THE Premier Volleyball League will have a season-ending conference this year despite a looming sanction from the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) that would bar imports to play in the league.
PVL on holding season-ending conference amid PNVF sanction
This was the assurance made by Sports Vision President Ricky Palou to reporters in response to earlier reports that PNVF is preparing to sanction the pro-league for not aligning its conferences to FIVB calendar.
“With or without imports, we’ll have a third conference,” Palou said on Thursday.
“We discussed with the team managers and they are going to go back with their principals, the owners of the clubs, and then get back to us. 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.”
In a report by Daily Tribune, the PNVF sanctioned the pro-league for violating the Article 6.1.1.b of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball Sports Regulations 2022 that states that “the national team period from 16 May to 15 October shall be prioritized in the calendar.”
PVL is currently holding its mid-season Invitational Conference that started on June 27 and is scheduled to last until July 30.
As a punishment, PVL clubs will not be able to secure International Transfer Certificates (ITC) for foreign guest players which imports would need to play in the Philippines. The last PVL tournament scheduled late this year is the import-laden Reinforced Conference where Petro Gazz is the reigning champions.
Palou remained optimistic that this will be resolved soon.
“I think everything can be resolved naman. We just have to sit down and [talk] about all the problems and issues and then come up with a decision,” he said.
The PVL clubs, in particular, would rather have a third and season-ending conference than none.
“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,” he said.
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