An Italian boy has been banned for a year after exposing himself to taunt a female referee during an amateur football match, it was reported on Thursday.

The 14-year-old lowered his shorts during a youth match at Mestre, near Venice, after 22-year-old referee Giulia Nicastro awarded a corner. 

In her match report Nicastro said that the teenager "started to undress, pronouncing vulgar insults of a sexist content," while fans hurled abuse at her over her refereeing throughout the match.

The "unmentionable insults" intensified from a group of up to twenty fans of the youngster's club Treporti after she showed him a red card for his behaviour.

The Amateur League of Veneto, imposed a year-long ban which will be halved if the player attends an Equal Opportunities rehabilitation programme run by the local authority in his home own of Cavallino-Treporti, on the Venetian coast.

He was also barred from attending matches during that time, Italian newspapers reported.

Nicastro recently shared a selfie with her Instagram followers of herself in a bright pink referee kit, with the caption: "REFEREE. Think, believe, dream and dare."