ESIC Partially Removed Information About HUNDEN's Violations: Can ESIC Be Trusted?

ESIC completely removed information about one of the sanctions against Nikolay HUNDEN Petersen from the archive.

The page related to the disclosure of confidential information was completely removed. Let us remind you that HUNDEN was banned not only for a coaching bug but also for transferring the tactics of Heroic to Astralis. Then the coach planned to leave Heroic and move to a Danish club.

What Happened Then?

It all started at IEM Cologne 2021, where Heroic refused to perform with HUNDEN. The Danish team accused the coach of transferring strategies to the leading team's competitor - Astralis. As a result, the contract with HUNDEN was terminated, and Heroic sued the former coach.

Heroic won the courts, and ESIC confirmed the charges with its investigation. The result was a 2-year ban. The beginning of the ban period is August 25, 2021. Information about the investigation and the ban is now available only through the web archive.

Why Did ESIC Delete the Information?

Yesterday, ESIC announced that they are removing the ban from HUNDEN, having agreed on cooperation. At the same time, there is more than a year of ban left. This unleashed a storm of anger in the community and sowed even more doubts about the work of ESIC. After all, if bans can be lifted simply by agreeing on cooperation, why should we be afraid of bans?

And now ESIC has tarnished its reputation even more by removing the source of the investigation of an unprecedented violation, which affected the scene and established a measure of suppression.

Did ESIC have the right to do so? Of course not. Information about investigations should be kept in open access so precedents are created and evidence of guilt is preserved. And the most egregious moment in this story is that ESIC did not inform anyone about the changes in the archive. Now, under the nickname HUNDEN, only information about the investigation regarding the coaching bug is visible.

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What's Next?

ESIC once again proved that it must be more competent and dispassionate. Now the ethics commission does not even hide the fact that it is not fair, which is terrible because tournament operators and Valve still listen to their decisions.

The professional scene needs something that will perform the functions of the ESIC. Still, it should be another commission, the members of which will be selected by the tournament operators and the players' union. Furthermore, investigations must become completely transparent, and athletes and technical staff must participate.

It is necessary either to strengthen the control over ESIC or to create another organization that will be objective, fair and impartial.