President Ricky Palou assured that the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) would have a third conference just hours after news broke that the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) had sanctioned the league for violating an “FIVB regulation.”
Palou spoke to members of the press after the Choco Mucho-Farm Fresh match to address the situation and revealed that the league was prepared to proceed with the season-ending conference despite the absence of foreign players.
“We discussed with the team managers and they’re going to go back with their principals, the owners of the clubs, and then get back to us,” said Palou on Thursday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre.
“We need a couple of days. By next week we’ll know what the plans are but we definitely will have a third conference with or without the imports,” he added.
The long-time sports official also shared that the league, along with PNVF president Tats Suzara, is scheduled to sit down with FIVB officials during the Volleyball Nations League, which will be held in the Philippines next week, in an attempt to reach a resolution.
Palou is hopeful that the league and the sport’s governing body can resolve the issue and salvage the Reinforced Conference, which is set to take place later this year.
“By the end of next week. After the VNL, everything’s gonna be final kasi meron ng dadating dito na FIVB so I think the idea of Tats [Suzara] is we should all sit down together and work out something,” said Palou.
Earlier in the day, the PNVF penalized the PVL for violating Article 6.1.1.b of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball Sports Regulations 2022.
According to the article, the national team period should be prioritized by professional leagues. However, the league went ahead with the opening of the Invitational Conference on June 27.
League officials disclosed that the PVL had already submitted its calendar to the PNVF as early as December of last year. No queries were raised regarding the Invitational Conference which takes place during the “international break” from the federation.
The FIVB only allows club tournaments to take place from May 15 to October 15 if the league gains clearance from them.
As a result, the PNVF will not grant PVL clubs international transfer certificates (ITC) required for imports who will play overseas.
“Tats was saying na mayroong sulat ang FIVB na we can proceed with this conference pero hindi sila mag-iissue ng ITC for the third conference or the Reinforced Conference pero sabi ko pwede naman pag-usapan ‘yan ‘di ba. Dadating naman yung FIVB,” said Palou.
The Invitational Conference will run until July 30 next month.
If the league and the FIVB fail to reach a resolution, Palou expressed confidence that PVL clubs would still proceed with the final conference to give their local players more exposure.
“Hindi naman [sila worried]. Kasi sa kanila, with or without imports we’ll have a third conference e. Kasi sa kanila naman, ang hinahabol nila exposure ‘di ba? So they really want a conference whether there are imports or not, I’m sure they will want to go on.”
The PVL and its team owners have been supporting the national team and every endeavor of the PNVF.
Since the 2022 AVC Challenge Cup for Women, players from the PVL have been called up to the national team.
