Deciding Set, Four Incidents: A First-Time Student Referee
You are the student referee for the inter-house volleyball final on sports day. You are in Class XII and this is your first match in front of a crowd. House A lead 24-23 in the deciding set and are serving. Four things happen. (1) House B's coach, who is also your own physical education teacher, shouts for a substitution after you have already whistled for service, and he wants two players changed at once; House B have already used five substitutions in this set. (2) House A's back-row player jumps from clearly behind the attack line, hits the ball over the net and lands in the front zone. (3) House A's blocker touches the top band of the net with both hands while the ball is still in play on House B's side. (4) After the rally the scorer's sheet shows 24-24 but the manual board shows 24-23, and both captains are arguing with the scorer.
1. Rule on incidents (1), (2) and (3), stating the decision and the rule reasoning behind it.
Read the worked answer
(1) Substitution request - refuse it. A substitution may be requested only while the ball is out of play and before the referee's whistle for service. The whistle has already gone, so the request is late and must be rejected. Even if it had been in time, a team is allowed a maximum of six substitutions per set; House B have used five, so only one player change remains - a request to change two players at once cannot be granted. Signal the rejection, tell the captain briefly, and restart play. The fact that the coach is your teacher is irrelevant to the ruling; if his reaction becomes personal, report it to the tournament organiser after the match rather than arguing on court.
(2) Legal attack. A back-row player may attack the ball from anywhere provided the take-off is entirely behind the attack line; landing in the front zone afterwards is not a fault. It would be a fault only if the player had taken off from within the front zone and contacted the ball completely above the height of the net. No whistle, play continues.
(3) Net fault against House A. Touching the top band of the net, or the upper 80 cm of the antenna, while the ball is still in play is a fault, regardless of intent and regardless of whether the ball was near the net. Award the rally and the service to House B. The only common exception - the ball being driven into the net and pushing it against a player - does not apply to a two-handed contact with the top band.
2. How do you handle incident (4) - the disagreement between the score sheet and the manual board - and what must be recorded?
Read the worked answer
The official score sheet, kept by the scorer, is the controlling record; the manual board is only a display. Procedure:
- Stop play and call both captains to the scorer's table - a point cannot be corrected once the next service has been taken.
- Ask the scorer to read back the sequence of points, substitutions and time-outs for the set, and check it against the second referee's record and your own.
- Award the disputed rally only if the records agree; if the rally sequence cannot be reconstructed, replay the point - never guess a score.
- Correct the sheet, initial the correction, and have the scorer and both captains sign at the end of the set, with a short factual note in the remarks box (for example: board corrected at 24-23, sheet confirmed by scorer and both captains).
- Announce the corrected score clearly to both teams before the next service.
Judgement points the examiner will look for: you do not change a score to please a home crowd or a teacher; you do not penalise a team because a captain argued; and you keep the delay short. After the match, a written report to the organiser protects you if the result is challenged, and it is the correct vocational habit for any future officiating duty.