LCK referees receive a suspension from KeSPA

The League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) recently announced that it had suspended the referees responsible for the BRION and KT Rolster. These referees had made an error in the match, which the LCK deemed unacceptable for the tournament’s integrity.

The Korean eSports Association (KeSPA) has studied the case and applied the punishment. As a result, the referees will not be present for the next ten games. This suspension has been met with shock and praise from the League of Legends community, as some believe the referees should have been punished more harshly for their mistakes.

What was the referees’ mistake?

The third week of the LCK saw a crucial duel in the middle of the standings between BRION and KT Rolster. Both teams sent the league their choice of sides for the match three days before the actual match. KT had the right to choose sides and announced that the series would start in red. However, the referees informed BRION that their opponents had chosen the blue. Despite realizing their mistake, the group ultimately chose to go ahead.

The referees’ miscommunication with the BRION team cost them a large part of the 2-0 loss to KT Rolster, which generated intense controversy in the LCK. As a consequence of the referee’s decision, the BRION team could not prepare their match against KT on the right side, but they prepared it on the side where the opponent would play. Moreover, neither of the two organizations made any mistakes in this case, as they moved their decisions before the deadline.

According to Riot, this mistake led BRION to “make a hasty decision” when choosing sides. BRION and KT Rolster were played in a best-of-three series when the error occurred.

On the other hand, Riot comments that the LCK assistant referees accidentally filled in KT’s team selection spreadsheet with information from another game.

Usually, another assistant referee checks the spreadsheets. The LCK stated:

” The person in charge of checking missed the mistake due to having other work on that day.”

LCK takes action to avoid the same mistake in the future

The LCK has taken several measures to ensure that the same mistake is not repeated in the future. First, it has increased the number of referees present at each match. This will ensure excellent supervision of the matches and allow any possible errors to be quickly detected and corrected.

Secondly, the KeSPA referee committee has suspended the referees responsible for BRION and KT Rolster for ten matches.

Finally, the LCK has also implemented the measure of making announcements to the teams by email. This measure aims to facilitate communication and reduce the possibility of making the same mistake again.

The LCK’s suspension of the referees has sparked debate in the League of Legends community. Some believe the referees should have been punished more harshly for their mistakes. However, it is clear that the LCK has taken the necessary steps to ensure that mistakes like these do not happen again. In addition to maintaining the integrity of their tournament.

Header: Riot Games