Several sports executives have formed part of the Esports Integrity Coalition’s (ESIC) Disciplinary Panel, which is now operational.
The panel will carry out independent enquiries, investigations and rulings on esports matters brought to its attention. These could include cheating, doping and match manipulation cases.
The new panel includes two UK executives – chair Kevin Carpenter from Captivate Legal and Sports Solutions, and sports associate Richard Bush from Bird & Bird.
The full panel is as follows:
- Kevin Carpenter (Chair) – Principal & Consultant, Captivate Legal & Sports Solutions, UK
- Alfonso León – Sports Lawyer, Ruiz-Huerta & Crespo, Spain
- Anna Baumann – eSports Lawyer, Independent, Germany
- Daniel Schulte – Vice-Director, ESL (Electronic Sports League) League Operations, Germany
- James Kitching – Head of Sports Legal Services, Disciplinary, and Governance, Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Malaysia
- Lilia Russo – Director of Strategy and Engagement, IMG eSports, USA
- Pedro Fida – Partner (Sports Law), Bichara e Motta Advogados, Brazil
- Richard Bush – Associate (Sports), Bird & Bird, UK
Integrity Commissioner Ian Smith said: “It was very important that the panel was independent of ESIC and me and that I could not influence their appointments or their conduct once operational.
“This means participants who appear before them can be confident of a fair hearing without conflicts of interest or bias towards the prosecutor. This is key to one of ESIC’s core principles – adherence to principles of natural justice.”
The ESL Premiership adheres to ESIC’s code of ethics and ESL UK could even be drug testing players in the future.
More details on the ESIC panel can be found on the ESIC website.
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.
