Controversial PVL referee in Petro Gazz-Creamline game takes leave of absence

MANILA, Philippines – Volleyball referee Bobby Celso will no longer officiate a game for the rest of the 2024 PVL All-Filipino Conference after a controversial play during the Petro Gazz-Creamline semifinal game on Thursday, May 2.

A league source with direct knowledge of the situation told Rappler that Celso “should have exhausted all possible means” during a contentious play late in the third set where the spike of Creamline’s Alyssa Valdez over the block of Petro Gazz’s Aiza Maizo-Pontillas and MJ Phillips was initially ruled out, then later reversed.

Petro Gazz wound up losing the set, and eventually the match, in a tight four-setter,  27-25, 23-25, 27-25, 26-24.

“Bottomline, the referee should have exhausted all possible means to eliminate any doubts of his call,” the league source said. 

“As a consequence, Mr. Celso will take a leave until the end of the conference.”

In a memo to the teams, the PVL said it will take action to resolve the issue.

“We will take this time to conduct further evaluation and determine appropriate steps moving forward,” the memo said.

“Maintaining the integrity of our matches and ensuring a positive experience for all the participants is paramount to us. Therefore, we take actions such as this seriously to address concerns and uphold the standards of our organization.”

In a press conference on Sunday, May 5, PVL commissioner Sherwin Malonzo said that Celso and the line judges were assigned to other roles for the rest of the conference.

Malonzo said per FIVB rules, the overreaching call on Phillips was a judgment call, and the final call solely the referee’s discretion, but reiterated the use of replay to eliminate all doubt.

“If it happened at 10-all, we would not be talking about this, but it happened at 25-all in the third set, so it became a hotbed of speculation,” said Malonzo.

“But, going back, in terms of mechanics, how the call was made, [Celso] made no lapse, but to just stop the speculation, he should have just reviewed.”

Petro Gazz had called on the PVL to address the officiating lapses in a statement on Friday, May 3, where the team also said the referee could have “easily remedied” the controversy during the match.

But in the same statement, Petro Gazz said it’s putting the incident behind as the Angels battle undefeated Choco Mucho on Sunday, May 5, at the Araneta Coliseum. Creamline takes on Chery Tiggo in the other match of the round-robin semifinals.

The top two teams at the end of the Final Four will advance to the best-of-three championship series, while the bottom two will be relegated to the bronze-medal match. – Rappler.com