An upcoming Hearthstone tournament in Finland will ban female players from taking part, in accordance with rules laid out by South Korea’s International eSports Federation, which is a shame because we really think everyone should be playing it in our Hearthstone review.
The IeSF made the ruling as part of an effort to “promote eSports as a legitimate sport”.
The Finnish Assembly eSports Tournament is a qualifying event for the IeSF World Championship, and its admins say entry is closed to female players to avoid “possible conflicts” later in the series.
“The decision to divide male and female competitions was made in accordance with international sports authorities, as part of our effort to promote e-Sports as a legitimate sports,” wrote the IeSF by way of explanation on their Facebook page.
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The Finnish Assembly and IeSF aren’t splitting their Hearthstone competition by gender, though: they’re simply having one, male-only event. Bizarrely, the IeSF run tournaments for men in Dota 2, StarCraft 2, Ultra Street Fighter IV and Hearthstone, and for ladies in just StarCraft 2 and Tekken Tag Tournament 2.
The Finnish Assembly have said they are campaigning against the stipulation – but currently appear prepared to run the tournament male-only.
Thanks, PC Gamer.