WITH THE Southeast Asian Games approachings, allegations surfaced that League of Legends national team representatives West Point Esports were unworthy of representing the Philippines because of some violations that they committed in other tournaments.
These allegations were revealed in a lengthy thread last week on Twitter.
Hours before an official announcement from the national team, West Point Esports was banned from Elder Dragon Series: Champions Tournament in June due to the allegations raised against them.
Even Leaguepedia employee and former LoL PH shoutcaster, George Miguel “Youngblood” Obusan, was involved citing that he has sent a report to Riot Games, saying that “WPE will never see the light of the PCS.”
In a statement released today, May 11, Sibol officially cleared West Point Esports of any wrongdoing, said that the team would continue to represent the country in the SEAG.
Why the evidence wasn't enough
Upon consulting with the League Operations and broadcast team for the National Selection, Sibol explained their final decision.
First, they mentioned that stream sniping (a term used when streamed online multiplayer matches would be monitored to gain advantage over the enemy) was impossible due to the broadcast delay.
“Stream sniping is impossible to be done in real time due to the default 3-minute delay because the organizers were not able to secure a tournament server or account from Riot for the Sibol Qualifiers,” said Sibol in a statement.
The delay from play to stream was actually six minutes.
“The Broadcast Director implemented another 3-minute delay for the Facebook Broadcast on Sibol Page giving a total of 6 minutes delay for the whole broadcast which is more than enough time to avoid stream sniping.”
In addition, they explained their rules with regards to Discord and camera feeds.
“Mirror in-game gameplay in Discord is not allowed as the organizers used Discord to get the player camera feeds," it explained.
Lastly, they revealed that the marshals did their part in checking the player’s Facebook accounts.
“While one of the players wanted to stream the match through Facebook, the marshals specifically told him to turn it off after the draft phase. The marshals also subsequently checked his Facebook profile to check if he indeed livestreamed but the player did not.”
To further explain their case, Sibol posted a long Facebook comment, detailing each of their reasons indicated in their official statement.
Upholding dignity and honor
By the end of their statement, the organization promised to uphold dignity and honor in Philippine esports.
“Rest assured that Team Sibol has and will always remain vigilant in policing practices and behavior unbecoming of the Filipino athlete. Should other substantial matters come to light we will not hesitate to act in the interest of protecting the sanctity of Philippine esports.”
After Sibol’s official announcement, Jerem Malig, who uploaded the accusations on Twitter, went live on Facebook to rant about the situation, expressing his frustrations about why he wasn’t consulted. He even posted a long comment, serving as his counterarguments on Sibol's ruling.
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