Before they were known as Misfits, the EU LCS League of Legends team were playing in the ESL UK Premiership – as the Renegades Banditos.
They won season 3 of the UK LoL Premiership, the first split that would send the winners into the European Challenger Series qualifiers.
ESL UK had planned on going big with this in terms of following Banditos’ story as they progressed from the UK to Europe. They were apparently going to put them up in a house and produce lots of content around this as their journey progressed. But it didn’t work out.
James Dean, ESL UK co-managing director, told eSports News UK in a discussion video (around the 38-minute mark) what it was like when Banditos beat ManaLight in the Prem final.
“The Renegades guys stood there like they couldn’t care less that they won the Premiership. It was embarrassing,” he said.
“That was unfortunate because it was the time when it was the first CS qualifier spot. We were ready to put that team into a house and put a content plan together to follow their journey further.
“We hoped that would have been ManaLight and that’s unfortunate. That’s the story. That’s very interesting.”
James also spoke about sponsors in the UK eSports scene.
“If you think in the UK there’s a lot of brands specific to the UK, like BT,” he added. “They don’t sell services outside of the UK. If they’re interested in eSports there’s no point in them following a global league, it’s irrelevant to them. So they’re interested and ready for the UK scene, but the scene is not ready for them. It’s a struggle and that’s what we have to focus on.”
You can hear more from James in our special video discussion panel:
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.
