UK Counter-Strike has fallen shorts to other countries in terms of league activity over the past year or so. All that we've had in the past year (or so) has been 1 SGL season, and a few (whether you like it or not) insignificant cups.
Meanwhile, ESL have built on their sterling ESL Pro Series 1.6 by giving more countries the opportunity to benefit from the leagues.
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Spain and Ukraine all have an EPS 1.6 league.
That's right, even fucking Bulgaria has an ESL Pro Series.
Last week ESL|Fenda posted news here on UKCT of ESL creating 2 new cups/ladders for the UK. This tells me;
1.) The ESL are once again interested in the UK CS scene.
2.) This is a great opportunity (along with CGS dying) for us to grow as a scene and benefit from a Pro+Amateur Series.
I spoke with ESL|Fenda for a length period of time and though he by no means promised a Pro Series, he did prove my initial theory true. ESL are using this KotH as a test. If people are able to show the ESL that the UK is capable of playing throughout a league or cup without 40 folded teams and numerous cheat offenses, then it shall warrant further competitions and leagues.
6 days later, only 9 teams have signed up. Are you fucking kidding me? I can understand dignitas not signing up due to their close ties with TheSGL, but the rest of you have no excuse. I pm'd a lot of teams about this cup and tried to explain what it would lead on to. Guys such as 4fx|RoyBacon & TLR|rj/Kenjinn understood what it meant and signed up immediately.. others however gave a different reponse.
TEAMS that would sign up for an EPS 1.6 in an instant came back with responses such as; "What's the point if we don't get money?" "No good teams can't be fucked"
I'm not going to mention the names of the teams i'm talking about but you know who you are, get a grip you're not SK.
EVERYBODY moans about the lack of a league in the UK.. why not seize this opportunity by the horns and bang it senseless? For once, man the fuck up UK.
http://www.esl.eu/uk/cs/koth/koth1/signup/
###UPDATE###
There are only 3 slots remaining for the ESL: KotH. I've been told due to the positive attitude of the scene... SHOULD this cup go well we should see a UK league very soon 
So if you want to be a part of it sign up ASAP!!!
###UPDATE 2###
1 slot remains, gogog!
Ct-RsUpErStar2k84lyPhE
Typical British Mentality. - Nic 'hettie' Taylor.
15
gogo sign up chaps
something along the lines of.... wheres h5? virt? playzone? trojan?
gl hf
gogo sign up chaps
we'll be signed up by 2moro
but ur totally right
even BULGARIA have a fucking pro series
yey signing up to it, don't think im banned from this league
so wise tom!
i hate esl i lost my password years ago...still havent had that email. admins in irc were really unhelpful 2
I can't even login to the ESL site - it says my browser won't allow cookies to be saved when it clearly does.
tom, i'll be back for this shit.
Wheres qpool ?! even if peeps make mixs with their mates to play in it?!
SIGN UP
ill join oh wait
gd point
just so you know... i was inspired by your post tom.. and i've forged together a professional gaming team just to bring more joy to your life...
all my love, benhej x
haha great post, agreed completely, plasmodic would join if we existed...
pretty typical of the uk scene, amount of apathy is stupid and to his credit ct-r is doing his best to try and get the scene going again.
if teams want backing to attend euro lans and progress then an ESL league would be the perfect place to start, in the uk scene anyone looking to put time and effort into organising anything gets criticism and abuse... people are expecting something for nothing but wont even commit to a one night cup? so we've got exactly what we deserve which is sweet fuck all.
we've been trying to sign up for the past 3 days. ESL have the worst website of all time
we will probably sing up once we make a team on esl as we have just formed, good column tho
QQ tom cs died when unicon died, its over
tom is a big homo, agreed?
same donnn LOL. says we need 5 players, we have 7 on roster all with id's, stupid site!
good post tom : ) if any teams need a player gimme a message im about and up for it : D
fraghacK on December 1, 2008, 9:27 am.
Modified by
quit cs
im tryin to get us in, but no1 can b arsed to sign up to the mother fo' website.
RAGE
once highfive knock us out off supranova and a-Losers knock us out of Playzone eurocup will have nothing left so we will sign up
there are maybe 3 teams (excluding dignitas) who have a remote chance of winning it, thats the main reason noone bothers signing up. If it was a league where you actually get to play games (ie sign up to the site for the sake of more than one game) than many more would sign up imo.
Oh and its very likely spain/bulgaria etc embraced this opportunity because they are not as lucky as us to have a league like SGL (and ED though the 1.6 side of ed has been stagnant in the last month) with admins who listen and keep the community occupied.
also on whats been said, the esl site is SO un-userfriendly it really doesnt seem worth the effort.
