Volleyball Regulations

VOL 1 There shall be separate Female and Male Team Championships. The programme for each Championships shall include leagues and knockout competitions as per BUCS general regulations, Appendix 1 (‘BUCS Competition Offer and Associated BUCS Points’) and Appendix 10 (‘BUCS Promotion, Relegation and Knockout Information’).

VOL 2 Affiliations All institutions must affiliate with their National Governing Body, in accordance with, and by the deadline stated in, the BUCS Sport Specific Affiliations Document. Failure to do so will lead to sanctions as outlined in the BUCS Sport Specific Affiliations Document and possibly further disciplinary action.

VOL 3 Match format All fixtures shall be best of five sets and played under FIVB rules whereby all sets are rally points. The first four sets shall be first to 25 points and by two clear points. A deciding fifth set shall be first to 15 points and again by two clear points.

VOL 4 Fixture administration and arrangements

VOL 4.1 Court bookings and timings

VOL 4.1.1 A minimum hall booking of 2.5 hours is required. This shall comprise at least 10 minutes general warm up and 10 minutes for hitting and serving (as per FIVB rule 7.2), leaving at least two hours and 10 minutes for the match.

VOL 4.1.2 The warm up start time (note VOL 4.1.1) is the fixture start time and should be the time that is posted on BUCS Play. This cannot be before the relevant time stated in REG 9.3.5.

VOL 4.1.3 The match start time, in accordance with VOL 4.1.1, must not be less than 20 minutes after the warm up start time.

VOL 4.1.4 Teams must be advised of both the warm up start time and the match start time as part of the fixture confirmation. As such teams must arrive at the venue in good time to allow the warm up to start at the appointed time.

VOL 4.2.3 Referee stand Courts must have a secure, stable, refereeing stand which will enable the 1^st referee to control the game effectively.

VOL 4.2 Facility requirements The following minimum standards are designed to ensure that students participating in BUCS Volleyball are able to do so in a safe and appropriate environment using suitable equipment. Matches will take place under the FIVB Rules of the Game, with the following additional provisions/amendments to facilitate and support BUCS competition:

VOL 4.2.1 Court/Hall provision

VOL 4.2.1.1 The court should be of standard size, 18m x 9m, surrounded by a free zone which is a minimum of 3m wide.

VOL 4.2.1.2 The surface must be flat, horizontal and uniform and not present any danger or injury to the players.

VOL 4.2.1.3 For Premier Tier/National Championship fixtures, the free playing space (the space above the playing area which is free from any obstructions) shall measure a minimum of 7.5m in height from the playing surface. For all other fixtures, the free playing space shall measure a minimum of 6m from the playing surface.

VOL 4.2.1.4 Courts lines must be clearly marked and visible. A court centre line must also exist and be clearly visible.

VOL 4.2.2 Posts and net

VOL 4.2.2.1 All nets must include securely fastened antennae.

VOL 4.2.2.2 Posts must be securely fixed to the ground without wires and there shall be no dangerous or obstructing devices. Nets fixed to walls are not acceptable for competition purposes.

VOL 4.2.2.3 For all Premier Tier and National Championship matches, posts must be padded and if the posts have anchor points, then padding is required to ensure all components of the base are covered. All padding shall be correctly fitted before the warm up start time. If the required padding is not in place, then a match must not proceed.

Note: It is intended that the requirements of VOL 4.2.2.3 will be implemented for all BUCS volleyball matches for the 2027-28 season, so institutions/Playing Entities with teams competing below the Premier Tier/National Championship level are encouraged to start putting in place padding as soon as possible.

VOL 4.2.3 Referee stand Courts must have a secure, stable, refereeing stand which will enable the 1st referee to control the game effectively.

VOL 5 Match officials Match officials, including a Scorer and where applicable Line Judges, should be appointed as per Appendix 5 (‘BUCS Match Officials Requirements’).

