UK eSports caster Tom “Tridd” Underwood has shared some honest opinions on the UK League of Legends scene and the players and organisations within it.
Writing in a TwitLonger post titled ‘why UK eSports is le ded xd’ on his Twitter page, Tridd offered his advice to players and orgs. He encouraged them to put in the hard work, collaborate and market themselves to progress.
To players, Tridd said: “You are talented, you are the heart of any eSports scene. Your end goal should always be to be the best, and to be the best, you’ve got to get to LCS. There are stepping stones to this, National Leagues, Challenger Series Qualifiers, Challenger Series itself. This will take time and it wont be easy, nothing in life is.
“Why don’t you work with the other stakeholders to make where you are NOW more rewarding for you and the people who share this scene with you. To do that, you will need to work together, and that includes sacrifice.”
To orgs, he spoke about money issues and the importance of keeping a roster consistent.
“You want to pay these players what you think they deserve, which is more than you can viably afford,” he said.
“Sponsors don’t want to get involved with a roster than can change on a whim and prized tournaments are few and far between. You need to change up how you reward your players. Money might not be an option, perhaps equity is a route to be explored. But there are compromises to be made by others as well.”
To summarise, Tridd said: “How to move forward: Stabilise yourselves or just quit. Players, if you’re not willing to stay with a team long enough to iron out the kinks, then you have no place in a team sport. Orgs, if you can’t reward your players, don’t be surprised if they want to jump ship. Money isn’t everything. Contract up. You are only as good as the team and/or scene you play in.
“You can and will get better, you will progress, but don’t you dare for a second think you’re better than the UK scene while you still reside in it.”
Tridd did add that he’s in talks to take a team management position, and may be able to put his money where his mouth is in the future.
For transparacy: I am in talks to take a team management in UK esports. So I may have an opportunity to practice what I preached last night.
— Tridd (@CasterTridd) July 18, 2016
Earlier this year eSports News UK’s Cameron Peberdy spoke to Tridd about being a caster at the NUEL/GAME National Championship final. You can view that video interview below:
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
