Exception to the rule

Exception to the rule | Daily Tribune

There’s a war brewing in Philippine volleyball.

The Premier Volleyball League (PVL) is not allowing Alohi Robins-Hardy to see action for Farm Fresh in the All-Filipino Conference unless she goes through the draft next year.

According to PVL president Ricky Palou, the last time Robins-Hardy played in the country was in 2021, when the league had yet to turn into a professional league. With that, she is technically an amateur who needs to go through the draft just like the other spikers straight out of college.

Of course, Palou’s statement is elementary. Just as in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), if you want to play professionally for the first time, you have to join the draft to determine which team will acquire your services.

But there was a significant event that happened before Palou made that statement.

Before formally hiring Robins-Hardy, Farm Fresh Team owner Frank Lao was given the green light by Palou provided she had a valid Philippine passport.

Lao moved heaven and earth to help her acquire the crucial document. But when everything was signed, sealed and delivered, Palou suddenly had a change of heart, saying that there was an “oversight” on his part. With that, he would leave it to the team owners to decide whether or not to allow Robins-Hardy to play without having gone through the draft.

Farm Fresh executives did exactly what they were told. They were able to draw the support of five of the 11 team owners with two more verbally promising to affix their signatures to the approval.

But upon realizing that Farm Fresh was on its way to achieving a simple majority, Palou suddenly pulled the plug and declared that Robins-Hardy would not be allowed to play unless she joined the draft next year. Still no deal.

Palou said he was just protecting the integrity of the league. After all, allowing Robins-Hardy to play without going through the draft would create a bad impression not just to other players who went through the rigorous selection process but also to other major stakeholders.

Was Palou’s decision good for the league and Philippine volleyball in general? We don’t think so.

Look, Robins-Hardy is a Filipino. Her cousin, Philippine Basketball Association veteran Gabe Norwood, is regarded as a local hero after playing a crucial role in the Gilas Pilipinas team that made a breakthrough appearance in the FIBA World Championships in Spain in 2014.

Robins-Hardy also played for Cignal in the Philippine Superliga (PSL) and, at one point, donned the national jersey during the ASEAN Grand Prix in Nakhon Ratchasima in 2019.

In short, Robins-Hardy could have easily made it to the PVL even without going through the draft.

By forging the win-win solution of allowing Robins-Hardy to play, the PVL will definitely raise its level of play while volleyball-loving Filipinos will get to see a crafty 6-foot-2 setter in action against the best players in the league.

Also, the Philippine National Volleyball Federation can enlist her for the national team anew, giving the country a handsome chance of winning a medal in the Southeast Asian Games for the first time since 2005.

But more than that, it will make Lao happy.

Lao is a very valuable part of the ecosystem of Philippine sports. His Strong Group Athletics is considered the third biggest investor in Philippine basketball behind giant conglomerates San Miguel Corporation and Smart-PLDT. The well-respected restaurateur also supports the varsity programs of topnotch schools like College of Saint Benilde, Letran College and University of the East while backing Converge in the PBA.

When PVL squad Gerflor folded, it was Lao who dug into his pocket to cover the salaries of the players without asking for anything in return, earning him the love, respect and admiration of fans and the moniker “Good Samaritan” of Philippine sports.

Now, Lao is said to be thinking twice about fielding a team in the PVL next year regardless of the outcome of their campaign.

Losing a team owner like Lao will definitely be a major blow to the PVL. In this time and age when volleyball is trying to dislodge basketball as the national pastime, the support of a generous sponsor like Lao is very crucial.

Yes, policy is the backbone of any organization. Rules are rules, as they say.

But the PVL should have made the smart move of carefully weighing the pros and cons before striking a healthy compromise that would be acceptable to a very valuable investor like Lao.

There are a thousand ways to skin a cat. Sadly, the PVL picked the wrong one.