VOL 5.1 Failure to provide the appropriate Referee(s) Where, under REG 10.2 it is the responsibility of the first named (home) institution/Playing Entity to arrange the appropriate match officials, REG 10.6.2–REG 10.6.4 shall apply in relation to a failure to provide the appropriate Referee(s). However, REG 10.6.3 is amended so that if an institution/Playing Entity has two appointed/booked appropriate referees, but one of these withdraws from a fixture later than 48 hours before the fixture start time, the remaining referee shall act as the 1st referee and the institution/Playing Entity may replace the other referee with a competent, experienced and suitable person, for example a player or coach, to act as 2^nd referee, but they must inform the opposition of this before the match begins. Should both appointed/booked appropriate referees withdraw, or there is no suitable replacement found, then REG 10.6.3.1/REG 10.6.3.2/REG 10.6.3.3 shall apply as appropriate. For clarity, this individual does not need to be neutral.

VOL 5.2 Failure to provide an appropriate Scorer Where, under REG 10.2 it is the responsibility of the first named (home) institution/Playing Entity to arrange the appropriate match officials, REG 10.6.2–REG 10.6.4 shall apply in relation to a failure to provide an appropriate Scorer, with the following amendments:

• Where a team is permitted to 'play under protest' under REG 10.6.3.3, they may only appeal the match result if the Referee(s) provide written evidence to substantiate that the performance of the Scorer - or lack of a Scorer - affected the outcome of the match.
• In cases where REG 10.6.4.1/REG 10.6.4.2/REG 10.6.4.3 would apply, the fixture shall only be conceded as a walkover win to the opposition (away) institution/Playing Entity if the Referee(s) provide written evidence to substantiate that the performance of the Scorer - or lack of a Scorer - affected the outcome of the match, but in all cases the first named (home) team will incur a £50 fine.

VOL 5.3 Failure to provide the appropriate Line Judges Where, under REG 10.2 it is the responsibility of the first named (home) institution/Playing Entity to arrange the appropriate match officials, REG 10.6.2–REG 10.6.4 shall not apply in relation to a failure to provide the appropriate Line Judges, but the first named (home) team will incur a £50 fine.

VOL 6 Squad size The maximum squad size shall be 14 players. Regardless of squad size, a team does not have to nominate any Liberos.

VOL 6.1 Bench personnel Teams shall be allowed a maximum of five bench personnel.

VOL 7 Minimum number of players for a fixture to start The minimum number of players per team required to be on court for a fixture to start will be six.

VOL 8 Playing kit The FIVB Official Volleyball Rules shall apply, with the following variations:

VOL 8.1 Allowable shirt numbers shall be any number from 1 to 99. No two players in a team may wear the same number in a single match.

VOL 8.2 The colour and the design for the shorts and socks are not required to be uniform for the team, nor are libero players required to wear different dominant coloured/contrasting shorts or socks from the rest of the team.

VOL 8.3 The team captain is not required to have on their shirt a stripe of 8 x 2 cm underlining the number on the chest.

VOL 9 Late arrivals In the event of a team arriving late the following procedure shall apply:

VOL 9.1 Where both team captains agree, and sufficient hall time is available, then the match shall be played in full.

VOL 9.2 Where one team objects then the following procedure shall apply:

VOL 9.2.1 If a team is not on court and ready to play at the intended match start time, they shall be allowed a maximum of 15 minutes leeway to appear. At 15 minutes after the intended match start time the team that is late shall lose the first set 25-0.

VOL 9.2.2 They shall then lose a set for every subsequent 15 minutes that they are late until they are 45 minutes late at which point the match shall be awarded as a walkover.

VOL 9.2.3 If the team that is late arrives during one of the 15 minute leeway periods then they shall be allowed the balance of the time remaining within that period to warm up and be ready to play at the next deadline point. Therefore, it is possible for a team to arrive late, fall behind on sets but still win the match on the court of play.

