By KATO P. LADAN, Kaduna
No player would be allowed to play in the Savannah Conference of the Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF), League, which action is to commence on Sunday at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Indoor Sports Complex, Murtala Mohammed Square, Kaduna.
Chairman Control Committee, of the Savannah Conference League, Martins Melandie expressed this while reeling out the rules of the competition at the Media Center, Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna on Saturday evening.
“Before every match, we will check. We will not condone double registration of players and any player without licence will not be allowed to play.
“Right now I have received a complaint that a player registered elsewhere. If we find out the club did it intentionally, the club will pay fine of N50,000 and the player would be disqualified.
“If you have any such players, keep them aside and don’t feature them,” he warned.
Speaking further, he warned that they will not tolerate any acts of indiscipline or damage of property.
“If you are not satisfied with an officiating, the rules have given you opportunity to protest. Let’s follow due process bin protests,” he advised.
Melandie, who is also the Technical Director of the NVBF appealed to the referees to be fair in officiating.
“For the referees, we have come this far and will not want unfair officiating,” he pleaded.
On the format that would be adopted for play, he said it would be based on home and away basis.
“We will play round robbin against the home and away fixtures. We will use the Murtala Square for all the matches. With eight matches played each day. Whistle time is 7am. Which means teams and officials should be in the hall, 30 minutes before that time,” he stressed.
Still on discipline, he vowed that only the internationally recognized rules of FIVB will be administered.
“Coaches must be properly dressed, if not they can’t sit on the bench. If the head coach is wearing suit, other officials must also wear suits. If he takes off his suit during the game, all others must also take off theirs. Jerseys must be properly numbered,” he warned.
Explaining on how sports will be recorded for teams, he explained that it would not always be winner takes all.
“If you win your game 3-0 or 3-1 you get three points. If you win 3-2, you get two points and the opponents get one point,” he declared.
Draws were held at same meeting, for teams to know their opponents.
At the end of the week-long league, eight out of the 16 male and female teams will qualify for the national finals, where they will battle the best eight from the Atlantic Conference.
The best four male and equal number of female teams are expected to qualify.
