Esports Wales, the not-for-profit Welsh body for competitive and grassroots gaming, has announced its player rosters for the 2022 Commonwealth Esports Championships. And the dragons are confident they can pick up some medals.
Wales will be fielding six teams in the tournament, which takes place in Birmingham from August 6th to 7th 2022. They will take part in Rocket League, Dota 2 and eFootball, with an open team and a women’s team in each.
Some stand-out names include Tadpole, who most recently played for Wolves Esports before announcing his retirement from organisation play to transition to coaching, and Breezi, who has played for Excel Esports, Team Singularity and 00Nation. Both are in the Rocket League open team.
The Esports Wales players and teams are as follows:
Esports Wales Rocket League Open Team
- George ‘Breezi’ Rusiecki
- Owain ‘Foxy’ Lloyd Lamb
- Benjamin ‘Bentzi’ Rees
- Euan ‘Tadpole’ Ingram
Esports Wales Rocket League Women’s Team
- Taylor ‘Jota’ Francis
- Bethan ‘beanie_kidd’
- Jennifer ‘PixiePoppins’ Briggs
- Jess ‘Scry’ Roughton
- Codie (coach/Rocket League game manager)
- Talon (coach)
Esports Wales Dota 2 Women’s Team (pictured at the top of the article)
- Rosie ‘Fler’ Williams
- Kit ‘Kit’ Vickery
- Louise ‘Mrs Nesbitt’ Davies
- NadiaRoxz
- Grace ‘Peachybell’ Bell
- Naomi ‘Soong’ Jones
- Ashley ‘MrAshleeD’ Davies (coach)
Esports Wales Dota 2 Open Team
- Cai ‘Cook’ Davies
- David ‘Dai’ Jones
- Sebastian ‘Iggy’ Morgan
- Jimmy ‘Rinayu/Tyrox’
- Josh ‘Neb’
- Volition
- James ‘Canal Guy’ Gittins (coach)
Efootball
- Cerith ‘CerithDennis’ Dennis (Open)
- Ceinwen ‘ceinwenfisher17’ Fisher (Women’s)
“The practice the teams put in showed through the qualification process with the mixed Rocket League and mixed Dota 2 teams advancing through the qualifiers without dropping a series,” said Jack ‘Anders’ Lawrence, Esports Wales’ COO.
“I’m thoroughly looking forward to watching all of our six brilliant teams compete at the Commonwealth Esports Championships. It will be a fantastic step for Welsh Esports and its community to be part of an event of this magnitude.”
“Our goal this year was to get Wales into as many national competitions as we could,” added John ‘SlayerJohn’ Jackson, Esports Wales’ CEO. “We want to show that Wales can compete on the international stage.
“We may head into the Commonwealth event as underdogs, but our players have already proved they can surpass expectations. I believe we can create some upsets and bring home some medals. We also firmly believe a successful Commonwealth campaign will encourage the growth of esports in Wales and more financial support, to lead to more success.”
John ‘SlayerJohn’ Jackson, Esports Wales
“To be one of nations to have six teams qualify for the Commonwealth Esports Championships is an incredible achievement, and a testament to the hard work and dedication the teams and volunteers have put in.
“We may head into the Commonwealth event as underdogs, but our players have already proved they can surpass expectations. I believe we can create some upsets and bring home some medals. We also firmly believe a successful Commonwealth campaign will encourage the growth of esports in Wales and more financial support, to lead to more success.”
Commonwealth esports teams will also train at the Confetti facilities in Nottingham.
Upcoming events for Esports Wales
It’s not just the Commonwealth Esports Championships that Esports Wales are taking part in. There are other events, including the following:
- Commonwealth Championships 1st – 7th August, 2022
- Efootball Euros – Montenegro, September 2022
- Dota 2 Euros – Albania, September 2022
- Assetto Corsa Euros – Monaco, 2022
- CSGO Esports World Championships – Bali, December 2022
Esports Wales says it’s here to support competitive gaming from the grassroots to the professional level.
“We aim to improve the standard of esports within Wales and increase the level of awareness of esports,” it said. “We will provide opportunities for esports talent in Wales by running tournaments, esports teams, events and more.”
The news comes one day after Esports England announced its Commonwealth player rosters. Northern Ireland has also qualified for eFootball, with Emzii in the women’s tournament and Nick Hatton in the open, and Esports Scotland is set to announce its rosters soon. Tickets for the Commonwealth Esports Championship are available to purchase via the The Ticket Factory.
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.
