Thanks to UKCSGO editor-in-chief Dafydd Gwynn and Endpoint socials and CS manager TomTom94 for additional intel in this story
UK Counter-Strike players smooya and bevve have called for better policing of ESEA matches after highlighting alleged instances of cheating.
Well-known player and streamer smooya shared this clip on X, aka Twitter, saying: “This is the player we lost to in ESEA Playoffs. How obvious to you have to be?
“Remove these guys asap please ESEA.”
The player in question is KIRO from a team known as RushB, who had another clip heavily shared recently. RushB recently finished second in the ESEA Advanced Season 47 Europe, and beat UK org Endpoint a few weeks ago, 2-0, with Endpoint finishing 5th/6th and missing out on progressing to the ESL Challenger League Relegation tournament.
RushB have since qualified for ESL Challenger League Season 47.
Smooya also called on the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) to clamp down on cheaters, and made a separate accusation towards a team known as Inglorious.
“Can players who are known by betting websites for matchfixing/cheating just be banned already, ESIC?” he added.
“What are we waiting for exactly? Losing daily to cheaters in premier is expected at this point, but not when playing in a professional environment.
“You spend thousands of dollars on banning the wrong people without actualling removing the problems within our scene. You usually enjoy punishing the low hanging fruit, so maybe fix the fuck up and do something ASAP?”
Smooya plays for an international mix team called The Witchers. He also specifically called out the team in question: Inglorious.
Bevve, a player for UK esports organisation Team 7am, meanwhile, lost to a cheater in the regular season of ESEA. That gave them a record of 4-8, and would have seen them relegated.
But the situation looks like it’s now been resolved and 7am haven’t been relegated after all.
When bevve was asked who was banned, he said it was JlOKCTOK, but added that this player wasn’t the only one on his team who was cheating.
The news comes a few weeks after Team 7am terminated the contract of one of their Counter-Strike players – SENSEi – after he was suspended by ESIC for two years.
This was for SENSEi previously being ‘involved in attempted match fixing activities during several LAN events with Team Project X’.
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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.
