Esports coach insults opponents with obscene gesture – Riot responds with ban and fine
In League of Legends: Wild Rift, the Wild Tour took place in Brazil in early May. The strongest teams in the region competed there to qualify for the World Cup. However, there was an unsightly action during the tournament, to which Riot Games reacted with a suspension and a fine.
What did the coach do exactly? OMEGHA ESPORTS head coach Peterson “Wonder” Castelanno is said to have made an obscene gesture towards the opposing team. Riot Games is not more specific in the official statement, but from comments on Twitter it can be concluded that he is said to have shown the opposing team the middle finger.
This ugly action took place at the finale of the Wild Tour on May 8th. The Wonder team won this in a close duel with 4:3 against Keyd Stars.
What is the penalty? From Riot Games’ point of view, paragraphs 14.1.2 and 14.1.3 of the tournament regulations were violated. These include the regulation of behavioral standards of players and teams.
- He has to pay a fine of 5,000 BRL (equivalent to about 950 euros). However, the average income in Brazil is only around 480 euros. So he has to pay roughly 2 average monthly salaries (in Germany the equivalent of about 8,000 euros).
- He will be excluded from participation for two matchdays – regardless of when they take place.
However, the ban only applies to regional tournaments. He can take part as usual in the World Cup in Singapore in June, for which his team has qualified.
Wonder is provocative on Twitter
How did the coach react to the suspension? On Twitter, the coach shared Riot Games’ tweet and only commented with “Oh my God” and later ironically “I’ve already been arrested”.
He also distributes likes for statements such as “Won 200,000 BRL to pay 5,000. I think that’s a good deal” or “You have to be a little emotional”.
On the other hand, there is no statement about the incident on the OMEGHA ESPORTS website.
A similar incident happened in Brazil in 2021, where TSM’s Wild Rift team faced similar penalties for also showing the middle finger (via Dot Esports). Even then, a final ended narrowly with 4:3.
When are the World Championships? Those who want to follow the World Cup in Wild Rift can tune in from June 14th. This is where the group stage of the play-in tournament takes place. At the end of June there will be the regular group phase and then a knockout phase with a grand finale on July 9th.
In this article we took a look at whether Wild Rift is interesting for fans of LoL:
How much League of Legends is in Wild Rift? We played the new LoL Mobile
Reference-mein-mmo.de
