The Goose House sees several streamers and staff depart amidst accusations against former co-owner

Update (September 2024): Grassroots UK esports club and community, The Goose House (TGH), have outlined some internal changes including a newly created rulebook highlighting their principles and code of conduct.

Update (September 28th 2023): Streamer Shan (aka thepizzawaffle) has posted about her experiences with The Goose House co-owner Dan ‘eLSD’ Ellis, accusing him of inappropriate behaviour.

This prompted many in the community to talk about their experiences with Dan, with fellow streamer Fnatic Meg saying ‘the abuse of power is disgusting’.

Esports News UK has reached out to Dan for a right of reply and he has not commented on the matter.

this will not come as a shock to anyone who has worked with dan over the years

this abuse of power is disgusting and i hope any other women who have experienced similar feel safe in knowing they're not alone and feel comfortable coming forward

thank you shan for sharing💕 https://t.co/vOJxZwlYVx

— FNATIC meg (@megsoundslikegg) September 28, 2023

Shortly after Shan’s post was made, the UK Esports Team Committee (UKETC) released a statement saying The Goose House has been removed from the UKETC.

This comes just a few days after The Goose House joined the UK Esports Team Committee (UKETC), which formed in 2021 to push UK esports forward and represent the voice of teams within wider industry discussions.

We have been following the situation at The Goose House after the majority of members publicly left yesterday.

We have also seen the allegations that were made today & continue to be made.

As such, the UKETC members have voted to remove TGH from the UKETC effective immediately.

— UKETC (@TheUKETC) September 28, 2023

Many other members of The Goose House stream team have left, including Leah.

The other Goose House co-owners have also commented publicly about the situation:

Shan is an amazing human being and we will support her every step of the way through this. Same goes for any other girls who have been put through similar things.

If you want to talk to me, my dms are open.

Again, I’m so sorry.

— d‏ek (@digitalm1nd) September 28, 2023

I have reached out to Dan in an attempt to have him hand over ownership of TGHs biggest asset – our discord – as well as let him know about the legal path I am willing to take to ensure he hands over his 50% holdings in the business.

— dave 👽 (@dvdtylr_) September 28, 2023

Dave also said he stands with Shan and any others willing to come forward, and that he is working on a separate statement with Dek. Update: This statement has been published here:

pic.twitter.com/pdFeQ0cJ8n

— The Last Resort: VALORANT (@TLRValorant) September 30, 2023

Co-owner Dave also responded to the below criticism over co-owner Dek’s handling of complaints:

I think the majority of the people in the industry who met Dan had the same feeling there was something wrong, at least from what i've seen and heard the last few days. We acted as soon as we were provided actual evidence.

— dave 👽 (@dvdtylr_) September 30, 2023

As stated in our original report below, this is a developing story. We’ll do our best to stay on top of it and update this article.

Original article (September 27th 2023):

UK esports club and tournament operator The Goose House (TGH) is in disarray after several members of the team today announced they are leaving.

Many streamers and staff members (who have mostly working on a voluntary basis) suddenly left, including content creators such as fairygee, Melmaee, LadyGut (who won a rising streamer initiative last year), hollsbeauti, elfenleii, jasperine, Allykitti, Drey, as well as the likes of community events manager Becks ‘Pyrodical’ Donaldson, esports events co-manager Ross and socials staff member Jack to name a few.

Many thanked their fellow colleagues, teammates and friends for their time with The Goose House but didn’t explain why they’ve departed so suddenly.

The truth, it seems, is not yet public.

Esports News UK understands there have been internal disagreements amongst management, as well as other accusations that are not currently public we have been unable to verify at this time.

The Goose House co-owners comment after staff departures

The Goose House is co-owned by Dan ‘eLSD’ Ellis and David Taylor, according to Companies House, and dËk is also a founder. We understand there’s an agreement in place with them to co-own the business.

They all posted on social media, with Dave saying he stands by those stepping down.

https://twitter.com/tghdave/status/1707050885145120977

dËk, meanwhile, said he’s taking a step back and will post more about his future once he’s gathered his thoughts.

He also responded to posts from Dan.

I don’t appreciate people speaking for me, I’ll make my own statement soon enough 👍🏼

Just taking a bit of a break from the internet, my break from TGH is forever. https://t.co/0kPJ7WlMDa

— d‏ek (@digitalm1nd) September 27, 2023

Dan – who works at Code Red Esports and runs TGH in his spare time – posted a thread saying: “I’m seeing a lot of interesting speculation about TGH on the timeline and why some of our long standing volunteers are moving on. The volunteers I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the past few years have been the main reason why I have tried to make TGH a success.

“I want to get them paid work, experience that is valuable and most of all have fun. The community that was built over lockdown kept all of us sane and frankly saved my life. TGH then transitioned into more than a community, but a business that offered services like tournament ops.

“Sadly, up the chain there has been some disputes about how the business runs and no one party can agree to a single solution.”

Dan Ellis, The Goose House

“Dek said he wanted to step aside for the time being and Dave is working on writing up some assurances he wants that I can offer to take the business forward.

“I want TGH to be in a strong position for future investment or a merge with another organisation that can see us offer full time paid work, bigger events, more grassroots tournaments and more activity.”

https://twitter.com/_eLSDx/status/1707056821892993512

Esports News UK has reached out to management and some involved in the situation and has had some initial discussions.

The situation is developing and we will endeavour to update this article in the future, but given the departures are public, we decided to run this article initially.

The Goose House situation follows recent Birds of Prey tournament and UKETC membership

The Goose House recently concluded its latest Birds of Prey Series 7 women’s Valorant tournament, which was won by Frogs on Fire and allows teams to qualify for Riot’s VCT Game Changers Contenders.

Whatever is happening behind the scenes at TGH, Birds of Prey has had some great talent working hard to deliver a tournament series.

One source outside of TGH asked Esports News UK to highlight the ‘amazing work’ the events team did on Birds of Prey, saying they think esports event manager Meg has produced ‘one of the most important and impactful tournaments to ever happen to the female esports scene within the UK, and I really think her work should be acknowledged’.

As stated, this is a developing story and we’ll aim to update this article further in the future. If anyone wants to shed further light on the situation, Esports News UK’s DMs are open on X/Twitter.

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