- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
New AFL players often come into the system having played a variety of sports in their youth. Around draft time, the stories of how young footballers eventually chose footy over basketball or cricket are common.
Matthew Uebergang could sort of relate to that. But his story is a bit different.
The AFL has recruited from many different sports in the past – from hurling to hurdling – but Uebergang breaks new ground, as a former semi-professional eSports gamer.
The 194 centimetre Uebergang is a versatile key position player who began his footy career in Ipswich and was eventually noticed and picked up by the Brisbane Lions academy.
He was overlooked in his original draft year, but last week his persistence was rewarded with a spot on Fremantle’s rookie list. He will become one of a number of young talls trying to fill the gaps in the Dockers’ forward line.
However, just a few years ago his focus wasn’t on football at all. Instead, he was trying to make it as a competitive player in the online game League of Legends.
It’s a tactical, team-based game where players take control of individual characters with various special abilities, and work together to battle the opposing team.
It’s played by 27 million people every day, and the prize pool at the annual world championship is in excess of $2.3 million.
Uebergang became so adept at the game after discovering it as a teenager that he and two of his brothers were able to put a team together and attract a few sponsors. They were even flown to events around the country.
“It’s crazy, how big it is and how much bigger it’s getting. The people who play it full-time move in together into gaming houses and they have coaches and people who cook for them, all sorts of things. Plus the sponsors give them money, so they make a really good living out of it,” Uebergang told The Age
“It’s really big in Korea and the States, not so much in Australia yet, but more and more people are starting to play it and the tournaments are starting to get a lot bigger. It’s an evolving career path, for sure. Hopefully, it’s something that people will be able to play full-time in the next few years.”
His team finished third in a tournament on the Gold Coast, but Uebergang eventually decided to quit and focus on his dream of being drafted to the AFL ahead of the 2014 season.
“I love the competitive side of it, trying to get better and trying to entertain the spectators and show them what you’re made of,” Uebergang said of his return to footy.
“Then you’ve got the camaraderie with your teammates, and getting to bond with them and achieve something together. It makes it enjoyable.
“It was an easy choice, in the end, to come back.”