Draft 7.10.2013
2013/2014 BALTIC WOMEN VOLLEYBALL LEAGUE
REGULATIONS
1. Introduction
According to the signed Agreement between Volleyball federations of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, Baltic women volleyball League will be organized on a regular basis with purpose to increase level of clubs and to promote the popularity of volleyball in Baltic countries.
National federations of the concerned countries aim to make the competitions for women teams more attractive for spectators, media and sponsors in order to guarantee the competition a higher status that will also result in a benefit to the main performers.
Baltic Women's Volleyball League (BWVL) is governed by Jury, consisting of Secretary General of each federation, i.e. Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Volleyball Federations.
BWVL Jury accepts decisions on the principles of the consensus.
Head Office of the BWVL is defined according to the decision of Jury. For the season 2013/2014 Head Office of BWVL is located in Latvia. For the coordination of BWVL each federation has to nominate on Responsible contact person.
2. Main goals
Main goal of the BWVL is further develop women volleyball in the participating countries, by involving strong competitive teams and to define Champion of BWVL, Champions of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, candidates for the National teams of all participating countries as well.
3. Participants
Participants of BWVL are four women teams from Latvia, two women teams from Lithuania, six women teams from Estonia:
Latvian teams:
1) Jelgava/LU
2) SK Babite
3) RSU-MVS
4) MSG-Zeltaleja
Lithuanian teams:
1) Kaunas VC “Heksa”
2) ACHEMA KKSC
Estonian teams:
1) Famila/Võru VK
2) University of Tartu
3) TTÜ
4) Tallinn University
5) National Junior Team
6) Kohila VK
4. Organization format
Competitions will consist of the three rounds.
1st Stage – Main Round
2nd Stage – Final Eight
3rd Stage – National Championships
4.1.Main Round will be played with double round robin system – one tournament in each country with participating of 2 home and 2 visiting teams. Matches between Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian teams will be played by principle home-away or as separate tournaments in each country.
Schedule of the tournaments with participating of foreign teams are:
Saturday – one game per team per day;
Sunday - one game per team per day.
No play-off matches will be played.
Final Tournament will be played as per system FINAL EIGHT.
For the Final 8 teams are located according to their final ranking in Main Round. At least one team from every country will take part in Final Tournament. In case after Main Tournament one country has no spot among teams ranked 1-8, the 8-th ranking team will be replaced by the highest ranking of the country that had no spot among top 8 teams.
Final Eight Tournament will be played by following system:
I DAY
F1 1 vs 8
F2 2 vs 7
F3 3 vs 6
F4 4 vs 5
II DAY
F5 Loser F1 vs Loser F4
F6 Loser F2 vs Loser F3
F7 Winner F1 vs Winner of F4
F8 Winner F2 vs Winner F3
III Day
F9 Loser F5 vs Loser F6 (for 7-8 places)
F10 Winner F5 vs Winner F6 (for 5-6 places)
F11 Loser F7 vs Loser F8 (for 3-4 places)
F12 Winner F7 vs Winner F8 (for 1-2 places)
Teams can apply for organizing the Final 8 Tournament until 15.01.2014. Final decision about place of Final Tournament will be defined according to the decision of BWVL Jury no later than 31.01.2014. In case no candidate applies to organize Final Tournament, Organizer will be decided by separate decision of BWVL Jury.
4.2. 3rd Stage – National Championships
National Championships of each country (in case have been organized) will be played and regulated by separate Rules of concerned National Federations.
4.3. Starting time of the matches
Starting time of the matches between Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian teams are fixed between 12:00 till 20:00, on Sundays 12:00 -18:00. For the Final Eight Tournament - starting time of matches will be announced additionally.
5. Right of participation of teams
5.1. Eligibility
Only teams registered by their National Federation shall be eligible to participate in the competition. Every team has to transmit its participating fee to Bank account of Volleyball Federation of Latvia.
5.2. Registration and application procedure
The registration of teams must be done by means of the:
Form BWL-01 (Club registration)
Form BWL-02 (Sport hall registration)
Form BWL-03 (Players registration)
All forms have to be sent by registered letter or fax to the concerned National Federation’s Office. With registering all teams also commit them to participate in all phases of the competition.
Club is considered as registered, when all the documents, mentioned in p. 5.2 are received, all payments are settled in the deadline no later as 05th October 2013.
