THE SUPERFLY SWINDLE – A DARK AND SAVAGE TALE OF COUNTER-STRIKE: FRAUD

Words by Richard "Dr.Gonzo" Lewis
Assistance, interview material and research provided by Pete "Pete" Giblin

These things always seem to happen when I’m asleep, the truly weird and wild moments that prove the scene has a long way to go before it can truly claim legitimacy as an e-sport. But news slowly started leaking through a few days ago that the "owner" and "manager" of Club:AI, a gaming organisation that sprang up almost overnight with seemingly sound financial backing, was not who he said he was. Before we got to know Chris "superf1y" Johnson he had already made his mark on the European scene with a totally different name, Xhanubis, and those who have cause to remember that monicker do not remember it fondly.

It was not even two years ago when EuroCSS was proposed. It was supposed to be the most competitive CSS LAN to date when it was put forward; Some of the best teams in Europe travelling to the UK to compete against the best that the UK had to offer. CSS was still growing and the project was ambitious but possible. Certainly the person who was organising it had talked a good game. Xhanubis wasted no time in telling the European teams about the sponsors and the prize money available, a prize pot of five thousand pounds. At only twenty-five pounds per head it seemed a bargain and was one of the cheaper competitive LANs on both the UK and European calendars. With the Infinity Gaming team brought in to run the event the signals were all there that the tournament was all set to be everything it should be, but when the teams arrived at the LAN centre things started to unravel pretty quickly.

A few days prior to the event of the start date, "Xhanubis" disappeared citing personal problems as the reason for his sudden time-out. He assured people he would be at the competition and that the LAN was all prepared to go ahead. The venue itself, Omega Sektor in Harrow, were aware of the event but had not received any payment for venue hire and it was starting to dawn upon the players who had travelled that whoever this Xhanubis character was he had disappeared with the payments from about fifteen teams, approximately two and a half thousand pounds. It was also looking as if they had travelled all that way for nothing; no competition, not even able to use the facilities within without paying to do so. Even if long term there would be some way to get the money back, when you’re stood in a foreign country with nothing to do and no reason to be there at best you’re feeling bewildered.

This is where Tony "Gom8z" Oldfield entered the equation. Tony is someone who has been on the periphery of the UK scene for some time, being the owner of TwistedPlay and the behind the scenes manager of the Zboard teams. Determined that a competition of some form would go ahead he put up one thousand pounds of his own money on the spot and the tournament began, with terrible delays and an understandable air of gloom around the whole proceedings. Even with this gesture though the tournament was still doomed, teams having to leave early to catch flights and little incentive to stay with no prize money in sight. It was carnage and killed off the EuroCSS name – some genuine sponsors were looking to get involved if the event was a success - before it had a chance to grow. Tony offers his recollections of the debacle:

"Being the nosey guy I was" he recalls "I couldn't help but try to get involved as at this point we innocently thought that Xhanubis was having some kind of net problem. I contacted Mark "Phunky" Harwood who said he had been ringing the organiser constantly and had no luck in getting through. He passed on his mobile number to me and I phoned Xhanubis. Funnily enough he did pick up and I explained who I was and offered then and then if he needed any help with anything to let me know, but he simply assured me it was all fine, he had just some personal issues going on and he would be online in 5 mins to talk us through everything. After that conversation I went back to Mark only to be told that he said the same thing to about four people. Strangely enough his phone was switched off from then on out and no one heard from him again. Obviously being good friends with Cadre, Dignitas, Reason, xciteuk, Zboard and multiple other clans who had helped boost TwistedPlay before with their presence and being in a position of spare cash as I had previously dumped the high maintanence other half, I got in touch with Domin Mulroy and paid the full amount for the LAN on my credit card. It was not enough to save the LAN and some teams pulled out early, but at least some games got played and it wasn’t a total waste of time."

It was scant consolation for the teams who, if truth be told, had made the journey with the opportunity of prize money in mind, but it did provide an opportunity for a lot of the top European teams to play UK based opposition they would not usually encounter online, let alone in a LAN environment. It was also an opportunity for the UK teams to get an idea of how to gauge themselves against European opposition, the attendance of European teams at UK events being something that was only just taking off in CSS. But ultimately, positives aside, it was little more than an over-priced and unfinished series of friendly matches despite the best efforts of those who tried to make something of it. Mark "Phunky" Harwood, a well respected UK player from back in the day who played for mEm, Reason and xciteuk as well as being the creator of the EuroCSS brand, picks up the story:

"I wasnt part of the event when it took place" he explains "my only real involvment with all this is down to the fact that i created EuroCSS and when I found out what was happening with it I naturally attempted to resolve it. Even though I sold the brand on, it still meant a hell of a lot to me. I thought Chris was someone trust worthy as he had been helping me run it for some time. I still think to this day that it just got out of hand for him but it does not excuse the way he handled it. At one point I said to him to just hand the money over to Tony or myself and slip away and forget about it... He slipped away alright but without giving the money back."