Photos by Sophie Barrowclough/RL Esports | Esports News UK founder Dom Sacco partnered with Ukie on a freelance basis to judge the student journalist competition
Hinchley Wood School recently won the 2025 national Digital Schoolhouse Splatoon 3 esports finals in London, but outside of the competitive matches, there were other student winners too.
In Digital Schoolhouse’s ongoing bid to promote skills and careers in video games and esports, it also held a creative careers competition for students. One of the winners, Adhrit from Langley Grammar School, was selected as Best Journalist by Esports News UK, for this piece below, all about his recent visit to RLCS Birmingham.
After a two-and-a-half-hour train ride, I had arrived for the RLCS Birmingham Major. I actually got lost when trying to look for the venue, but that’s a ‘me’ problem!
I met up with a friend on my Discord server who also got shortlisted for the Digital Schoolhouse shoutcasting award, and a contact from Digital Schoolhouse, who would accompany us for today.
After 15 minutes spent waiting for everyone else to show up and get their tickets (thank you, Blast!) we entered the venue. It was massive – not quite as big as the O2, but still impressive nonetheless.
A director from Blast gave us a tour of the place. Our first stop was the arena itself – and I was speechless after seeing it. It was like my dream come true. I had always wanted to go to an esports event since 2017 – and look at me now, I had fulfilled it!
The director told us to look at where the RLCS Birmingham trophy would be placed, but do you know what was there instead of the trophy? A water bottle… are you for real! That was probably one of the funniest moments during this experience.
Next, it was time for some VIP stuff backstage. We saw the training and playing rooms, which were then being packed up. The observers’ setup has SIX monitors! It was like a day trader setup, an absolute megastation. The media room was also pretty decked out. That concluded our tour, so we then made our way to the player lounge for a Q&A session.
This was our chance to ask questions to the people at Blast about esports. We learned a lot about what goes into running a big esports tournament like this, it wasn’t just about setting up the equipment and software and away you go. You also have to obtain licenses from game studios to hold massive tournaments.
Blast was also holding a CS2 Open in Lisbon, so there was a big discussion about how Team Vitality could get a double on Sunday. It was actually quite possible, since as a massive Counter-Strike player and fnatic (get it?) I could tell that Team Vitality would have a high chance of winning, since Team Liquid weren’t playing.
In Rocket League, Vitality have one of the best teams on paper, but their performance from the day before did not show what they’re capable of.
We finished the Q&A off with a quick photo of us shortlisted individuals, and then we were free to watch the event.
There was quite some time until the first match, the quarter-finals, so I tried to find some players and notable people from the Rocket League community first. I got quite a few autographs of the ones that I could recognise and the entirety of the Karmine Corp team.
The first quarter-final saw Team Falcons face NRG. It was a very tight matchup. It was really fun seeing the teams being announced and then coming onto the stage like they were all main characters. I wish to be like that one day. It was a close best-of-seven, with the teams having to play all seven matches, but eventually, NRG won! They made it to the semi-finals!
Quarter final two was Furia versus Vitality. Most of the crowd was in favour of Vitality, since they’re an EU team with one of the best players right now: Zen. But Vitality lost in the seventh match and were knocked out.
Drufinho from Furia said something that really angered me, he was trash talking my team Karmine Corp and saying how Furia were gonna beat them in front of all the fans. But I knew for sure karma would hit back.
The way the semi finals were set up made it so that there was a guaranteed NA vs EU grand final.
In lots of competitive esports titles, there is always this divide between North American players and European players, and the debate around which region plays the game better. This reminded me of the 2024 Digital Schoolhouse Splatoon 3 grand finals last year, where it was a battle between the north and the south.
The first semi was Furia v Karmine Corp. The latter and The Ultimates had won their brackets so were automatically put into the semi-finals. This best-of-seven was the start of something really crazy that day.
My boys Dralii, Vatira and atow absolutely cooked Furia with a 4-0 full sweep. Remember what I said about karma? This was nature’s way of paying it back.
Elsewhere, in semi-final two, The Ultimates battled NRG. Firstkiller of The Ultimates was smashing it during the tournament – he was a real obstacle to NRG’s pathway to winning the major. Once again it was so close, but The Ultimates came out on top. What an upset!
Now there was a long break before the grand finals. I ate some overpriced food and managed to get some freebies that teams were giving out, played a bit of Smash Bros to pass the time, and then we had the stage entrances from The Ultimates and Karmine Corp.
I knew I would lose my voice after this.
Once again, all the players gave off main character energy. K Corp were calm and nonchalant, especially Vatira. It would be his third major win, putting his name into the Rocket League history books.
It was time for kick off, and the greater share of $351,000 was on the line for the team that came out on top.
I’ll be brutally honest, it was actually quite boring, because KARMINE CORP WON RLCS BIRMINGHAM WITH A FULL SWEEP!
There hasn’t been a sweep in a final for a long time. This proves that EU is on a whole level above NA.
KCorp lifted the trophy – another checkpoint for them to win Worlds again this year. It was also the third major Vatira has won, which made him really emotional.
This might not be relatable for me, but perhaps for some of the champions at this year’s Digital Schoolhouse Splatoon 3 grand finals.
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