THE MSSA’S VISION FOR eSPORTS:

Protea Colours badge

From the day that the MSSA was founded (1984), the MSSA has had to fight to have the games that the MSSA promotes to be recognised to be accredited as equals to any of the other sports that exist in South Africa.

The breakthrough happened in 1991 when the MSSA was allowed to award Protea Colours to its wargames team. In 1997, the MSSA awarded Protea Colours to its Morabaraba team, and in 2001 the MSSA was allowed to award Protea Colours to the players who represented South Africa for Checkers.

However, it was not until 2005 that the MSSA was granted permission by the Protea Colours Board for Computer Gaming.

It should be noted that the Protea Colours awarded are the same as awarded to cricket, rugby, swimming, etc.

Even though the mere act of awarding colours is laudable in itself, in that players who receive such colours are enable to apply for, and receive, bursaries at universities, the MSSA’s vision does not end there.

To ensure that eSports are regarded as a fully accredited sport, the MSSA runs inter-school leagues, school championships, regional championships, provincial championships and national championships.

The MSSA is a member of the International eSports Federation (IeSF). In 2010, the MSSA help found the IeDF (the international federation for gamers with disabilities) which is now  known as the IeSF. Through such affiliation the groundwork has been done to have eSports established and accredited as an international sport by the General Assembly of International Sport Federations (GAISF) which is now known as SportsAccord. When the GAISF accepts eSports as an international Sport, a whole new era will be ushered in as the games will be allowed to participate in the International Mind Sports Association’s Games, and be included in the All Africa Games, the Commonwealth Games, and possibly even in the Olympic Games. 

MWEB and ROCCAT sponsor South African team

So the MSSA has finally announced its team for the the 2013 IeSF World Championships to be held in Bucharest, Romania.

I see that this year the MSSA has MWEB and ROCCAT sponsoring the team.

That is good!

At last companies are beginning to see where the real development of gaming happens and are not just funding individuals and clans who want to make a 'fast buck' out of computer gaming.

Gaming is not going to provide many paying jobs in South Africa until there is real development among who is gaming in South Africa.

Until there is a solid base of gamers who are prepared to pay for championship experience, there will not be any true professionals.

It is like South African footballers complaining about how little they get paid, when the spectators refuse to pay more than R50.00 to watch a game.

Of course our players will never get paid the same if there is no base.

Instead the South African gaming scene has a lot of people leeching onto it expecting to be paid for blogs, paid for running championships, and paid for playing.

Look at how long it has taken basketball to set up a professional league in South Africa. It was only done because the Minister of Sport (Fikile Mbabula) made it happen.

And that is why government involvement in sport is important.

But more than that, I believe that no company should even consider sponsoring any body that is not affiliated to the national body. The reason is simple – there is no return if you do.

MWEB and ROCCAT are making things happen for gamers. MWEB and ROCCAT are helping to get gamers overseas and improve the standard.

For those interested, the MSSA put up the following on their facebook site:

“Although this is the fifth IeSF World championships that South Africa shall be attending, the support given by MWEB and ROCCAT has ensured the South African participation at the 2013 IeSF World Championships which is to be held in Bucharest, Romania. The team that will be representing South Africa at the 2013 IeSF World championships will be the largest eSports team that has ever departed from South Africa to play at a IeSF event.

The MSSA, MWEB, and ROCCAT are all in concord about the outcomes for the team. Although this is the first foray ever for a South African "League of Legends" team to foreign shores, everybody expects the team to handle themselves well and to be a credit to South Africa. The lessons that the young "League of Legends" team will learn in the Championships will prove to be invaluable, not only to themselves, but to all the League of Legends gamers in South Africa as well as to future South African teams.

However, it is in the women that will be going overseas to play "StarCraft II" and "Tekken Tag Tournament II" that the administrators put their greatest faith.

In 2012, Gabriela Isaacs finished in second place in StarCraft II and Lyrene Kűhn finished in fourth place in Tekken Tag Tournament II. This year has seen a slight change to the team where Yolandi Williams has powered herself into the team to represent South Africa in starCraft II. Yolandi dominated all the StarCraft II championships in which she played. Lyrene Kűhn, however, successfully maintained her position as the dominant force in Tekken Tag Tournament II in south Africa in order to better her 2012 result.

The team will be issued with its new kit showing both the sponsorship of MWEB and ROCCAT at the award ceremony on Wednesday before embarking on their wonderful adventure.

The full team is:

League of Legends

Name of Player........................Club

Conradie van Heerden.............ROCCAT
Myburg Brink...........................ROCCAT
Willem Strȍfeldt.......................2up Gamers
Kyle Rhoodie...........................2up Gamers
Marco Botha...........................2up Gamers

StarCraft II

Name of Player.......................Club

Yolandi Williams.......................Deviation Gaming

Tekken Tag Tournament II

Name of Player.......................Club

Lyrene Kühn..........................Knights Mind Sports Club

Due to Lyrene's experience with the 2012 South African Protea Team, and dealing with the many issues that arose, Lyrene has also been appointed as the captain of the team. This is the first time that a woman has been appointed as the captain of a South African eSports Team.
Lyrene is confident that the additional duties will not affect her standard of play.”

I along with all South Africans wish the team the best of luck.

All photographs used come off the MSSA facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/mindsportssa