’t causing us problems, we were inside their half and we were building momentum. Then the incident happens.”

O’Rourke conceded it was a fine line with regards’ to video input on penalty calls.

“It’s not for the VAR to give his opinion around the level of contact, that’s a matter for the referee. Otherwise that could be a debate in any tackle,’’ he said.

“All he can do is point out to the referee that he thinks he should have another look at it. And in this case, because the consequence would be that it was inside the box and would need to be awarded a penalty.”