37 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive coaches have already been banned from competition after the Esports Integrity Commission found them guilty of using a spectator bug in previous tournaments.
One of those coaches is 32-year-old Casper “ruggah” Due, OG Esports’ head coach. ruggah used the spectating bug for a single round during the 2016 ESL Pro League Season 4 Europe tournament, according to the ESIC. While coaching for Dignitas, ruggah used it against Virtus Pro.
ruggah immediately went to OG to explain the reason he used this bug earlier in his career when he caught wind of the ongoing investigations. In response, OG reached out to the ESIC to collaborate with the investigation.
The coaching bug allowed coaches to have multiple views of various parts of the map, letting them watch what the opponents were doing and where they were positioned. Feeding that information back to their own team could be game-changing, since they would have previously unknown insight into the enemy team’s strategies and locations.
OG posted their official statement on ruggah’s ban on Twitter.
“We respect the ESIC decision,” OG started, noting that ruggah will “fulfill his ban.”
— OG CS:GO (@OGesportsCSGO) September 28, 2020
But OG noted that the CSGO players and staff came together after the investigation and decided that ruggah deserves a second chance.
“We want to continue working with him,” OG tweeted.
ruggah issued a statement of his own, also posted to Twitter. He accepted the ban, saying it wasn’t a proud moment in his career. He then thanked OG for giving him a second chance and continuing to believe in him.
Not the proudest moment in my career and I accept the ban. I want to thank the players and @OGesportsCSGO for giving me a second chance and continuing to believe in me
— Casper Due (@casdueh) September 28, 2020
The response to OG’s decision was mixed. The CSGO community felt ruggah had only confessed once the investigation began. ruggah did have 25% of his five-month ban reduced by the ESIC because of his decision to confess. But others felt he should just take the few months to reflect on what happened and then move on. Since it was only one round back in 2016, some OG fans felt he shouldn’t be permanently punished for his mistake.
ruggah will be serving a little under four months suspended from competition. ruggah will not be present for OG’s matches in IEM New York Europe, which runs from October 6 to October 11.
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