Revealed: Who’s behind the Sri Lanka Esports Association and what does it do?

by admin | Jun 8, 2020 | Announcements, Esports news, News

මෙම ලිපියේ සිංහල පරිවතනය මෙතනින් කියවන්න.

There has been some rumor and misinformation about who controls the Sri Lanka Esports Association (SLESA) spread by small groups of people new to the Esports scene in Sri Lanka. Here are the facts! 

Summary

• SLESA is the governing body of Esports in Sri Lanka
• SLESA is run based on a constitution accepted by all members and the Sports Ministry
• There are founding members, and a process to accept new members
• Office bearers are voted in every 2 years by members
• SLESA is not owned by Gamer.LK. Gamer.LK is only one member. SLESA is a sports association. Gamer.LK is a private company
• Office-bearers are there to do work, and don’t have more power than members. They are unpaid volunteers working for the benefit of Esports
• Finances of SLESA are visible to all members, and audited
• All members have appointed Gamer.LK as the enforcer of disciplinary action. If an athlete wants to appeal an action, the members will discuss it and vote on it
• An investigation is conducted before disciplinary action is taken against an athlete. This is why action timing varies from same-day bans, to months of investigation depending on the situation
• SLESA members have had access to this information from the start. SLESA will take steps to provide the same transparency with the community directly

SLESA voting members

Here’s a list of voting members of SLESA and their representatives. These are the members who have access to SLESA discussions, attend SLESA meetings, contribute to policy changes and vote on disciplinary appeals. Clans are listed in alphabetical order.

• Maximum Esports (Alpha Esports) (1 vote)
  • Shihan ‘Davy’ Morais
  • Vihanga ‘Yama’ Yuwanthaka
  • Akila ‘Gadget Malli’ Fonseka
• Noob Alliance (1 vote)
  • Navod ‘Cyanide’ Bopitiya
  • Janith ‘Spartacus’ Rajapakse
  • Indunil ‘Warlord’ Withana
  • Prageeth ‘Gerald’ Savinda
    
• Phoenix GaminG (1 vote)
  • Abith ‘Leon’ Latiff
  • Safwan ‘CB’ Mansoor
  • Kasun ‘Kassa’ Withanage
  • Javeen ‘Javeen’ Tharka
• Tech Morph (1 vote)
  • Isuru ‘Viper’ Herath
  • Fauzan Cassim
  • Dinuwan ‘Dizzy’ Fernando
  • Minuka ‘Hard Buster’ Ranaweera
• Wolfgang Esports (1 vote)
  • Kasun ‘Athena’ Wijesekera
  • Mewan ‘Alex’ Kaushika
  • Lahiru ‘xxx’ Herath
• Xiphos Esports (1 vote)
  • Nisal ‘Arch’ Weerakoon
  • Dulaj ‘Stronghold’ Gunawardena
  • Gayan ‘Madness’ de Silva
• Gamer.LK (1 vote)
  • Raveen ‘Rav’ Wijayatilake
  • Vikum ‘Scooby’ Jayasekera
  • Ramesh ‘R_L’ Liyanage
  • Malinda ‘Warrior’ Jayasekera

SLESA office bearers

The office bearers for 2020-2022 were elected as follows

Frequently Asked Questions

What does SLESA really do?

The Sri Lanka Esports Association (SLESA) is the governing body for Esports in Sri Lanka. It is responsible for setting out rules, regulations, upholding competition integrity, disciplinary action and promoting Esports within Sri Lanka and taking Sri Lankan Esports talent to official international tournaments. SLESA represents clans and individual Esports athletes in Sri Lanka. It also acts as the independent body for dispute resolution when clans have issues with other clans.

 

The Sri Lanka Esports Association are members of the International Esports Federation (governing body for Esports globally), The Asian Esports Federation (the Esports association governing Esports in Asia) and the Global Esports Federation (a collective of global Esports entities). 

 

SLESA has been able to:

• Get Esports recognised as an official sport in Sri Lanka
• Send Sri Lankan representatives to international events like the IESF Esports World Championship, Asian Games and other events by other National Esports Federations.

 

SLESA has also been recognised as a benchmark for Esports governance in South Asia, and SLESA president Raveen Wijayatilake has been invited to speak at international conferences on the success of Sri Lanka’s Esports governance system.

See the announcement here: https://www.facebook.com/gamerlk/posts/10157522428465540

What rules does SLESA follow?

SLESA has a constitution adopted when forming the association. The constitution defines how members are elected, for what period, and what members roles are and what office bearers are responsible for. This constitution has also been submitted to the Sports Ministry of Sri Lanka in our application to get Esports recognised as an official sport.

How are these people members in SLESA?

The founding members of the Sri Lanka Esports Association consist of some of the oldest clans in the country. New members have an application process to join the association, where voting members review the applicants history in Esports in Sri Lanka and then will vote to accept or reject it. Clans generally are easily accepted into the association as associate members.

