What a disappointing end to the season for the London Spitfire who entered this season as the defending champs. Sadly, they were eliminated early in the Playoffs after being swept by the Spark in the first round of the Loser’s bracket. So, what happened to them? They went from defending champs to an early elimination.
Birdring’s Controversial Benching
We can start with the controversial benching of Birdring during the Spitfire’s matchup against the Spark. Birdring, who usually plays as a Damage player, has been with the team since November of 2017. Birdring played an important part of Spitfire’s Championship run with the team during the inaugural playoff season, posting up MVP numbers. The eventual inaugural MVP went to his teammate Profit, who also plays a Damage type player. After the team’s upsetting loss, Birdring went to his official Instagram account and posted a blank image along with a caption which translated in English says:
“Thank you all for your support, and I’m sorry for the late season, I’ve lost a lot of motivation, and I’m still confused about my future plans. Sorry.”
Is Birdring looking to be traded? Or is he even teasing a retirement from the league all together? He’s young and he’s only twenty years old; however, rumor has it that sometimes his attitude may be a bit of a problem. Spitfire’s official Social Media manager tweeted out the following:
He might not necessarily be talking about Birdring; however, Birdring did not seem happy and in my personal opinion. Benching him was not the brightest idea they’ve had. Birdring also suffered a wrist injury last year when he hit the table in anger. The Spitfire also don’t have a proper head coach currently as former Head Coach Coach815 left the team this past July. They still have JFeel and Ajape but losing Coach815 not even two months ago took a brutal hit on the team.
Since then, both Birdring and Bumper of the Titans have deleted their social media. Bumper was benched during the Playoffs in favor of his teammate Tizi. Also, to be noted, Tizi is a former Spitfire who won the Championship with them before joining the Titans not even a month ago. Tizi is a great pickup for the Titans not even a month before playoffs started. It’s also interesting considering that Bumper is the team captain who was benched in favor of a player who joined not even a month again. Could he be looking to force the Titans to trade him after the season is over? What do you guys think is going to happen after the grande finale? Sounds like there will be a lot of movements between team members in the coming few months.