WYLDE: Inside Usain Bolt's Cork city academy pushing competitive gaming into the mainstream

Rocket League Team Ireland members (from left) Liam Doocey, Thomas Daly and Jack Dixon in the WYLDE Academy, powered by Virgin Media, in the Republic of Work, Cork.

What do video gaming, competition training and eight-time Olympic Gold Medallist, Usain Bolt have in common? They are all connected here in Cork city at the headquarters of WYDLE – Ireland's first professional e-sports organisation – where players at the top of their respective games work and train together to compete for cash prizes across global tournaments.

Founded in 2021, WYLDE was born at a time when competitive gaming was rapidly establishing itself as a form of mainstream entertainment, with co-founder and chief executive, Steve Daly being tasked with cultivating this spectacle and establishing Ireland's first esports academy, which, as Mr Daly puts it, "was a blank piece of paper," at the time.

Employing the help of fellow co-founder, Cork man, David Cronin and later, Usain Bolt, the trio set out on a mission to recruit and train Irish talent, with 20 professional players and three coaches now contracted across four major video games – Rocket League, Valorant, Rainbow Six Siege and FIFA.

Headquartered in the Republic of Work on Cork's South Mall, the academy operates as a performance and training centre for national and international professionals to train and meet with coaches, with new sponsorships from PUMA and Virgin Media also enhancing the business' operations.

Inside the academy lies a gamer's dream – a team table hosting five neon light-emitting PCs, with high-speed internet and painted black walls enabling players to concentrate fully on the screen in front of them. Overlooking the table are the respective coaches, who circulate the room, watching and providing critique to their players.

Across the hall lies three meeting rooms named after different cities – Shanghai, San Francisco and Cork, where team players meet with coaches, coaches meet with management and management takes care of the commercial, planning and financial side of the business.

A growing industry

While still largely unheard of in Ireland, competitive gaming has gone from strength to strength across the globe, with major brands including BMW, Coca Cola and Virgin Media offering sponsorships and funding to the world's largest teams and events. By 2025, it is estimated that the esports market will be worth around €1.8bn, with major organisations like the Olympic Committee also backing the growing industry.

Like traditional sports, professional esports can be extremely lucrative for those at the top. In 2022, tournaments for the popular multiplayer battle arena game, DOTA 2 offered a prize pool in excess of $30m, with the overall winners taking home around $8m.

Also reflecting traditional sports practices, WYLDE players are recruited and signed to a fixed-term contract that sets out salaries, training times and responsibilities, with additional commissions added for competition wins and prize bonuses.

One such player signed to WYLDE is Peter Bull, a Northern Irish esports player who joined the academy earlier this year. Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Peter recalls wanting to become a professional player from a young age, having now established a career playing the game he loves.

"Looking back as a kid, people asked me what I wanted to be when I was older and I remember telling them I wanted to be an e-sports player. I didn't fully know what that meant at the time, but I knew it was what I wanted."

Having signed with a UK academy at 18 and after years of balancing professional gaming with school, Peter joined WYLDE in March this year to play Rainbow Six Siege – an online tactical shooter game with more than 70 million global players. Currently, Peter and his team are training for this year's European League in Copenhagen, which carries a prize pool of $3m.

While second nature to him, the 21-year-old still finds himself having to explain his profession to others, adding that Ireland still has a long way to go before esports is normalised.

"I think most people in Ireland don't fully know what esports is, which I can understand. I think over time, people will realise that it isn't just about playing video games, it's a real passion for players and a potential career for many too."

Home-grown talent

Despite engaging with a range of youth organisations across Ireland to foster and meet talent, just four of WYDLE's twenty contracted players come from the Island of Ireland, with the remaining hailing from Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and other European countries where Esports has become more mainstream.

"Unfortunately, due to the level of talent based in Ireland, it is not possible to recruit entirely within the country," chief executive, Steve Daly told the Irish Examiner. "There is a big opportunity to help talent get stronger and we would love all our teams to be Irish, but at the moment, that is not possible."

"You're also faced with the issue of age," says Mr Daly, who entered the sports sphere after years working as an investment banker. Also coming from a background in sports management, the academy's chief executive says that esports players are often immediately put at a disadvantage.

"Professional sports players often know from a very young age what they can become, but esports players may only realise their potential in their teens so straight away, you're playing catch up."

In an effort to foster domestic talent, WYLDE has partnered up with Ireland E-sports, a non-profit that promotes gaming and works to enhance e-sports standards across the island of Ireland. As part of their partnership, non-contracted players can train with coaches and compete together within WYLDE's academy, which for management, enables them to meet and network with up-and-coming talent.

One such player is Nollaig O’Donnell, a 24-year-old esports player from Cork. While not a contracted player, the Blackpool native is currently training to compete in the European E-sports championships in Poland later this month. The event will see Nollaig, along with a college team from South East Technological University compete alongside 7,000 players representing 48 countries.

Organised in conjunction with the European Games, which is run by the European Olympic Committee, chief executive Daly refers to events like these as a "turning point," enabling esports to be further accepted within more traditional sporting events.

Nollaig, an avid FIFA player competing in the championship's eFootball league agrees, telling the Irish Examiner, "I’ve never represented Ireland before, but events like these make it possible for someone like me to do so. It's a huge opportunity and I am completely honoured."

Sharing her video game-play on social media sites like Twitch and TikTok, Nollaig has garnered a stable following online, enabling her passion for gaming and content creation to go hand-in-hand. For the 24-year-old, securing a contract with WYLDE is the ultimate goal.

"I’m always watching what WYLDE is doing – you look internationally and see all these esports organisations, and it's incredible to have one here on your doorstep. I would also love to be successful in the streaming side of things, but one compliments the other."

A worldwide venture

Since its establishment in 2021, WYLDE has grown its operations from a drawing board to an academy with 20 contracted players, three professional coaches and an organic following that has added to its international standing.

"If we can continue to build over the next five or ten years, the potential for WYLDE to be a global esports organisation that is fully recognised is very much possible," says Mr Daly.

"Will there be esports organisations as big as well-known football or basketball clubs in ten years' time? 100%. This is where audiences are going, this is what eyeballs have shifted to."

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