Who appoints the office bearers?

According to the constitution, office-bearers are voted upon every 2 years. The last vote was conducted on 11th January 2020. They are appointed by the SLESA members outlined above. To-date, all appointments have been unanimous by all clan leaders based on each individual’s contribution to Sri Lankan Esports.

Is SLESA run by Gamer.LK?

No. Gamer.LK spearheaded and founded the association, and worked to bring all clans in Sri Lanka under one governing body. Gamer.LK then distributed voting power to all clans, and worked with them to create a transparent governing, ranking and disciplinary structure. These structures have been approved by all members and all members are actively taking part in it with full visibility of each and every decision taken.

 

Gamer.LK, with the support of clan members, provides free services to SLESA in conducting national selections for international events. These selections are also completely transparent and accessible by all clan members.

What’s the difference between SLESA and Gamer.LK?

SLESA is an independent body and is run by its members. Gamer.LK has no ownership of SLESA, just like no single clan has ownership of SLESA. The decisions, finances and regulation of SLESA is transparent and available to all clan members.

 

Gamer.LK is a private company involved in promoting and growing Esports in Sri Lanka and South Asia. Gamer.LK organises events for both Sri Lankan athletes and international athletes.

Do office-bearers like the President & Secretary have more power than members?

No. Every voting member in SLESA has the same power within SLESA (1 vote per member). Office-bearers are appointed purely to get the work of the association done. Examples of work: association documentation, coordinating with international bodies, coordinating with the Sports Ministry, financial audits etc.

Are office-bearers paid?

No. The people appointed as office-bearers are purely doing it to take Sri Lankan Esports forward. There’s no compensation, and more often than not, the office-bearers spend their own money to make things happen without burdening SLESA finances.

Who handles the finances of SLESA?

The finances are handled by the office-bearers with full transparency to the members. Every financial transaction is informed to members, and the association has currently just completed a financial audit required by the Sports Ministry.

How does SLESA take disciplinary action?

All SLESA members agreed to appoint Gamer.LK as the independent enforcer of Esports disciplinary action in Sri Lanka. This was due to Gamer.LK’s 13 years of Esports experience, independent stance with no bias, and strict policies that adhere to international standards. Further, an appeals process was introduced for any Esports athletes wanting to appeal their disciplinary action, which would come to the SLESA members.

What process does SLESA follow when taking action against offenders?

SLESA, as the governing body, receives multiple complaints during most Esports tournaments in Sri Lanka against various clans. Every single voting clan has had an individual or a team accused of cheating – whether it’s hacking, manipulating draws, account sharing etc. SLESA’s job is to protect athletes and clans against accusations UNLESS there’s solid proof of cheating. Gamer.LK at this point will conduct an investigation if sufficient evidence is provided to start one. This may take days, weeks or even months based on the amount of evidence present. This way, all Esports athletes and clans are protected against false accusations. These methods are on par with international standards adopted by Esports bodies globally and other country-federations. 

Does that mean Gamer.LK has final say on disciplinary action?

No. There is a very clear appeals process that will be decided by the voting members of all Sri Lankan clans within SLESA. This guarantees fair and unbiased disciplinary procedures.

How does the ranking system work?

The National Esports Ranking system was one that was proposed by Gamer.LK and adopted by all clans in the country. It is run by all the members, according to a points system discussed and formulated by all members. Each clan provides their point of view of how it should work and each piece of feedback is incorporated into the system. The end result of the ranking system is a combination of hours of discussion by all clan representatives in the country. All clans in Sri Lanka have invested many hours to make this happen in a fair way to all Esports athletes in Sri Lanka.

Who can organise nationally ranked events?

Anyone is able to organise events for the ranking system. In order to be recognised as a ranked event, there are a list of criteria set out by SLESA that need to be followed that sets out minimum standards for a tournament. SLESA members will then vote on whether to accept or deny a tournament into the ranking system. 

I have a complaint I want to take to SLESA, how can I do it?

You can e-mail [email protected] with details of your matter. Alternatively, if you’re more comfortable going through a member clan, you can talk to one of the representatives listed above, who will then submit it to SLESA members for feedback.

Why haven’t we been told about this information before?

SLESA closely monitored the misinformation being spread during the last week, and it was clear that SLESA, while being fully transparent to member clans, failed to keep the community informed of how Esports in Sri Lanka is governed by your representatives. SLESA as a collective will announce new steps on how the association will keep the community up to date on governing-level decisions, without relying solely on member clans to inform their members.

For more information on the Sri Lanka Esports Association, visit https://esports.lk.

Women’s Mobile Legends goes to TM.FireFlies, with nA.Lost Girls and nA.The Tempest taking 2nd and 3rd place

by Rav | Jun 4, 2020 | Announcements, Esports news, News

The Women’s Cyber Games Mobile Legends team event finals took place on the 2nd of June between TM.FireFlies and nA.Lost Girls. TM.FireFlies convincingly beat nA.Lost Girls with a score of 2 matches to 0.

nA.Lost Girls made their way to the finals from the loser bracket, beating M.ES Chinapatas and AEC.Demon Queens. TM.FireFlies stomped their way through the upper bracket, not losing a single match the entire tournament.

