A football match in Switzerland was halted on Sunday as fans hurled tennis balls and PS4 controllers onto the pitch in a protest against esports. The game between Young Boys and Basel was paused for two minutes while the items were cleared away.
[jwplayer ufxzSg8Y]
Fans on both sides held up huge banners, one featuring the pause button symbol and another which simply read, “Scheiss esports,” which apparently translates roughly to “esports are shit”. This all happened a mere 15 minutes into the game.
You can check out some footage of the event embedded in the tweet below.
https://twitter.com/NiPKameeleon/status/1044190588881514497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1044190588881514497&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fvariety.com%2F2018%2Fgaming%2Fnews%2Fswiss-soccer-fans-protest-esports-1202954449%2F
The controllers were even scrawled with profanities, so I guess it’s safe to say these sports fans are pretty off the idea of competitive gaming. Unfortunately for them, esports is only growing in popularity all over the world. While it hasn’t been explicitly called out, it’s believed these protests were in response to both teams’ recent investment in the area.
All sorts of sports teams are jumping on the esports train globally and in our own backyard, AFL is leading the charge. There’s even a schmick new esports training centre in the SCG, where players and teams can hone their skills.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, Young Boys ended up winning the game 7-1.
