MANILA, Philippines – The Premier Volleyball League (PVL) is pulling out all the stops in its massive six-month 2024-25 All-Filipino Conference starting this Saturday, November 9, at the PhilSports Arena.
To ensure that games are conducted under the highest standards of integrity and parity, the league is teaming up with the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) to bring in international referees for the conference’s playoffs, ideally during the round-robin semifinals and best-of-three finals.
“As agreed with the PVL, the PNVF will support the PVL in the semifinals and the finals in bringing international neutral referees [from] nearby [countries],” PNVF president Tats Suzara said at the All-Filipino press conference on Monday, November 4.
“From Hong Kong, Thailand, for two weeks or three weeks, so that there is really a fair decision by the officiating referees. No one will say that there’s bias from Filipino referees. This is one of the innovations that the PNVF and AVC (Asian Volleyball Confederation) will support PVL [in].”
This development primarily stemmed from the highly controversial officiating fiasco in the 2024 Reinforced Conference semifinals, where a contentious fifth-set net touch challenge call by PLDT was overturned, paving the way for Akari to reach its first-ever finals.
Aside from widespread public condemnation of the decision, a vast majority of fans also decried the lack of real-time transparency and explanations from the officials and the league.
To combat these situational problems, the PVL is also giving first referees lapel mics to publicly explain their calls if necessary and prevent misunderstandings or unofficial and incorrect interpretations.
Suzara also called on broadcast partner Cignal to be on its toes on these kinds of calls and make sure its analysts are likewise in sync with the technical committee and on point with their on-air explanations.
“Cignal here has been a strong partner, but I always request from the broadcast to be more careful in the video challenge. Because sometimes, the broadcast goes first before the referees decide. Referees decide first before the video challenge broadcast,” he said.
Headed by defending champion and current Grand Slam winner Creamline, all 12 teams are guaranteed to play at least four out of the conference’s six months with the addition of a play-in tournament for the seventh and eighth seeds, further necessitating tiptop execution from all officials involved. – Rappler.com