1st place: TM.FireFlies

• Dileesha ‘Hyoli” Ruwanthi
• Shanaz ‘Midnight’ Dilum
• Sevwandi ‘Alana9’ Pramodya
• Ruvini ‘RuuMaa’ Nisansala
• Prabhani ‘Prabzi’ Nanayakkara

2nd place: nA.Lost Girls

• Kleopatra ‘KLEOPXTRX’ LePorcher
• Rashmi ‘noory’ Alwis
• Yasara ‘YASARA’ Samarathunga
• Methmie ‘Fawkes’ Jayasuriya
• Hettiarachchige ‘duckling’ Nipunika

3rd place: nA.The Tempest

• Gimhani ‘TIANA’ Fernando
• Chamoda ‘Angle’ de Silva
• Gayathri ‘Yuki’ Koshila
• Shashi ‘Rashneas’ Amanda
• Sapna ‘Rougueone’ Pinnapola
• Shamen ‘Satanic’ Edward

The Women’s Cyber Games Championship ’20: Online is sponsored by Red Bull. The preferred Snack Partner is Perera & Sons.

nA.Raven apologises to PnX.Team Red for unsportsmanly conduct during Respawn tournament

by Rav | Jun 2, 2020 | Announcements, Esports news, News

The Sri Lanka Esports Association took up a complaint by PnX.Team Red against nA.Raven. The accusation was that nA.Raven joined the PnX.Team Red voice comms channel. The Sri Lanka Esports Association heard both sides and voted to give nA.Raven an official warning and required a public apology to the affected team.

Phoenix GaminG’s statement

The Noob Alliance and Phoenix Gaming League of Legends wings have had a great rivalry with each other for many years. The respective teams of each clan have met and fought against each other in countless League of Legends tournaments with both sides showing great respect and sportsmanship for the other before and after the game. Raven “Stalker LAN” who claims he joined the opposition’s voice channel with the intent to wish them good luck before the match, this is quite astonishing given the fact that both teams were not on talking terms. Also taking into account the fact that both teams were at LAN, if his intention truly was to wish the other team he could have done so in-person before the match began as he had multiple opportunities. He also did not wish the PnX team RED as he claimed but stayed silent on the voice channel without informing the opposition of his presence. We have to also take into account the suspicious timing of his attempt to wish them the PnX team as they were in the middle of discussing their strategy for the game and the fact that he was in the voice channel for the entire duration of the conversation. It is disappointing to see this kind of behavior as it was the nA team that requested each team to be in separate rooms for the finals as they did not want PnX RED to hear their shotcalling and it was nA Raven who decided to try and listen to the strategies of the other team. Phoenix GaminG has a lot of respect for the Noob Alliance League of Legends wing as mentioned earlier especially team nA Phase who has set a very high standard for sportsmanship and we believe Raven and his team can learn a lot from the example they have set.

Bhanuka ‘Raven’ Ratnayake’s statement

I, Bhanuka ‘Raven’ Ratnayake of Team MeetYourMakers would like to apologize to Team Red for joining their channel with the intent of wishing them well before the match, which caused their team much distress since they were in draft discussions, however I would like to point out that I didn’t hear any part of the draft discussion since I wasn’t wearing my headphones at the time, and only put my headphones on when I switched to another channel – which can be proved via CCTV footage.

With all that being said, my action of joining their channel in the first place was against sportsmanly conduct in Sri Lankan Esports and I will hereafter adhere to the rules and regulations on play conduct set out by Gamer.LK and the Sri Lankan Esports Association in the future.

Noob Alliance’s statement

This is the first official warning Noob Alliance or any member in Noob Alliance has gotten since our inception over 13 years ago, we aren’t thrilled about it but at the same time, the silver lining is that this is comparatively a minor offense. After being ban and warning free for over a decade, we will be taking this as a lesson and taking even more precautions to ensure this will be the first and only warning Noob Alliance receives in the future.

As always, we thank the Sri Lankan Esports Association and Gamer.LK for being vigilant and taking care of the Esports industry in Sri Lanka, we hope to continue doing our part in helping this movement.

The Sri Lanka Esports Association consists of all organised clans in Sri Lanka and collectively governs the Esports scene in the country.

SLESA votes to remove Sampath ‘SukiriBole’ Widushan’s ban

by Rav | Jun 2, 2020 | Announcements, Esports news, News

16 players coming from Noob Alliance, Phoenix GaminG and Tech Morph were banned for account sharing violations in an announcement in April 2020. Based on an appeal by Sampath Widushan, and upon further investigation, the voting members of the Sri Lanka Esports Association have voted in favor of removing the ban on Sampath Widushan.