Update: British Esports Championships & COVID-19

Dominic Sacco

2 min read | 24 Mar 2020

We’ve made some changes to the British Esports Championships for schools and colleges due to the ongoing situation around COVID-19.

Firstly, there are a couple of Spring Season 2020 matches left to play online. Because schools have closed, we have reconsidered our policy regarding matches being played from home. We are aware that these are extraordinary circumstances, and as such matches are being dealt with on a case-by-case basis, that includes allowing players to play from home where possible.

Once those Spring 2020 matches are finished we will make an announcement regarding a new date for the overall grand finals. These finals were due to take place at Insomnia Gaming Festival at the Birmingham NEC. Due to the escalating global situation, Insomnia Gaming Festival has understandably made the difficult decision to cancel. This unfortunately means that our grand finals will also need to be postponed.

We are currently considering options regarding the grand finals and will announce details of this separately.

We are sorry to announce we have also had to cancel our separate Rocket League Championship for Alternative Provision (AP) Schools, which got underway last month. We hope to rearrange this tournament with our partners Fierce PC and Stone Group and the involved schools for later in the year.

The British Esports Association team is regularly assessing the situation and speaking to teachers and participants to work out the best and fairest solution for all involved. We will continue to work closely with schools and colleges to ensure the safety of all participants as the online Championships are completed. 

We will have more information in due course on the 2020/2021 Championships which we hope to start in September.

Outside of the Championships, we have also had to postpone our Esports in Education Summit with AoC Sport, which was due to take place in May. That is provisionally being pushed back to autumn.