David “Firu” Spoors, support player for Northumbria University’s League of Legends team Finales Funkeln, is campaigning for competitive gaming to be recognised as a sport.
David, who is also treasurer of the Northumbria University eSports Society and is active with the Students Union there, hopes that the change will release funding to eSports in university and help players get better on-campus facilities and support.
He is also trying to lift any gaming restrictions universities have and wants Students Unions to be able to negotiate access to facilities for teams to practice together.
The motion – found here – proposes that the National Union of Students (NUS) petition Sport England and British Universities & Colleges Sport to recognise eSports as a sport. It will be put forward at the NUS National Conference which takes place next month in Brighton from April 19th to 21st.
He is encouraging delegates from universities across the UK to vote on a priority ballot – which opens on April 4th – so that his motion will be discussed during the conference.
“What I would like you all to do is email or go and see your Student Union President or Activities Officer and ask them to request that delegates vote our motion up in the priority ballot,” he said in a post on the NUEL League of Legends Facebook group.
“This is really important; without these votes our motion may not be discussed at all.
The story behind the UK’s National University eSports League
David told eSports News UK: “We have written the motion to highlight that eSports is something played by many university students and we think that it should be recognised by Sport England and British Universities and Colleges Sport on an equal footing to other sports.
“We are looking to including more students in eSports and letting them see that it’s something fun and rewarding to do. Whilst eSports isn’t recognised, some students are likely to play no sports at all or go towards traditional sports they have played before.”
Yesterday the Aston Aunties beat the Cambridge Memers to win the GAME National Championship UK university League of Legends tournament.
Check out David’s motion in full here
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
