Finnish Hearthstone tournament bans females in "effort to make it legitimate"

A Hearthstone tournament in Finland has actively banned females from participating.

And even more absurdly, the company running the competition has argued the move was made as part of its effort to promote e-Sports as a legitimate sport”.

PC Gamer reports that the IeSF World Championship, organised by the Finnish eSports Federation, will host male only competitions for Dota 2, Starcraft 2, Hearthstone and Ultra Street Fighter IV and additional female-only competitions for Starcraft 2 and Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

"In accordance with the International e-Sports Federation’s (IeSF) tournament regulations, since the main tournament event is open to male players only,” the tournament’s head of admin Markus Koskivirta said. This is to avoid possible conflicts (e.g. a female player eliminating a male player during RO8) among other things.

"The decision to divide male and female competitions was made in accordance with international sports authorities, as part of our effort to promote e-Sports as a legitimate sports.

Koskivirta went on the claim that the gender demands were made by South Korean organisers IeSF and that the Fins are actively campaigning against it.

"We would also like to point out that the Finnish eSports Federation is currently lobbying for the equal rights of male and female players in the IeSF tournaments,” he added. This is an ongoing process and we of course welcome any support in this matter."

A good start could possibly be refusing to hold a tournament that discriminated against gender in the first place, perhaps?