By Jens Christian Ringdal / President of eSport Danmark
Looking back on 2012 it has been yet another interesting year with progress of Danish eSport. The year started with the anual general assembly on March 3rd where the member organisations of eSport Danmark met to discuss 2011 and the future. Amongst the subjects that were discussed was a proposed coorperation with libraries, startup of eSport associations in selected cities and welcoming Lolland Falster eSport as new member of eSport Danmark. President, Jens Christian Ringdal was reelected for a 2 year term as well as treasurer Peter Vestergaard. Also, as board members Michael Antonsen and Jonathan Bornemann were reelected for their respective positions. Furthermore a membership fee of 75 DKK (appr. 10 euro) was decided. The board was assigned to work on a new draft of regulations for the federation which are to be presented at the general assembly of 2013.
After the general assembly eSport subjects was discussed like eSport activities, Danish eSport league, Danish national championship, Danish eSport community, Danish national team etc. The first big activity was the anual Danish FIFA Youth Club championship held in Odense on April 21st with participation of 256 players. In July eSport Danmark hosted the qualification for the Starcraft 2 World Championship Series. The final was between Babyknight and Blackcidy – a final which Babyknight won convincingly with 2-0. Following the Starcraft 2 World Championship Series eSport Danmark hosted the qualification for the IeSF World Championship in both A.V.A., Starcraft 2 and Tekken. The A.V.A. tournament was hosted online and despite hard efforts against Holland and Belgium and a walkover win against Azerbaijan there was no spot for Denmark in A.V.A. at the IeSF World Championship.
The IeSF World Championship qualification in Starcraft 2 was also hosted online, however the semifinals and finals was played on August 24th and 25th in a TV studio in Copenhagen together with the Tekken qualification. The Starcraft 2 final was broadcasted on live Danish television.
2012 culminated with the Danish Championship on November 16th – 18th, which was hosted at the electronic and gadgets fair Beep at the Bella Center in Copenhagen. The championship had 92 participants in games like Starcraft 2, Tekken, Black Ops, Halo 4 etc. while the surrounding gaming activities had 4,642 participants in games like Skylanders Giants, Forza Horizon, Trackmania 2, Shootmania etc. Alongside the championship eSport Danmark hosted a community meeting with representatives from Starcraft 2, FIFA, Counter-Strike and event organisations such as Copenhagen Games / SLAP and Copenhagen Wolves.
eSport Danmark also had meetings with the National Olympic Committee and Sports Confederation of Denmark during Beep 2012. The national tv station TV2 made a 3 minute news interview about eSport as a sport which was broadcasted in the sports news at 19:45 the same evening.
The meeting with the National Olympic Committee and Sports Confederation of Denmark was very positive and it was agreed to engage into a closer dialogue and cooperation during 2013.
2012 was also the year of interesting news like the association Roskilde eSport receiving funding of 1,000,000 DKK together with the local skate association Hal12 Skate & Event. The funding is partial funding of a local eSport Center of 340 square metres as part of a youth street and underground activity environment in Roskilde. Also great results by Copenhagen Wolves stole headlines in 2012 – mostly remembered was the 3rd place at Dreamhack Winter finals in League of Legends.
