Update (September 5th 2021): Governor had come out of retirement to play for Verdant, but in light of the 2021 NLC changes and calibration phase, was released from his contract.
Original article (January 9th 2021):
UK League of Legends player, caster and team manager James ‘The Governor’ Gove has announced he is stepping back from esports.
In a Twitlonger post he said: “I just want to say a thank you to all the friends I’ve made in esports over the years and to announce my ‘retirement’, if you could call it that.
“I’ve made some great memories and met some fantastic people through my playing career and my more recent expansion into casting/hosting.
“However, I lost a lot of motivation for my work in esports through the lockdown. I kind of realised that what I love the most about UK LoL are the in-person events and getting to spend time working/socialising face to face with friends and colleagues.”
While James has recently started a new role outside of esports, and announced he is stepping back from UK LoL, he did say he looks forwards to seeing everyone once physical events start running again and will be watching UK esports grow ‘from the sidelines’.
James has played in the UK LoL scene for several years now on a mix of teams, and is perhaps be best known for his time with Barrage and Enclave.
He was nominated for UK Esports Player of the Year at the 2018 UK Esports Awards and most recently managed Resolve’s women’s team.
Over the past year he has also turned to the broadcasting side of things, working at events as a host and caster, and helping the British Esports Association with its school and college tournaments.
And I hope he will continue to have a hand in UK LoL in the future, I think he’d make a good mentor for others.
Some might be reading this wondering why I’ve written an article on The Governor, as people come and go within UK esports all the time.
It’s because I believe James is one of the good guys of the scene, he’s an example of professionalism, works hard and helps others. I’ve said it before – esports is not only about winning. It’s more than that, it’s about the community, about friendship and spirit.
James understands that and is a good example for the rest of the UK LoL scene to follow, in my opinion.
So, I hope you’ll join me in Raising Your Governors one last time.
Til next we meet, The Governor!
(Gif credit to Joekerism and a final shout out also to Sophie for running the Raise Your Governors Twitter account!)
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.
