The heroes of South African esports

The South African esports scene is growing each year, despite the obstacles both players and organizers have to overcome.  

This growth is thanks to the dedicated, hard-working and passionate individuals and organizations. Today, we celebrate five people who make the South African esports scene work, through years of commitment and dedication. 

Barry “Anthrax” Louzada 

Mettlestate’s Barry “Anthrax” Louzada is a machine. That's the only way to describe Anthrax, with over 20 years of experience in esports, from competing as a player, to managing teams, casting and more.  

Anthrax works as the Director of the premium esports production house and tournament organization in South Africa, Mettlestate. 

Anthrax has 20 years of experience in esports (Picture: Anthrax Facebook) 

Andreas "cent" Hadjipascali

As the owner and manager of Bravado Gaming, Andreas ‘cent’ Hadjipascali has had a massive impact on the South African esports scene.  

With a never-give-up attitude, he leads one of the greatest Multi-Gaming-Organizations (MGOs) in the country. You could even say he managed to put South Africa on the map with Project Destiny in February 2018.  

This initiative saw six South African CS:GO players embark on a journey to the US to compete at the highest professional level. Fast forward two years later and two of these players, as well as their coach, are now part of the Cloud9 roster. 

Cent is the owner of Bravado Gaming (Picture: Bravado Gaming)

Nicholas "HoldenZA" Holden

Nicholas "HoldenZA" Holden has dedicated a lot of his time and energy to make South African esports a better place.  

As the co-owner of ACGL, Call of Duty expert, caster and all-round fantastic guy, Holden works non-stop to run esports events and make sure the SA community always has something to look forward to. 

HoldenZA is the co-owner of ACGL (Picture: HoldenZA Twitter)

Luca "RoBoHoBo" Tucconi 

Luca Tancredi Tucconi, also known as "RoBoHoBo", is one of the most dedicated people in the South African esports scene. He has been around for more than a decade as a player.

Luca currently works as the National Gaming and esports specialist at Red Bull, and he still finds the time to help the SA fighting game community thrive with ButtonBashers, a brand new fighting game initiative straight out of Cape Town.  

Luca on the right playing some games with Gareth Woods (Picture: Luca Facebook) 

Clinton "Zombie Dredd" O'Shea 

The only thing Clinton "Zombie Dredd" O'Shea loves more than eating brains is South African esports.  

Clinton has been around forever and still shows no signs of decomposing. Since May 2009, Clinton has been a staple of South African gaming with Zombiegamer.  

He’s also the co-owner of ACGL which has been a top tournament organizer for years. Without him, esports in South African wouldn't be where it is today. 

Zombie Dredd is a co-owner of ACGL (Picture: Zombie Dredd Facebook) 

All the others 

There are many unsung heroes of the South African esports scene who work exceptionally hard, sometimes just behind the scenes.  

Special mention goes out to all the wonderful people at ATK Arena. While it is impossible to mention all of them, they need to know that they have the gratitude of all esports fans and players in the country.  

To all those mentioned in this article and everyone who wasn't - thank you for making the South Africa esports scene work.