Although the 2012 Olympics were a great success for the sport of Volleyball and showed GB teams competing against the world’s best. One down side is that the rest of the world suddenly noticed that the sport is played in the UK and hence would like to apply their international rules on player transfers and participation to the UK. Their reason, they are already enforced in Africa, so why not the UK as well.
The fees revolve around any overseas player who has been previously registered in another Federation (outside of Europe). The fee is payable yearly and will go to the federations development fund (plus a small admin fee to VE for collecting the fees). On top of this, I believe there may well be a federation (CEV) fee but this is currently unknown and may well conflict with EU rules.
At the moment the above only applies to the Super 8’s and NL Division 1 (see letter below), but I understand that this is likely to be expanded to include Divisions 2 & 3 and Regional Leagues. The fee is basically reduced 50% per division and as the SW League could be defined as a fifth division, our non CEV players who have previously been registered elsewhere could be looking at a €55 fee per year.
If the proposed CEV fee is also introduced for any European player (who has previously been registered in another country) then things will get quite complicated on the administration front.
The SWVA does not forward any players or club details to VE or anyone else, to do so would mean a change in policy plus getting players permissions (which we do not have) and as this would involve another level of administration and cost, unlikely to happen in the near future. So it is not clear how this would work via the SWVA, however clubs already register their players direct with VE as part of their club membership process, perhaps this will be expanded.
As these fees are based on Federation of Origin, don’t use origin in any documentation and if asked, your Federation of Origin is Volleyball England. To get an understanding of this and other issues, we have added nationality to the SWVA player’s registration form this year (it may well be removed next year).
Dave Reece
SWVA Chair
[Letter sent to S8 & Div 1 teams]
Please read first: Player Registration Letter / International Transfer – Administration Fees
Hi All, I am writing to you all to give you an update on International Transfers.
Unfortunately not all of the details in the Player Registration Letter which was previously distributed (attached) were correct. Administration Fees (payable to the FIVB) for Transfers from Federations of Origin outside of Europe are applicable for all Transfers (to Super 8s and Division 1).
I apologise that this letter was not accurate at the time, but I received confirmation of the new FIVB Interpretation only yesterday. Last year the International Transfer Regulations had a caveat which meant that if a player doing a Transfer from outside of Europe could prove that they are not in England for solely Volleyball purposes (i.e. for work, study, family etc), the Administration Fees applicable would be waived.
Unfortunately this caveat has been removed from the 2014-15 Regulations, which means that Administration Fees are applicable to International Transfers into Volleyball England from outside of Europe. The following Administration Fees are applicable to Transfers coming from outside Europe to Volleyball England;
Super 8s – €825 / CHF1,000
Division 1 – €415 / CHF500
Volleyball England are aware that these Fees represent a massive barrier for non-European inclusion in the Super 8s and Division 1, and intend to write to the FIVB about the change to the Regulations. The FIVB have told me that any feedback will be considered for next year’s Regulations. Which indicates that they are not willing to consider any dispensation to this Regulation for 2014-15.
Last season 21 International Transfers into the Super 8s would have been affected by this Regulation change, this number is only likely to be increased with the Regulations now applying to Division 1 as well, but I doubt that many of these Transfers will now be completed due to the Fees involved.
I had hoped to write to all the Teams in different circumstances about Volleyball England registering an account and a point of contact on the FIVBs VIS system for Teams that are not already registered. We will do this as a matter of course, so that Team Secretaries are the point of contact unless we are advised differently.
We will continue to offer our support to anyone trying to complete an International Transfer, so if there is anything you feel we can help with, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best regards,
Jonathan Moore
Competitions Manager
Volleyball England
D: 01509 227727
j.moore@volleyballengland.org