Deadlines of the official BWVL forms:
BWVL – 01 – Club Registration 15.07.2013 (to each National federation, BWVL
Head Office)
BWVL – 02 – Sport hall Registration 15.07.2013 (to each National federation)
BWVL – 03 – Players Registration-collective licence 13.09.2013 (to each National federation)
All forms have to be filled electronically; forms filled in handwriting are not accepted.
Organizer of Final 8 will be determined by the decision of BWVL Jury after the Main Round.
5.3. Team composition
For the all season each team can register maximum 24 persons, i.e. 18 players and 6 officials. For each match, a club team can be composed of a maximum of 18 persons, i.e. 12 players and the following 6 officials:
- a team manager
- a head coach
- assistant coaches (1-2)
- a medical doctor
- a physiotherapist/trainer
The presence of the Team Manager during the competition is recommended. He/she can not to sit on the bench. Any other persons are defined as extra persons.
5.4. Libero players
Within the 12 players up to 2 liberos can be listed. Therefore, the head coach has the right to register:
- 12 regular players + 0 liberos
- up to 11 regular players + 1 libero
- 7 to 10 players + 2 liberos
In case a team is composed of less than 9 players, the head coach has the right to register ONLY up to 1 libero.
Free substitution of the Libero players is allowed during the match according to the FIVB Rules of the Game.
The regular replacement player may replace and be replaced by either Libero. The Acting Libero can only be replaced by the regular replacement player for that position or by the second Libero. An illegal Libero replacement can involve (amongst others):
- no completed rally between Libero replacements,
- the Libero being replaced by a player other than the second Libero or the regular replacement player.
An illegal Libero replacement should be considered in the same way as an illegal substitution: should the illegal Libero replacement be noticed before the start of the next rally, then this is corrected by the referees, and the team is sanctioned for delay; should the illegal Libero replacement be noticed after the service hit, the consequences are the same as for an illegal substitution. If the coach wants to replace the acting Libero with the reserve Libero, the procedure is like the procedure of replacement.
5.5. Right of participation of players
Eligibility
Only players nominally registered on the team’s collective license, approved by National Federation, can take part in competitions. Each of those players must fulfill to the following conditions:
5.5.1. Player must possess only one National license valid exclusively for the club, which applies for the competition.
5.5.2 If the team has registered a foreign player, concerned Federation and player must fulfill all conditions regarding the right to play in a club of another country according to all provisions of the FIVB and CEV.
The number of foreign players per team, which according to the FIVB and CEV Regulations are bound to possess a valid International Transfer Certificate when applying for a competition, is unlimited.
Only Players not suspended by CEV and/or FIVB for the competition concerned are allowed to participate in competition.
5.5.3. Internal transfer procedure of players from club to club in each country is regulated by the Official Rules, confirmed by concerned National federation of each participating country.
5.5.4 In case National Federation Regulations require, clubs have to sign contracts with players and to present to concerned National federation the list with contractual players, where have seen period of the signed contracts, which is also confirmed by signature of each player. In case such a list is not presented to concerned National federation till the beginning of the season, it is considered that this player has amateur status.
5.5.5. In case a player is underage (younger than 18), concerned club has to guarantee their eligibility to take part in the competitions according to the Law of concerned country and National Federation.
5.6. Licenses
The number of players allowed to be listed in the collective license for all season is limited to 18 players.
Each player can only be granted one single individual license for the current season.
Collective license has to be confirmed by concerned club and National federation with the signatures and seals.
Applications for transferred and/or additional players reaching the Office of concerned National Federation after 15 January 2014 are not accepted.
The approved collective license and the official identity document, i.e. passport, ID card, or individual license, approved by concerned National federation of each player must be presented to the First Referee before the starting of each match.
Concerned National federation has to inform BWVL Head office about additional or substituted players inside their clubs till the 17 January 2014 at latest. BWVL Head office informs about the additionally registered or replaced players all the participating federations accordingly.
6. Competition clauses
6.1. General Rules governing the Competition
The matches shall only take place in competition halls, approved by the concerned National federations.
Competition shall be organized and played under the Official FIVB Volleyball Rules and taking into consideration other existing official documents, confirmed by National federations of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia.
