British Esports Association announces games advisers

British Esports Association announces games advisers

Dominic Sacco
19 min read | 26 Apr 2017

UPDATE: The below list is out of date. Click here to see British Esports Association’s current game advisers.

Original article (published spring 2017): The British Esports Association, the not-for-profit organisation set up to support grassroots esports, is taking steps to get closer to the communities within each esports game.

In early 2017 we started been looking for one or two experts in each esport, mainly (but not exclusively) focused on the grassroots/British scene within each title.

The idea is for the advisers to provide input and expertise to make sure we can support and understand each community effectively, and to keep us abreast of changes in the grassroots/wider scene across multiple games.

This will help us with our future initiatives and ensure we’re considering the needs of the community.

We’re also looking for advisers in the following games, so if you’re interested in volunteering, please get in touch with us:

  • Fortnite
  • StarCraft II

Here are our first few advisers below. For an up to date British Esports game advisers list click here. We’ll be reaching out to each every now and then for updates on the UK scene in each game and to inform them of our plans.


Luke “Mal3ficarum” Bull

Arena of Valor

Luke has been a streamer and shoutcaster for three years now and currently sits in the top 1% of European players in Arena of Valor at the moment. Outside of gaming he is a qualified personal trainer and has been involved in the fitness industry for seven years.


Bill “Lanz” Atkins 
Brawlhalla

Currently a free agent, Lanz has previously played for Reason Gaming; he’s known in the Brawlhalla scene and has participated in the World Championship in Atlanta.

He says he tries to be heavily involved in the community, and often streams with friends and plays in open lobbies.


Tom “Tommey” Trewren 
Call of Duty

Tommey is a professional Call of Duty player currently residing with Fnatic.

He has won a host of tournaments and has played for a string of well-known esports teams over the years, including Millenium, Team Vitality and Team Dignitas.


Joshua Nino
Call of Duty

As a co-founder and director at esports news publication Dexerto, Joshua has more than 10 years of experience in esports and video games, from event management to business development and journalism.

With an impressive list of contacts in esports, Joshua has helped establish Dexerto as a leading resource in esports and competitive Call of Duty in particular.


Michael Moriarty
CSGO

Michael is a freelance writer and journalist currently working for multiple websites and companies in the esports space, including UKCSGO and Esports Insider.

He follows the UK CSGO scene very closely.


Liam Whitehead
Dota 2

Liam is a mod on the UKDOTA Reddit page, has been at admin at epic.LAN and runs the UKDOTA Open every three months.

He’s well-known in the UK DOTA scene and is keen to push UK esports forward.


Nick Egan

F1

Nick Egan is the co-owner and founder of PS4 racing league F1 Ts Hub, which runs competitive matches around the latest F1 video game.


David “Davebtw” Bytheway

FIFA

As the first British FIFA esports player signed to a football team, David joined Wolfsburg last year and has taken part in several high-end FIFA tournaments since.

Tobin “Racerz” Leigh
Forza

Tobin is a promising Forza player, having played in the finals at LeMans in 2017. He currently plays for F4H Motorsport.

Ash Cosplay
Gwent

Ash is a partnered Twitch streamer, cosplayer and a host of ‘A Round of Gwent’, the official internet show of the Witcher collectable card game.


Connagh “Merchant” Hawkins

Gwent

As a caster, streamer and YouTuber in the collectible card game (CCG) space, Connagh is well-known in Gwent and Dungeons & Dragons circles.


Harry “Lethal” Thomas

Halo

Harry has been involved in Halo esports for the past 15 years and has competed in nearly 100 events. He has a substantial number of tournament wins under his belt and competed in established orgs such as Dignitas, Infused, 4 Kings and Reason Gaming.

He currently freelances as a professional caster/analyst for the Halo esports scene and has worked with ESL and Gfinity at previous events. He has a strong desire to push the UK esports scene forward with his vast knowledge and experience.


Alexander “Raven” Baguley
Hearthstone

Image result for raven baguley

Hearthstone’s competitive scene has grown and grown over the past few years, and Raven has been involved in it from both a caster and player perspective.

He’s cast events such as Dreamhack Winter, Asus Rog 24 Hour Play It Cool Marathon, WCA EU Qualifiers and more, and has played for Torpedo in the ESL UK & Ireland Premiership.


James “Bakery” Baker
Heroes of the Storm

James Baker is a professional Heroes of the Storm player who plays as team captain for one of the most well-known organisations: Team Dignitas.


Ceirnan “Excoundrel” Lowe
League of Legends

Ceirnan “Excoundrel” Lowe is an esports broadcaster with over four years’ experience in the UK esports industry, covering multiple titles as a colour caster.

He has cast a host of games from League of Legends to Hearthstone and Vainglory, for a range of companies. Ceirnan is already on the British Esports Association’s advisory board, so made sense to have him on board as a games advisor too.


