After an Irish Counter-Strike player passed away during a trip to Holland, the Ireland and United Kingdom CS:GO communities came together to raise money for a small tournament in his honor.
At the end of the day, despite any amount of toxicity or drama, an esports community is still a community. And recently, a small section of the Counter-Strike community that is rarely talked about demonstrated exactly what it means to be a community.
Earlier this month, an Irish CSGO player and member of the Irish Challenger League hub on FACEIT, Pat ‘PDOGG’ Kelly passed away, at only 23 years old. Kelly was traveling near the town of Tilburg in the Netherlands when he was struck by an automobile.
Players who had the opportunity to play with him regarded him as one of the most fun people to play Counter-Strike with.
In memorial of Pat 'PDOGG' Kelly, we will be holding a remembrance tournament in conjunction with the UK Circuit. This will take place on Saturday 21/9 6pm. We ask that everyone donates at least €2 to the justgiving to play. https://t.co/7a6QKn56HK
— Irish Challenger League :flag-ie: (@hub_icl) September 19, 2019
The UK Circuit and the ICL asked each player who planned to compete to donate €2, with a goal of reaching £300 before the tournament begins to give to Pat Kelly’s family. The UK Circuit are providing the resources and playerbase for the tournament.
Still two days away from the tournament, the JustGiving crowdfunding page has already doubled their goal.
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£600 isn’t a large amount of money, but it’s not the financial value that means something to these players and this community. Irish CS is very rarely talked about up at the highest level, and the biggest LAN event seemingly held in Ireland was held at a small university.
.@ucddublin vs Better than you – lower bracket final now live at https://t.co/6MCoeXYUIh! #OTLV pic.twitter.com/GDJ1s4ZUvG
— One Tap LAN V (@onetaplan) February 10, 2019
But two relatively small FACEIT hubs in a part of the world where esports is nowhere as big as it is in places like the U.S. and China and Korea, came together to honor a fallen friend in a way that would surely make him proud.
The Pat Kelly remembrance tournament takes place on Saturday, September 21st, and you can still donate to the crowdfunding page before then. A number of streamers, such as Zerpherr, Ferexx, and kas will be streaming the event and donating their proceeds to Pat’s family.
RIP Pat. May the road rise up to meet you.