The Ruddy Brods, a LoL mix team with players from UK orgs Ruddy Esports and Brod n Friends, won the UKEL Sunshine Showdown from Pixel Bar Manchester just over a week ago.
They defeated fellow UK esports organisation Verdant 3-2 in the League of Legends grand final.
The Ruddy Brods featured Governor, Akkers, Krisyss, Puru, Ketsuo, Jamsu, Trizzy, Whitey, Syn and Gnemly throughout the split, with Verdant’s roster consisting of Beartree, Tofu, Bust, Erolle, Rhythm, Crainie, Fuyu and Littlepants throughout the tournament.
For the LAN final in Manchester, the Brods enlisted the likes of Jamsu and Akkers to help out, with players from Ruddy swapping in after game one. A lot of fun was had, with the community mingling in person, having drinks and relaxing. We’re told the following chant was made – ‘there were five Verdant players on the Rift’ – to the tune of ‘ten German bombers’.
Following events like the recent Ruddy NLC watch party at London’s New Meta venue, there is an appetite for more live events in UK League of Legends.
After the UKEL said they wouldn’t be looking for alternative venues for a live Sunshine Showdown final following the loss of Insomnia, James ‘Gov’ Gove (aka The Governor), Chief Brod Officer at Brod n Friends, took it upon himself to get an event sorted.
“No way was I not getting to celebrate and have a night out with the lads after winning it,” he told Esports News UK.
“With the loss of Insomnia, we don’t have a home for UK League LAN tournaments anymore, so I see events like these as the life and soul of the competitive scene. Online is fine, but the real enjoyment for me comes from seeing my boys in person. If it was just online, honestly I wouldn’t bother.
“What I want and what I hope is for others to enjoy live events like these. There’s more to come in the future, we want to organise as much as we can and build partnerships with places like Pixel Bar, LAN organisers and other UK teams to give the UK League scene opportunities to come together.”
James Gove, Brod n Friends
Pixel Bar manager Sam Holland also added: “We’re always happy to host events similar to this, and we host watch parties for most major events, like world’s final for League and VCT Champions.
“So if anyone wants to watch events like these with likeminded people, then they are more than welcome at any Pixel Bar.”
Following the event, Brod n Friends also announced their UKEL Autumn 2024 roster, featuring former Cabbage Corp players (who won a record four LoL Opens in a row at Insomnia) Spark and Pawp.
What’s next for the UKEL after the Sunshine Showdown? Organisers apologise for issues ‘we want to avoid from happening again’
The UK Esports League (UKEL) is of course a grassroots league, built on the passion of volunteers and the community.
Sources told Esports News UK there were errors on stream, a lack of social media activity and some teams left confused around scheduling due to a lack of clarity and communication. This was partly due to UKEL founder and operations director, Alex ‘Synygy’ Winton, being away from the broadcast working his main job with ESL Faceit Group.
Regardless, the Sunshine Showdown went ahead and concluded, partly due to the hard work of several people who stepped up.
CasualCutie reflected: “The UKEL SunShine Showdown could have been so much more. And as such I ask myself why it was not. I had a brilliant league ops team behind me headed by Corben and Seq, I had a fantastic suite of casters all organised by Temporal. Hell, I even had a one-of-a-kind observer in WhatTheBeens.
“With such a wonderful team behind me, this split should have been incredible, and it simply wasn’t.”
CasualCutie, UKEL
“And such, there is only one person we can turn to. Myself. I had a vision, and I simply didn’t realise it.
“A while ago, someone in my DMs who genuinely wanted what’s best for the UK scene told me that it was unacceptable that the UKEL was plagued by tech issues: jittery feeds, incorrect audio, stream crashes. Despite anything else achieved by my compatriots, these issues persisted. There is also the issue of reducing production values. There was also an almost complete failure on the socials front.
“There are parts to be proud of (not missing a single broadcast day is one), but there are equally parts that never materialised to be sombre about. We never got to do our Soccer Sunday Show, we never got to do our proper Lan Finals (huge shout out to the Ruddy Brods for picking up our slack here somewhat), we never got Matchday Socials. Still, it’s over now, and I must look forward to autumn.”
There’s more in the post below.
In our personal opinion, you are being hard on yourself CasualCutie, it sounds like you really stepped up and the community is grateful for this. ENUK hopes you have a good break and to see you back with the UKEL soon.
In addition, UKEL founder and operations director, Alex ‘Synygy’ Winton, told Esports News UK: “Our Summer tournament didn’t reach the heights we wanted for a few reasons, but primarily because of myself, and so I’d like to extend my apologies to everyone involved in 4Nations who expected (and deserves) better.
“I’ve been working as a Player Manager with EFG on the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, which meant my availability was minimal due to work commitments. Of course, this was known in advance and so myself and the team began preparing for it, but ultimately it was me that failed to deliver on the things I said I would for various reasons.
“I’m extremely grateful to the team for doing what they could without me, they’re all incredible people and I can’t thank them enough.”
Synygy, UKEL
“We want to avoid this happening again, and so it’s my responsibility to ensure the UKEL has the necessary staff and procedures to cover the necessities when I’m abroad for work.
“Will that all be solved for Autumn? The honest answer is unlikely, though I will be available to cover the gaps for Autumn, but it’s my aim to have this all solved by the end of 2024 and ready for Spring 2025.”
In terms of what’s next, all eyes are on the Autumn split, with the groups recently announced:
Related article: Women and non-binary League of Legends in bloom with Brod, Verdant and others fielding mixed teams in UKEL tournaments
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.