James “Governor” Gove

League of Legends

James made a name for himself in the UK League of Legends scene after putting in an impressive top-lane performance in the 2017 Esports News UK Scouting Grounds.

Since then he has played for Raise Your Governors and Barrage Esports, and was shortlisted in the UK Esports Awards 2018 Player of the Year category.


Luke “iuKeEe” Dainton
Overwatch

Over the past year, iuKeEe made the switch from League of Legends to Overwatch, and is very familiar with the UK and European Overwatch scene.

He has coached players and is a former player for the likes of Team EndPoint and Flat Earth. He has coached at a professional level for a team called ex-Cyclone and others.


Graham Day 

PES

As the Head of Social Media & Community Management at Jellymedia, Graham works first hand on PES League, the global PES esports platform.

Having been a lifelong PES player, Graham has a working knowledge of every iteration over the 20-year history of the series. He has been directly involved with the development of the global PES League since it’s inception, and is also a presenter/caster on the PES League Twitch streams and Regional/World Finals.


Reece “Sabrewoif” Dos-Santos
Pokken Tournament

Reece “Sabrewoif” Dos-Santos is a journalism student, tournament organiser and one of the main community figures within European Pokken.

As well as being a competitive player, he’s also the owner of the European discord server for Pokken Tournament. Prior to this he was a writer, analyst and coach for League of Legends.

Phillip Russell
Project CARS 2

As an adviser for Project CARS 2, one of the games being used in the inaugural British Esports Championships, Phillip is an aspiring pro sim racer and currently plays in the Project CARS 2 Actrollvision GT5 League on Xbox.


Mike “Gregan” Ellis

Rocket League

Mike “Gregan” Ellis, Renault Sport Team Vitality’s Rocket League Team Manager. He has helped British Esports with the sports/esports activity week at West Ham and also was interviewed by the Association for this piece on the importance of sports, physical activity and wellbeing in esports.


Team Veracity
Rocket League

Earlier this month St John Fisher Catholic Voluntary Academy won the UK’s first inter-school esports tournament at London’s Gfinity Arena, playing Rocket League.

As we have plans to work with schools more closely in the future, we thought it’d be perfect to bring the winning team – Veracity – on board as advisers.

The team consists of 16-year-olds Bailey Barber-Scargill, Harrison Barber-Scargill, and Joshua Love. The school’s head of computer science, business and vocational studies, Mark Ward, will also provide input.


Keegan Spindler
Smash Bros/Tekken/FGC

Keegan “Interrobang!?” Spindler is the Features Editor of //Shoryuken.com, one of the biggest Fighting Game Community (FGC) sites.

He writes about, commentates at and attends FGC events throughout the UK.


Justin “KingJae” Nelson
Street Fighter V/Tekken/FGC

Justin is a Tekken and Street Fighter player, Twitch partner and Xsplit brand ambassador. He has won several tournaments including EGX.


Bradley
Super Smash Bros Melee

Having been an active tournament attendee and organiser for eight years, Bradley is experienced in competitive Smash Bros Melee.

He’s part of tournament organiser Team Heir which runs the largest European Melee tournament each year. He’s also worked as a tournament admin at DreamHack’s first Melee event: Dreamhack London.


J.Miller
Super Smash Bros for Wii U

J.Miller is regarded as one of the best Super Smash Bros for Wii U players in Britain.

He took part in the eGgames medal-based tournament in Rio alongside running alongside the Olympic Games last summer.


Benedict “MrKcool” Ward
Vainglory

As one of the youngest pro Vainglory esports players at 14 years old, Benedict (right) is one of several up and coming players showing the world that age doesn’t matter.

He’s taken part in several top-tier tournaments including the Vainglory European Winter Championship. His father Andrew Ward (left) has also kindly agreed to offer a parent’s perspective for the British Esports Association’s future coverage.


Josh “Citrus Empire” Leighton-Laing
Vainglory

A former music student at the University of Hull, Josh “CitrusEmpire” Leighton-Laing is a content creator, moderator and freelance graphic designer within the Vainglory community.

Having been involved with Vainglory since 2015, Josh has developed strong ties with the developers and the competitive scene, and is a strong advocate for the British esports scene as a whole.


David Hollingsworth
World of Warcraft

David has written for several publications and brands over the years, including Esports News UK and more recently ESL UK.

He’s a guild leader and a fountain of competitive World of Warcraft knowledge.

Get in touch

We’re also looking for advisers in the following games, so if you’re interested in volunteering as an adviser, please get in touch with us:

  • Battalion 1944
  • Paladins
  • Quake
  • Rainbow Six Siege
  • StarCraft II
  • Team Fortress 2
  • World of Tanks

The British Esports Association is also looking for volunteers for upcoming events. Find out more here.

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