Represent

Represent.

The importance of a positive image, both as a team and as a member of that team, cannot be understated, both from a personal and commercial perspective. The same is true in esports, where time and again, a wrong move from a team member has caused the downfall of the whole team. FuturEsports has again found themselves the centre of some attention, but not for who they have signed. This time, they have removed two drivers from their team, and whilst the reasons are slightly different, the fundamental issue is how they were not representing the FES brand to the team’s expectations.

Danny Leussink earnt the ire of FES by refusing to use the FES tag in his steam name, therefore whenever he raced, his name would not have FES at the beginning, as is standard (and required) for the Hungarian squad’s top drivers. This situation is somewhat strange because, at the time of writing, Danny still has FES in his discord username on some discord servers, so why he refused to make this small change is a mystery. Danny didn’t do himself any favours in last week’s PSGL race at Miami, as he was judged by the stewards to have purposely caused the safety car to come out, and was therefore banned for three races, with the warning of “do it again, and you’re permanently banned”.

Jeffrey Richie was also on the receiving end of FES’ boot for “secretly working for an esports team as a development driver”, which does not comply with FES’ plans for the future. Keep in mind that teams will keep discussions about car setups and race strategies very strictly to themselves, to prevent giving a rival any advantage, or an avenue for a rival to exploit a potential weakness, so when one of your top drivers is found to be working for another team, it shakes the team confidence in said driver, so Jeffrey was given his marching orders, along with Danny.

FES has been working very hard to build a solid reputation, demonstrating that they are not afraid to enforce the rules, to continue strengthening the brand. All too often, issues can be swept aside to “keep the peace”, however, this can lead to greater issues in the long run. Danny and Jeffrey have a lot of talent to offer the next team that they can call home, hopefully without further drama following them on their journey.

- Chris Buxton

#DannyLeussink #FES #FutureEsports #JeffreyRichie