BLAST Premier Spring Groups to have CS:GO coaches despite Valve's ruling

Following the landmark investigation by the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) back in September 2020, Valve finally took action on 28th January 2021, laying down new rules for online matches. However, tournament organizer BLAST has become the first to refuse these rules for the BLAST Premier Spring 2021 Groups tournament.

BLAST on CS:GO coaching rules from Valve

Valve prohibited CS:GO coaches and other staff from communicating with their teams or even being in the same room during an online CS:GO match in tournaments.

Valve's ruling was due to an increase in reports of stream-sniping are increasing, and the use of the spectator bug by 37 coaches which shocked the CS:GO community. 

(Picture: BLAST)

However, BLAST's commissioner, Andrew Haworth, has issued a statement, believing the tournament organizer has enough mechanisms in place.

The statement was posted on Twitter only two days before the BLAST Premier Spring 2021 groups are scheduled to kick off.

Andrew Haworth explains: "We believe that the mechanisms we have in place enable us to listen and observe coaches' actions when they are on the server and in the room with the players, which gives us greater oversight of competitive integrity by being able to directly monitor actions in real-time and have information to review post-event if any concerns are raised."

(Picture: BLAST)

BLAST believes coaches provide a vital role in the "professionalism of esports" and improves a team's performance as well as the quality of play.

In terms of support staff, the Esports Operations Manager at BLAST, Robert Mulgan, revealed two members of support staff will be allowed to join the room or a TeamSpeak server but they won't be allowed to interfere or speak to the players.

• Read more: CS:GO Broken Fang Week 10 missions: How to complete for Star rewards

BLAST Premier Spring 2021 Groups will kick off on 4th February 2021. After the completion of the tournament on 14th February, BLAST will continue to monitor and review the CS:CO coaching rules.