Image courtesy of CAZ eSports
CAZ eSports has announced that they have dropped their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster following disagreements between management and players, acquiring predominantly British roster The Working Men in return.?
The former roster consisted of an international mix of British, Swedish, Belgian, and American players, including former NME player Donovan "zNf" Froid and former FM-eSports player Ben "r0m" Smith. The organization claims that they have decided to drop the roster, citing inconsistent performance as the reason.
Ben Bagg, COO of CAZ eSports had the following to say about the situation:
“
After a long discussion with the management team we have decided to drop this roster, the team’s performance at DreamHack was fantastic and I would like to thank them for their effort, but overall the team was not performing overall how we would have liked and the results were just not consistent enough. We had a rocky event at Dreamhack however we are happy with the way it all turned out, thanks mainly to the team and their dedication. However we are going to be moving away from them now as we set our sights back to the UK for sometime. We as an organisation are keen to help develop UK talent, which is something we are pushing with our Academies, and by returning our focus to the UK we hope to help grow the scene itself!”
However, former CAZ eSports player Jesper "jesp" Johansson said otherwise about the situation, adding various other details in a lengthy statement, which can be read here. In the statement, Johansson alleges that the management of CAZ eSports was extremely unprofessional and failed to fulfill various promises, including ones in regards to salaries, travel expenses, and sponsor peripherals. Johansson also states that the players decided to leave the organization on their own accord, and that they were not dropped.
In addition, CAZ eSports team captain Ben "r0m" Smith added the following:
“
I believe CAZ made a big mistake in picking my team up initially, unfortunately for us I believe they realised the same thing very shortly after. Throughout the duration of CAZ, as team captain I felt it was my job to make sure my team were in good hands. I don't blame CAZ for any decisions they have made and I completely understand, but the lack of empathy towards the team has been disgraceful. To put yourself in my shoes and how I felt, imagine taking a job that required time for you to be where you wanted to be at in terms of ability. Upon the interview the company completed agreed with you and took you on as a future investement. Then from day 1 of the job, you start being told you aren't what they want and do everything within the law to force you out the door. That's the impression I got from day one. Sending us to an event with multiple promises, and letting us down, leaving us stranded and out of pocket significantly (paying for things that were agreed to be paid for by CAZ) being told to shut the f**k up by the owner of the team when I intervened to find out when they were giving us money to pay for things was one of the most disrespectful things I think has ever been said to me. In another country, and financially relying on a person that is telling you to "shut the f**k up" leaves you in a very bad position. In hindsight, I've learnt a lot from this... I will never accept a verbal agreement on anything again. I believe CAZ will learn from their mistakes and improve dramatically. But I feel for whoever they pick up next if they aren't to have changed their approach to everything.”
Donovan "zNf" Froid said the following:
“
About 4 months ago I was told there was a formidable organisation looking for a team. An org with a desire to grow, a passion for esports but most importantly a professional attitude. I havent been in many orgs especially not big ones, so this looked very promising. A few talks with the manager only furthered this vision I had, I really felt like there was an opportunity for both parties to profit and prosper. Unfortunately this did not seem to be a mutual thought... Its sad that in this day and age an org can breach its contract without a care in the world With their chaotic approach and downright sad interaction between the team and organisation (lets not forget the unfulfilled promises). It comes to no surprise that I no longer represent CAZ eSports.”
The now organization-less team had the following roster:
Owen "smooya" Butterfield
Ben "r0m" Smith
Jesper "Jesp" Johansson
Yannick "yNc" Van Boven
Donovan "zNf" Froid
In an attempt to move on from the situation, CAZ eSports has signed the roster of The Working Men, a predominantly British roster who recently won the ESL UK Premiership Spring 2016 Finals earlier this month.
Jake "jakem" McCausland had the following to say about their new organization:
“
After the demise of my previously successful CAZ team due to dephs international departure I had decided to take a step back from creating a team and decided that with the talent in the UK at the time there wasn’t much scope to create a solid line-up. The Working Men was created initially as a mix team and somewhere I could play with multiple different people who I had not played with before across different leagues . I am happy to announce that we have found a core line-up that we are happy with and we look forward to the upcoming iSeries and hopefully UKMASTERS. More importantly it is great to be representing CAZ again and the team looks to pick up where we left off before. Thanks to Ben & Liam for the opportunity again.”
CAZ eSports now consists of the following roster:
Jake "jakem" McCausland
Jake "Boaster" Howlett
James "Kryptix" Affleck
Robin "robiin" Sjögren
Konstantinos "tsack" Theodoropoulos
