Schalke 04 stands by its decision to bench player for solo queue behaviour

A few days ago, the esports organisation Schalke 04 announced that it had benched Ismaïl "Isma" Boualem after the League of Legends player was caught making toxic remarks when playing the game alone. This led to a bit of upset among Schalke 04's fanbase, but now the team has released a statement to say it stands by its choice.

"After the reactions we saw within the last two days of some people within the community, we decided to come forward and address the situation on hand:"

"The responsibility we as Schalke 04 hold goes beyond the one we have for our team and the esports community. We are also a football organization that inhabits an extensive part within the sports community, in Germany and also worldwide."

"An insult that is said within the League of Legends world might hold a different weight there than it does in the world where we as Schalke 04 operate. We know that manners in LOL might be a little different - however, we are holding everyone internally accountable by the same standards, we always try to make that unmistakably clear:"

"We don't stand for hate and toxic behaviour. Everybody at Schalke - player, manager, staff employees, board - is asked to internalize that. We've also put it down in a mission statement."

"For countless years now, FC Schalke 04 work against racism, antisemitism, and discrimination - we have come a long way, made mistakes, learned, and kept on learning. Sometimes people seem to forget that the things we say online have a very real impact on people. This is real life and the things we say matter. Please keep that in mind."