6.2. Team uniforms
During the international matches teams must have at least two different uniforms (opposite colors). It is not allowed to play in the same color of uniform for both teams; in this case that is the responsibility of visiting club to choose the opposite color of uniform.
BWVL Jury can make a nomination of uniform colors before the matches, which teams have to respect.
6.3. Allocation of points and classification
The following rule to determine the winning team will be applied:
The ranking of teams is determined by the points awarded for matches won and lost.
Winning match with result 3:0, for winner 3 points, for loser 0 points
Winning match with result 3:1, for winner 3 points, for loser 0 points
Winning match with result 3:2, for winner 2 points, for loser 1 point
For any team refusing to play a match or not appearing at a match first time, a match will be accounted for as lost by 0-3 (0-25; 0-25; 0-25) by the team concerned, in case team refusing second time, it shall be excluded from the rest of BWVL competitions. The results obtained up to the moment of its exclusion shall be cancelled. This will be sanctioned as a withdrawal by forfeit from a financial and sports point. Other sanctions (financial and sportive) are decided by concerned National Federation according to it's regulations.
In case of equality in the number of points gained by two or several teams, they will be classified in descending order by the winning and losing matches, set quotient resulting from the division of the number of all sets won by the number of all sets lost in Main Tournament. If the tie persists, as per the set quotient, they will be classified in descending order by the set points quotient resulting from the division of all set points scored by the total of set points lost during all sets. If the tie continues, as per the sets points’ quotient, the teams are decided between by the result of the match(es), which the teams have disputed between them.
6.4. Balls
The only ball to be used for all matches is the MIKASA MVA-200. Each hosting team has to provide at least 5 MIKASA MVA-200 balls for the game, for the warming-up of the match teams will use own balls.
6.5. Withdrawal
In case of the withdrawal of team after the official registration form receiving in concerned National Federation and BWVL Office, in a deadline, mentioned in these Regulations and before the starting of competition, during the competition, team will be penalized. Amount of fine will be determined according to the additional decision of BWVL Jury the regulations of concerned National Federation.
7. Competition site
7.1. Competition hall/ Area/Conditions / Approvals
All matches shall be staged in halls, meeting the requirements laid down to these Regulations. Therefore concerned Federation has to approve sport halls, where competitions will be held. Coach’s line is mandatory in the sport hall
Internet connection must be available in competition hall (incl. for statisticians).
8. Participating clubs
8.1. Organizational items
The participating clubs are responsible for the preparation of all matches and the organization and smooth running of all home matches. Each participating club shall nominate for the whole period of the competition a responsible person who shall be in contact with the National federation for the entire organization of the competition.
The hosting club according to these Regulations must assist to each visiting team as from their arrival at the competitions place till departure. As per request of visiting club, hosting clubs have to arrange the hotel, meals and have to ensure with sport hall for competitions according the Official FIVB Rules. Request concerning the necessity of booking of hotel has to be sent by visiting club to hosting club not later than 1 month before concerned tournament.
8.2. Technical items
The hosting club must nominate:
- 1 scoreboard operator,
- 1 announcer,
- 4-6 ball retrievers,
- minimum 2 floor moppers (up to 6),
- 2 quick moppers,
- All other staff for the organizing of the home matches.
Minimum 2 ball retrievers and floor moppers must be nominated to each game.
8.3. Official venue of arrival & departure
The hosting club before the starting of the season will communicate to the concerned National federation’s representative and clubs about the official arrival/departure venue and official address of the sport hall, where home match of the organizing club takes place.
8.4. Accreditations
It is mandatory that teams before the starting of the match present to the first referee of the match following documents:
- collective licence of the team, issued and duly completed by concerned federation and club;
- Individual licences, issued by concerned National federation or ID cards, or passports of players.
9. Financial issues
9.1. Expenses of teams
9.1.1. Organization
Hosting team of the concerned tournament is responsible for covering of all organizing expenses, including sports hall, all staff etc.
9.1.2. Travel
All travel (to and back to the competitions place as well as during the competitions) expenses will be covered by participating teams themselves.
Local transportation within the hosting country, i.e. transportation between the official venue of arrival and departure, the competition hall, training hall and hotel(s), shall be arranged and paid by the visiting club.