Although these 'insignificant cups' are apparently not enough, all this koth is is gonna be another 'insignificant cup'.
so ur saying you cant be bothered basically fordE. What ctr is saying, is it shouldnt matter what the obstacle is. Signing up to a website is hardly doing an essay
UK CS is a mess Ct-R, everyone thinks they're too good for some cup even when most of the time they're like Neil_M - a waste of Oxygen with Ideas way above their station.
im signed up to the website, we played the benelux amatuer series so we had to pretend we were dutch.
that doesnt change the fact the website is horrible. Im saying, they haven't given us anything to make it worth our time, yet. Just because teams that are fully active and already competitive like s6 and TLR are looking for some easy money (which is fair enough), it is going to be much more frustrating for them that others arent signing up.
laziness really has nothing to do with it, hes just venting his frustration which is fair enough - hopefully you understand my point, if not i will make a nice simile for you!
i always think of something to write after i post.. how do you edit!?!
just wanted to add the aequitas team seem to be rather more together than the solo sglac team of jimbo, so thats a positive i spose. Just read that thing about bans on the esl uk page good stuff!
starkey winner! xD
double click on your post to edit.
get me unbanned from esl tom and we'll play
oh nice, ive been unbanned.
tbh the koth esl thing is a 16 man cup to decide the first koth so unless youre awful youre gonna play more than 1 game
1 game 2,3,4 whatever... its still not enough motive for most to sign up imo.
im talking out of empathy here im already signed up etc, I mean there are plenty of tournaments going on on hundreds of websites, doesnt mean its worth signing your whole team up to a website just to play one.
if ctr is right and its gonna get esl to make a uk pro (or even amatuer series without prize) then sure its worth signing up, but its purely speculation.
mate, instead of fucking QQ'in about it, just sign up, add ur team to the cup and fucking play the game.
We've been trying to sign up for a few days but some ppl haven't been online much since tuesday
rofl owen , how did u get unbanned but no one else ! only 2 months to go till the anniversary anyway
any team u play with bm will do shit anyway, fuck up son
oi goode SHUTUP
signed up yaw
good lad zak, im proud
were in alot of cups atm and havent had players online much so bare with us, i think we are signed up now anyways
ok didnt see zaK post
i would love to play. if anybody needs a truly bad last player and they think fraghack is a knob......
UK was meant to get an ESL Pro series. The ESL masters spot which used to go to 4kings by default was going to be tied to the UK Pro series too.
We had one season in ESL which All the Rage won, ImG finished 2nd
2nd season was going to be the announcement of the UK Pro series but then one of the admins died in a car accident. No-one took over the job and the UK league basically fell apart.
cs is dead dancemag
Will get decerto signed up tonight
jedders!? never heard of you. i signed up to ed back in 2003 before you were born. im gona sign my team up to that cup and play just to spite you
Finally..get the ball rollin...........................
SIGN UP ALREADY
googogo wp ctr
Good post and we'll also be signing up shortly. An ESL league would be awesome.
Anyone making a mixteam for this, just for a laugh and something to do gimme a shout id play tbh!
Don't do it for the money, Do it for the cause.
bm, Jedder is a legend be nice!
Where do you go to sign up?
the mother fo' link ?
R.E.S.P.E.C.T tom, may need a 5th for mixteam for cup
and btw the site is veryvery good if u know how to work with it, 1st time@SGL was hard asswel
i can play if anyone wants a 5th
fordE you're COMPLETELY missing the point of the article.
TLR and s6 haven't entered this cup for 'easy money' (there is no prize pool) we've entered to increase the UK's chances of benefitting from the ESL competitions.
What you said is just typical of UK CS players attitude.
1.) You've got no self belief that you could be in a team capable of beating dignitas. (2/3 years ago dignitas (Well AcM for AlesKi & Kurt1s) had only just started to prove their worth on LAN. A year or so later their TmG/TLR team are signed by dignitas. You want what they want but you aren't willing to put in the effort to show for it.
2.) 'Im saying, they haven't given us anything to make it worth our time, yet." - That's not the way it works. They're the ones providing the competition you have to show them you want it. You say Bulgaria & Spain embraced the opportunity because they aren't as fortunate as us? ESL is the best league in the WORLD right now.
3.) "Although these 'insignificant cups' are apparently not enough, all this koth is is gonna be another 'insignificant cup." - ESL|Fenda has said IF THIS KOTH SERIES IS SUCCESSFUL, ESL SHALL INVEST IN A LEAGUE FOR CS 1.6. If the market's there they're going to attack it... but if players like you can't be fucked because they think the heights of h5, TLR etc are out of reach.
fnatic, mouz, MYM, Giants, SK, aTTax, emuLate, mTw, XLBET.ATS, Gameplay ALL use ESL as their online league (EPS) and also play in the ESL Extreme Masters.
