Andriy Yarmolenko, Robert Snodgrass and Ryan Fredericks of West Ham United had the opportunity to try their hand at something completely different from their usual daily work at the beginning of the year.
The Betway event saw the trio swap their football boots for a role commentating on some top-quality esports action at the BLAST Premier studio in London.
It used gameplay from the mega-hit CS: GO title, with two different clips featured in the first of two videos to be released from the event, showing off the skills that the three possessed when trying to rise to the challenge.
Under the leadership of Auguste “Semmler” Massonnat, who is a highly experienced esports commentator in competitions involving Counter-Strike, Snodgrass, Yarmolenko and Fredericks all provided their own description of what was witnessed.
After a lesson in commentating, Snodgrass and Fredericks were filmed showing their own unique twists in two of the most memorable moments in an esports game; the Coldzera ‘Jumping Double AWP’ play and the iconic Happy Deagle ace on Inferno.
The Scottish midfielder appeared to throw the ball out of the park with his approach to the action, although he only lived up to ‘Semmler’s’ expectations when the seasoned commentator heard of ‘Snoddy’s’ prior experiences with giving his own voice to other snippets of footage from the past.
Fredericks, who was outed as someone who had weird arguments online while playing various esports and video game titles, also seemed to treat the commenting art like a duck into the water as he displayed loads of enthusiasm and passion with the words he used.
Phrases such as “Bang”, “one kill”, “two kill” and “hat-trick” were used for each clip that the full-back commentated on and provided some great storytelling to accompany the action being witnessed.
Yarmolenko’s effort was not shown in the first of the two videos to be uploaded of the Betway event, although ‘Semmler’ did appear to acknowledge the Ukraine international’s attempt at the end by suggesting the winger had put in a solid amount of effort.
Indeed, West Ham could certainly make the most of the experienced attacker’s efforts next season when it comes down to his main role of playing football on a pitch.
The winger has two contrasting spells since arriving at the London Stadium in the summer of 2018, having started off well before suffering with injuries.
Yarmolenko managed to make a comeback prior to the end of the 2019/20 Premier League campaign and arguably scored one of their most important goals of the season when he netted the winner against Chelsea in a surprise 3-2 victory.
The 30-year-old would bag a total of five goals and one assist in the 23 appearances he would make for David Moyes’ side over the course of the season (including during Manuel Pellegrini’s time at the club prior to his sacking).
A veteran of the game and one that has all the ability to produce some great moments with the ball at his feet, if Yarmolenko can remain fit for the entire 2020/21 Premier League campaign, West Ham could have a solid season on their hands.
