Esports, the black sheep of the sporting world, is growing in popularity here at Stirling.
The University of Stirling’s own 19-year-old Esports society president, Alexander Kelly, sat with Brig to discuss his place in the society, the growth of Esports in Scotland, and debunk a rumour about the university’s latest sporting society.
Alexander, better known as Zander, came to Stirling three years ago to study politics and religion. At the time, he had no interest in Esports as he “came to university to learn”, but after coming across the newly formed society, he decided that he was willing to give it a shot.
“I started going to the socials that were running at the time, and I honestly just fell in love with it. I started competing for a couple of other teams, and after that, as well, I started getting more involved with eSports.”
Since becoming more involved with eSports, Zander has competed and engaged in multiple tournaments. His game of choice has changed over the years, starting with Overwatch, but more recently, Valorant has become his go-to game.
His competitive edge came naturally as he stated that since he was young, he was always “a decently competitive person.” Though the team’s Overwatch division recently lost twice earlier this month, the connections they have been forming with other university teams have been invaluable
“I’m working with the president of Edinburgh’s sports site, running this online tournament for all students for a few games. In this case, we’re going to do a squad variety tournament, where it’s three games that the community can vote on, and we will then run a little tournament over a week or so during the year, to then bring a few new games in.”
The popularity of Zander’s society has waned recently from when he first joined, but this hasn’t stopped him from pushing for more competitions between Scottish universities, in particular with the University of Edinburgh.
“I was already friends with the president [of Edinburgh University’s esports team], so it was easy for the most part to contact other society presidents because we were already competing against them…I can say there’s a lot of talent around Scotland when it comes to esports.”
Zander is committed to building the esports society out further, regardless of low membership, their online tournaments still pull a great number of players and going forward, he believes that if you have a competitive mind for video games, you should try your hand at esports.
“Even though we are a small society, you can still grow yourself.. You have to do it for yourself. You have to apply yourself to the opportunities, and if you get involved and enjoy it, it’s always worth it.”
Wrapping up the discussion, Brig asked Zander about the rumour that been haunting the esports society since the beginning of 2026. The rumour is that the society recreationally drinks blood.
“It’s such a crazy allegation. We thought, “No, we got absolutely no idea who’s posted”, but we like to play into it now. So we’ll joke and be like, “Oh yeah, no, we totally do that.”
Through the rumours and low turnout, Zander is undefeated in his goals to continue to grow the esports scene in Scotland.
Feature Image Credit: Alexander Kelly
Fourth year Film and Journalism student
Deputy editor
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