All you have to do is make a team of 5 individuals with the same goals in mind, practice to fuck without folding every time you lose a pcw and/or official and there you have it, your very own top 10 UK Counter-Strike team.
im coverting css players as we speek, expect a few teams soon x
AMAZING DISTURBED REFORMATION FOR ESL UK
The dignitas mix AKA superheroes.eu in attendance.
C'MON
Any teams having problems with signing up to the ESL: KotH, /q me on IRC nick is s6|Ct-R with your team URL and i'll pass it onto the admins
jus trying to get my last member to sign up fuck sake! still spaces?
Yeah there's 4 more spaces
thats right forde, play into my typical british mentality ideal that has served me so well for the last five years
moar
i love Nic Hettie Taylor
done
yeah this is a good thing n all but tbh why are teams like superheroes mix's getting to enter then..? shouldnt it be open to teams only
think we will drop out of playzone cup and just join the esl uk cup
Hurry Jager 2 slots left!
Also adulki ESL KotH .se is full of incredible mix teams
If only we had a faroese KotH
JAGER UR not truth the playzone cup
im not truth the playzone cup... yeah i presume u mean we wont get thru ;p
tom the swedish KOTH is mostly mixteams as far as i can see
someone give me a team and i'll play
its ok to hate ones country and all, but typical british mentality has nothing to do with it
As I said, if they make us a league, wasting our time with this tourny is worth it... Just because people dont want to do something doesn't mean they are lazy. I dont want to go outside and climb 30 trees for 5 pounds 50 (ARHH!!!! LAZY BRITISH FUCK!!!). And come off it are you doing it for the good of the UK!?! s6 and TLR as it stands are fighting vs another 2~ really active teams that have some skill and teamplay, so if this cup all goes good they might have the chance to gain something from a pro series.
its not that the 'likes' of h5 and tlr are out of reach by any means, its that right NOW, as it stands, they are the only ones worried about it because as of this moment they are the only ones likely to gain anything from the effort of spending 30 mins getting yourteam signed up instead of spending 30 mins playing cs or doing something to chill (it isnt a job for 99% of us, yeah people practice but that is to increase chances of winning making it more fun).
anyway im not arguing against you entirely here this post will probably be the thing that gets the cup off the ground, I just disagree with a few things.
ps: i was only joking about jedders he is a loose
kind of proved my point there, but nevermind
you're so keen ct-r
tried to register as Ct-r asked us to but i am not a leader on roster and our leader doesnt care sigh
tom i love u
you could have spent the time it took you to reply with that whine and dribble and signed up your team instead.
hETTIE is wise.
cs is something people do in their spare time to enjoy, i was enjoying writing that. If someone has an opinion contrary to yours it doesnt make it 'whine and dribble'. There are things that are WORTH time, and things that are a WASTE of time.
If you cant understand that you will hardcore fail at life, good luck to you tho
need uk lans
respect to ct-r for making this, everyones constantly moaning about the lack of "something to aim for".
also fordE, whoever you are, stop being an arse.
rofl you are k33n CT-R
anyone wanna make a team for this holla
i would say most things you do would constitute a waste of time forde as you are truly a moron and painfully symptomatic of why nobody invests time and money into uk gaming as nic and ct-r have clearly worked out from reading your naive and narcissistic responses to this column but were too polite to say.
If you consider signing up to a 1 night cup an effort i wish you the best of luck in life sir, if signing up takes you 30 mins as you suggest then you have my pity as you must be disabled but i guess its fun to give it online if you spend most of the day uncontrollably dribbling on yourself so i forgive you.
erm.
fordE on December 3, 2008, 4:19 am.
where ever the rage inside has come from, it really isnt me so try to relax. I am talking from what ive heard from OTHERS about it taking so long to sort out ( i remember when we signed up with locked the site was a pile of shit, bad functionality etc).
im saying people would rather spend their SPARE TIME doing something fun, instead of signing up to an awfully constructed website in order to play 2 random games (in which they could be doing anyway. Im sure for a pro such as your self cs time isnt considered your spare time, the time in which you are not playing cs is.
You got it in one though, im the reason noone invests in uk cs.
I just thought it was harsh for ct-r to get on his high horse and call everyone lazy when in 90% of cases that isnt whats happening. Not everyone has the same motivations as him, it just looked like a kid getting angry cos he didnt get what he wanted! the fact it has turned into hardcore debate with the likes of you wasnt intended, sorry about that
Modified by
roger
people moan about the community, moan about lack of oppertunity, lack of lans, lack of prize money, lack of leagues... but when esl offer something up that could lead to all the things people claim to want, they cant be arsed with it... yeah im raging
chill baconboy
fordE the cup was a great success
you're the only guy who complained
typical british mentality