British Esports backs the NUEL’s first UK university women’s esports tournament

Dominic Sacco

4 min read | 18 Sep 2020

The British Esports Association is delighted to be supporting university esports organisation the NUEL’s first ever women’s League of Legends tournament, open to all women and femme students in the UK.

Starting on the evening of Friday October 23rd, the tournament is planned to last 5 weeks. Players can sign up to the tournament by filling out this form.

Women (including transgender women) and femme-identifying or femme-presenting non-binary students of all abilities are invited to take part in a friendly environment. All players must be attending university in the 2020/2021 academic year in order to take part.

This tournament is supported by the British Esports Association’s Women in Esports initiative, set up last year, which aims to celebrate women in the industry and improve inclusivity in esports.

Participants in this tournament will also be able to take part in The NUEL’s League of Legends University Tournament, which will take place on Wednesday evenings and is open to all.

Prospective participants will be asked upon registration how they would describe their gender identity, and the NUEL will run the tournament on a trust system.

“In line with the code of conduct for all of our tournaments, toxic behaviour will prompt severe action by our admin team,” the NUEL said in a press release.

“Cross-university teams (with players from different universities) are permitted in this tournament, and if a player does not have a team already, we will help to find them a team.”

Select matches will be broadcast every week on twitch.tv/thenuel.

The NUEL said in a press release: “For us, this tournament will be an opportunity to showcase talent from underrepresented groups, including behind-the-scenes product management, league operations, broadcast production and casting.

“The decision to run this tournament comes after consultation with a range of stakeholders over the summer, and we see this as one of numerous steps we can take to support diversity in university esports.

“We considered various options (e.g. mixed gender tournaments, different games, full season vs one-day events, etc), and hope that the approach we have taken strikes the right balance between accessibility and competition. We’re looking forward to seeing how the community responds, and will look to learn and develop the tournament as we go.”

This tournament is supported by both the British Esports Association’s Women in Esports initiative, and Women in Games.

Morgan Ashurst, British Esports Association Marketing Manager and Women in Esports Committee Member, said: “In our mission to help promote inclusivity and diversity within the esports industry, we’re very excited to be involved in The NUEL’s first ever Women’s League of Legends tournament. This is a great opportunity to highlight new, emerging talent within the UK in this 5-week tournament.”

Marie-Claire Isaaman, CEO of Women in Games, said “Women in Games is delighted to support the first League of Legends tournament for women and non-binary players at UK universities and encourages all universities to participate, putting forward both players and broadcast talent.”

Players can sign up to the tournament by filling out this form.