The VLY National League Game of the Week initiative will take a different format in 2023-24, with regular Wednesday night games live on Volleyball Ireland’s YouTube channel.
Each Game of the Week will be held at the Sport Ireland National Indoor Arena, with clubs being able to request specific slots to host mid-week matches.
This development will facilitate an improvement in the live stream production with access to better qualify wi-fi, more prominent broadcast angles, enhanced lighting and the opportunity to promote commercial sponsors and branding. The Wednesday night slot also opens up the potential of increased viewers, with less clashes with other National League games.
Volleyball Ireland CEO Gary Stewart said, “I’m really excited to see how the Game of the Week project develops this season. Having a high quality arena to showcase games will mean a better experience for fans and players. We’re investing in better hardware and and general production assets to enhance what we’re doing and better promote the League and Volleyball in general.”
The mid week slots also provide opportunities for clubs who may have fixture clash problems, or referee availability issues at weekends.
The process for requesting Game of the Week slots has been communicated to clubs who are urged to request slots at the earliest opportunity.
The first Game of the Week event will take place on Wednesday October 4th with the two newly promoted Women’s Premier teams Tallaght Rockets taking on last year’s D1 champions Balbriggan. (subject to final NLMC approval).
GotW Info & Process:
General
• Game of the Week (GotW) will be held at the Sport Ireland Campus on Wednesday evenings.
• Games will start at 7.45pm with court access from 7.15pm.
• Each GotW will be broadcast live on YouTube.
Match Selection
• Premier and D1 teams can request a home game to be played as GotW. This will be done
through the standard fixture request form.
• For GotW matches specifically, the fixture request form should be submitted at least 4 weeks
before the GotW fixture slots.
• The NLMC GotW selection committee will review each request and allocate GotW slots to NL
fixtures.
Costs and Fees
• Home and away clubs will incur usual costs for referees and scorekeepers.
• For hall hire costs, a home team’s first GotW hall hire fee will be €50. The rate for each
subsequent match for that team will be charged at €100. These charges will be invoiced to the
club by Volleyball Ireland.
Slots
• GotW will begin on Wednesday October 4th with slots available every Wednesday up to and
including 13th December. Slots from January onwards will be confirmed in due course.
Benefits
• Increased quality of live stream and production.
• Increased number of viewers.
• Increased availability of referees for NL matches.
• Potentially alleviates pressure on existing home venues.
• Provides greater flexibility around player availability.
Other points
• Home clubs will appoint referees and scorekeepers as for a regular home fixture.
• The court and equipment will be set up and provided by Volleyball Ireland.
• Clubs should bring match balls and warm up balls as normal.
• Any scheduled National League fixture can be played on any GotW slot e.g. a game scheduled
for GW9 can be played during GW7.
• When applying for a GotW slot, each team agrees to make 1 person (coach or player) available
for interview before and/or after the match.
