British esports host James Banks has received the thanks of the Counter-Strike community in Ukraine after organising a meet-up event for them.
It took place at gaming bar Checkpoint.Arsenal in Kyiv this week, with more than 100 people attending this James Banks esports event.
James said he put on the meet-up “to make something positive for the CS fans in these tough times”.
James added: “Everything was provided for free including snacks and drinks. Nothing was promoted or sponsored, just the amazing guys at Checkpoint.Arsenal who let me use their club.
“People had such sad and scary stories from the war, but they said it was the best day. It was very emotional to be honest.”
“We also had a guy who just served in Bahmut who gave me his military badge,” James added in a message to Esports News UK. “He said this day meant a lot to him and he was just on frontlines. I gave him my ZOWIE ec2.”
The gaming centre let James and the community have the space for free. James said it was so busy as people kept turning up, the venue happily extended the event time by two hours, from 10am to 4pm, instead of the planned 2pm closing time.
The James Banks esports event in Ukraine also featured special guest Ukrainian caster and analyst and former player Aleksei ‘yXo’ Maletskyi, pictured with James in the Twitter images above.
The news comes one year after James Banks and other WePlay casters left Ukraine ahead of Russia’s invasion.
Earlier this month, James headed back to Ukraine, where he previously lived, and is now returning to the UK again this week.
Emotional messages shared from community after James Banks esports event
James Banks shared some other information with Esports News UK, including several emotional messages from some who attended the event.
One guest said: “Thank you, this is the best day of my life.”
Another added: ‘This was probably my best day since last year. I hope these good feelings I had today will stay with me for as long as possible’.
Another said they ‘got a lot of good emotions’ from the day, in what seemed to be a day of relative normality for the CS community in Ukraine, a rare chance to try and forget about from the ongoing war in Ukraine, if only for a few hours.
James Banks added on his Instagram page: “Hearing comments from people saying “this was the best thing to happen since the war”, “I thought it was not real until I met you” and “you made me so happy when I’ve been so sad” just feels crazy to me.
“I just wanted to make something while I am here in my second home, to give back to you guys in such a dark time.
“Counter-Strike is so special. So amazing. Everything it has done for me and everything it can do for you, even if it is just to take you away from reality for a time.”
James Banks
“During the day I met young guys still in school who are trying to survive this war while their family members are serving the country.”
James Banks also thanked Checkpoint.Arsenal for the venue, @ntguilt for ‘setting this all up’, @t.pekarskiy ‘for all his graphic work and everyone who shared my post to let you guys know it will be happening’.
James added: “I will do another [event like this] for sure, that is a promise! Thank you for all the support, stay safe, keep owning it up in Counter-Strike, have fun, be kind to each other and most importantly, glory to Ukraine.”
Related article: James Banks supports Thatcham Town Harriers FC with Banks Esports logo on jerseys – ‘My goal for these young lads is to motivate and inspire them’
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.