9.1.2. Accommodation
For all matches, each organizing team per request of visiting team shall assist to organize their lodging & food at the competition venue in a good standard hotel in double rooms with WC, shower, etc. The costs of hotel, including the meals (including breakfast, lunch, and dinner) cannot exceed 40 EUR per person per day. Visiting team has to send request for accommodation to organizing club at least 2 weeks before the concerned game at latest. Visiting clubs are responsible to cover all own expenses for accommodation and meals.
Hosting team of each tournament/matches in case of request of visiting teams assists to arrange the possible cheapest accommodation for official delegation.
9.2. Expenses for referees
Local organizers (teams) of all the tournaments/matches are responsible for covering the expenses (including travel expenses) of referees. The exact way of covering the all costs of referees (per diem, transportation) is decided and coordinated by respective National federation. Each federation informs concerned clubs about the order of mentioned payments.
The costs of Referees in Final 8 Tournament are Organizers responsibility on same conditions.
For Neutral Referees of each participating country, who are nominated to the Final 8 Tournament by their Federations, all expenses of these referees (per diem, accommodation, meals, travel) are covered by clubs, to which country belongs nominated referee.
10. Referees
10.1. Principles of appointment of referees
Only referees appearing on the annual referees list, which is approved by concerned National Federation, may be appointed to officiate the matches.
Referees (1, 2 Referee, scorer) are nominated by Refereeing commission of the respective National Federation of the hosting club, other staff (ball retrievers, floor moppers, announcer) is nominated by hosting club.
All referees have to receive their appointments from concerned National Federation. Withdrawals are only accepted in exceptional cases and have to be announced to the Office of concerned Federation immediately.
Each Referee must wear the latest official refereeing uniform of their country.
10.2. Duties of referees
Each Referee must examine:
- if the hosting club has the necessary scoresheet and “Line-up sheets”, that must be filled in the language of country, where take place match.
The First Referee has the following tasks:
- carry out a final inspection regarding refereeing matters of the sports infrastructure and material in the competition areas;
- brief the scorers, ball retrievers, floor moppers, line-judges (if nominated) about their duties;
- explain all refereeing matters;
- to check collective licence of the teams and passports, ID cards or individual licences, issued by concerned federation;
- make remarks about any of faults in the score sheet after the match, fixed in sport hall;
- ½ of hour after the match inform Responsible of own federation about the sanctions of players of the concerned match, in case such sanctions have been applied;
Scorer has to fill the score sheet with following additional tasks:
- has to fix amount of spectators in the scoresheet.
Referees of the game have to know basic English, with purpose to explain all situations to foreign players and team members.
10.3. Officiating referees
Working Material
The referees have to follow the Official Volleyball Rules and all official documents listed below:
- Match Protocol
- Volleyball Rules
- Refereeing Guidelines & Instructions
- Case Book
- Guidelines for Line-Judges
- Court personnel Guidelines
- Floor mopping Guidelines
10.4. Arrival & Departure
For matches the appointed referees have to arrive to the competition hall at least 1 hour before the match.
The departure is fixed after the match.
11. Registration and financial items
Registration of the teams is going through the respective National Federation. Registration and participation fee (amount and deadline) is fixed by concerned National Federation.
12. AWARDING CEREMONY
The Awarding Ceremony will be organized after the Final match.
Presence of all awarded teams is mandatory in the Awarding Ceremony. Organizer has the rights to make changes in the script of Awarding Ceremony, teams has to be informed about that accordingly.
12.1. PRIZES
According to the results, three winning teams (each team max 18 persons) receive following awards:
- 12 players and a maximum of 6 accompanying persons of the 1st team receive a gold medal, Cup, team Diploma,
- 12 players and a maximum of 6 accompanying persons of the 2nd ranked team receive a silver medal, Cup, team Diploma,
- 12 players and a maximum of 6 accompanying persons of the 3rd ranked team receive a bronze medal, Cup, team Diplomas.
The best player of each team, taking part in Final Tournament will be awarded with individual award.
13. Marketing issues
All promotional materials are made by participating teams.
In case of sponsorship BWVL Jury has the right to decide to prepare common promotional materials, which participating clubs are bound to distribute during the competitions.
14. Others
Administration of this competition will be in close co-operation with Volleyball federations of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia.
The highest authority of competition is Jury of BWVL.
All matters which are not defined in these Regulations could be the subject of discussions; final decision is made by Jury of BWVL.