NFHS Rules

substitutions 8 for 18 throughtout the set. at match point coach subs 8 for 5. Umpire allows substitution - then realizes it is an illegal substitution. Calls it - for match point. There was no serve. What do you do as the up referee?

I reluctantly allowed it - as it was not a close game. I talked to the down ref and score keeper and said - you all have to catch that right away and just not allow the substitution.

I still feel we jacked that call. Please help.

The key question here is did the offending team have a time-out remaining? It is an unnecessary delay when an illegal sub attempts to enter or is found in the game (see Rule 10-3-7-c-4 and 10-3 Penalties).

If the team had a time-out remaining - you (as the Referee) blow your whistle, signal Unnecessary Delay (signal 22) followed by Time-Out (signal 21a) - the offending team is charged with an Unneccesary Delay Time-out, #8 is removed and #5 returns to the line-up and the match continues following the time-out.

If, however, the offending team has used all of their time-outs prior to this incident, Unnecessary Delay is charged and a Loss of Rally point is given to the opponent since a time-out is no longer available. In that case, you blow your whistle, signal Unnecessary Delay (signal 22) and then the point (signal 17) to the opponent. In your specific scenario, since the UD would result in Match Point, you then signal end of game (signal 23), direct the teams to their respective endlines and release them to their benches.

I hope that is a help.

Thanks Bear. I understand the technical aspect of the call. I just do not think this is an appropriate way to end a match. I was asking more for a smoother way of handling it. Maybe I should have called my partner over and said - thats an illegal sub - lets fix it and move on. or something similar. I do not like ending a game let alone match that way.

Whistleman, I totally understand how you feel. I have been is similar situations where a rule would end a match in a blowout situation and wanted some way for the players to play out the rest of the match. Let me just say from experience, you have to make the correct call and enforce it as such. I had a match where one team was winning by 9 and was receiving match point. I allowed an illegal contact (lift) go on the team that was behind. Next thing I know, the team that was behind wins the game. That team was so bad I didn't think it would matter but it did and we had to go to a third game. What I learned was I have to call what I see and enforce the rules to the best of my ability because if I don't, I am giving one team an advantage that could end up costing the other team the match.

I agree with you that we have to enforce the rules. I think we could have prevented this. I do not like the way we handled it at all. I am still kicking myself for not questioning the substiution right away to my partner - like I was to myself. I do not like to see games end like this at all. I can live with ball handling - but not something like this.

You have to let your partner do his/her job as well. That is why he/she is there (or supposed to be there).

whistleman, you're forgetting one important part of the equation - the coach is supposed to know who they have subbed in and out of the game. Once the coach requested the sub and #8 entered the sub zone, she had to enter the game. When #5 came over to the sideline showing herself to be the player subbing out for #8, at that point we have Unnecessary Delay occurring (since #8 was already subbing in and out for #18 during that same game and I am guessing that #5 did not sub into the game for #18).

So, once again, it comes down to whether the team had a time-out available or not. From your later posts, I can only infer that they did not have a time-out available since you have not indicated otherwise. Any way that you slice it, without a time-out available to be called as a penalty due to the Unnecessary Delay, you are going to award Match Point to the opponent per 11-2-Penalty 2.

In this situation, there is no way out of awarding the penalty point if the team does not have a time-out available (and neither ignorance of the rules nor not wanting to end the match on a call like this is an excuse).

Big Toe - good point about the-call-that-was-let-go. I know that many of us have experienced the same thing where that call that we ignored because the team was so far behind came back to bite us BIGTIME!

MCBear is exactly correct here. Unfortunatley, the rules of Volleyball do not allow us to use any preventive officiating in the situation you described. We have to assess a penalty of some type which has been clearly outlined already.

Whistleman - I'm guessing that you officiate other sports where you can apply some preventive officiating to keep stuff like this from happening.

For what it's worth - here is my similar story:

I was working an independant HS league that played under NFHS rules. This was several years ago. Varsity match - not very good quality of play. I was working alone. I looked over each player as they were warming up looking for jewelery, didn't see any. I gave the pregame speech at the captains meetings, coaches confirmed that all players were legally and properly equipped. We are playing the first game of the match, score is about 14-3 (pre rally scoring) and the team with 14 is going to serve. I look over at team R to check alignment and notice that one of the team R players is wearing those shoes that have the lights in the sole that flash when you walk. Those shoes were mentioned specifically in the rule book that year as being illegal. Why I didn't notice them in the pre-game or in the match up until that point, I don't know. I awarded team S a point which ended the game and explained to team R coach what happened. She was gracious about it, didn't realize that was a rule, but agreed with the call. In that case, it did not decide a match, but only a game. I still felt terrible about it. So now, you can bet that I am not only looking for jewelry, but any other illegal equipment.

andy, thanks for sharing your situation from several years ago. I have to say that I really like your tagline - "It's what you learn after you think you know it all that's important!" Since I am going through the process of being evaluated as a potential Junior National Referee candidate, I REALLY understand what that means!

This is my 23rd season of refereeing volleyball and I have learned how much I have been doing wrong and the bad habits that I have created over the last few years. Thanks for your input and willingness to share your experience.