At the start of the year, the government seems determined to put sport and esport on common ground. It is on Twitter that Roxana Maracineanu, Minister Delegate for Sportsannounced last week, on January 20, that a law establishing the control of the integrity of supervisors in esports had been adopted. It is currently before the National Assembly for a second reading.
This new law therefore establishes the control of the good repute of supervisors in esports, whether they are professionals or volunteers. With this, esport therefore obtains the same status as sport, the supervisors being considered here as well as sports educatorsmeaning thata person who has been criminally tried will no longer be able to supervise, assist, animate or even arbitrate in esports. It’s about of section 102added to the bill aimed at to democratize sport in Francewhich you can find below:
I. – No one may exercise the functions of teaching, facilitating or supervising a video game activity or train its practitioners, as a main or secondary occupation, on a regular, seasonal or occasional basis, to on a paid or voluntary basis, or exercise the functions of arbitrator or judge in such activities, nor intervene with minors within an establishment in which video game activities are practiced if he has been the subject of a conviction for a felony or for one of the offenses provided for.
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II. – In addition, no one may teach, animate or supervise a video game activity with minors if they are subject to an administrative measure prohibiting them from participating, in any capacity whatsoever, in the management and the supervision of institutions and organizations subject to legislative or regulatory provisions relating to the protection of minors accommodated in holiday and leisure centres, as well as youth groups or if it is the subject of an administrative measure suspension of these same functions.
III. – In addition, no one may teach, animate or supervise a video game activity if he has been definitively condemned by the criminal judge for a crime or offense of a terrorist nature.
Right here, esport therefore aligns with sport, where this measure has already applied for quite some time. The very purpose of this amendment is to allow a better structuring of esport by giving structures the same power to carry out checks as sports structures have. However, it has another objective, to prevent supervisors banned from sports because considered dangerous, to reconvert in sports management.
Now let’s wait to see results. Many sports structures do not necessarily have the same means as sports structures to carry out these checks or simply wouldn’t see no need to do them.