VOL 10 Incomplete fixtures Draws are not permitted in volleyball. Where a fixture does not reach a conclusion:

VOL 10.1 If VOL 4.1.1 has been complied with and VOL 9 does not apply, or VOL 9.1 has been applied, the fixture should be classed as abandoned and rearranged at the away team’s venue, following the relevant procedure in REG 14.

VOL 10.2 If VOL 4.1.1 has been complied with and VOL 9.2 has been applied:

VOL 10.2.1 If the lateness of the team was caused through no fault of the team the fixture should be rearranged in line with REG 14. The venue of the rearranged match will be determined in line with REG 14.2, unless an alternative is agreed between the institutions/Playing Entities concerned.

VOL 10.2.2 Where the lateness was caused by the team, or one its members, that team shall concede a walkover.

VOL 10.3 If VOL 4.1.1 has not been complied with and VOL 9 does not apply, the team that booked insufficient court time shall concede a walkover.

VOL 10.4 If VOL 4.1.1 has not been complied with and VOL 9 does apply, the fixture should be classed as abandoned and rearranged at the away team’s venue, following the relevant procedure in REG 14.

VOL 11 Scoresheets All BUCS fixtures must be fully recorded on an FIVB scoresheet which should be provided by the home team. Failure to use an FIVB scoresheet will result in the forfeiture of a match by the home team where this is proven.

VOL 11.1 It is the responsibility of the home team for each fixture to keep a copy of the scoresheet until the end of the season. In the case of a match appeal or dispute regarding a result, the home team must be able to produce the scoresheet to BUCS when requested.

VOL 12 League points

VOL 12.1 Premier Tier Where the result is 3-0 or 3-1, three points will be awarded to the winning team, and no points will be awarded to the losing team. Where the result is 3-2, two points will be awarded to the winning team, and one point will be awarded to the losing team.

VOL 12.2 Tier 1 and below Three points will be awarded for a win and no points for a loss.

VOL 12.3 Where a walkover has been awarded/conceded (REG 13), three points shall be given to the non-offending team and three points deducted from the offending team.

VOL 12.4 No points will be awarded to either team in the case of a void fixture.

VOL 13 Calculating final league positions

VOL 13.1 Final league positions will be primarily based on league points accumulated. However, should there be any ties on points within a league, they shall be split using the sequential system of tiebreaker steps detailed in VOL 13.2–VOL 13.12.

VOL 13.2 If after the application of a step the number of tied teams is reduced, but two or more teams remain tied, the tiebreaker criteria from that step shall be reapplied again to any remaining tied teams, before, if required, moving to the next step. For the avoidance of doubt, this will also apply where four or more teams are tied and may then split into two or more separate groupings of tied teams.

VOL 13.3 For any tiebreaker step where data from fixtures across the whole league is used, if the tie on league points has been effected by any walkovers conceded to the teams tied or any void fixtures involving these teams, any results against the team(s) which conceded the walkover(s) or the team(s) involved in the void fixtures (i.e. all the results between the teams tied on league points and the team(s) conceding the walkover(s)/void match(es)) will not be included in the calculation.

VOL 13.4 The teams tied will be ranked based on voluntary walkovers conceded (the lower the better).

VOL 13.5 The teams tied will be ranked based on league points accumulated from fixtures between the tied teams (the higher the better).

VOL 13.6 The teams tied will be ranked based on Sets difference from fixtures between the tied teams (the higher the better).

VOL 13.7 The teams tied will be ranked based on Sets for from fixtures between the tied teams (the higher the better).

VOL 13.8 The teams tied will be ranked based on Points difference from fixtures between the tied team (the higher the better).

VOL 13.9 The teams tied will be ranked based on Sets difference from fixtures across the whole league (the higher the better).

VOL 13.10 The teams tied will be ranked based on Sets for from fixtures across the whole league (the higher the better).

VOL 13.11 The teams tied will be ranked based on Points difference from fixtures across the whole league (the higher the better).

VOL 13.12 If a tie cannot be broken using the above system, then the final league positions of any teams still tied shall be determined by the BUCS Executive drawing lots.