For the global CS:GO audience, IEM Sydney brings a uniquely Australian charm to another high-stakes tournament. But for the local crowd, the event represents much more. From the bemused mother chaperoning her chattering, Renegades jersey-clad son at Lidcombe train station to the boisterous Team Liquid fans holding up a Stewie2k sign to the camera, IEM Sydney is proof that there’s an appetite for esports in Australia.

“We did a lot of market testing,” says Nick Vanzetti, SVP and Managing Director of ESL Australia. “We wanted to know that people were going to come. And we found out that there are huge amounts of Counter-Strike fans in Australia.”

These fans came in droves in 2017 to support their countrymen; as well as their favourite international teams, a phenomenon that Vanzetti likens to the pull of a Sydney FC vs Liverpool showmatch. Aussies love to turn up and support their local team, but if there’s a chance to see Messi or Ronaldo play in person? You bet that stadium’s going to be packed.

“We sometimes can’t fill out a stadium for a local team. That’s just the reality of sport, and esports is no different," says Vanzetti, who is a lifelong football fan.

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“So I think the longer term, more sustainable vision is in cultivating an ethos of Australian esports where the top players will want to stay in Australia because the local scene’s so good, rather than heading overseas to compete in another team.”

Vanzetti doesn’t say it, but the comparisons to soccer and basketball are telling. As it stands, if you’re good enough to compete at the highest level in those two sports, you have a better chance of carving out a successful career overseas, like Matt Ryan or Ben Simmons.

But where esports differs is that the best competition and development transcends country borders. Every IEM Sydney is an opportunity for local teams to sharpen their steel against the best the world has to offer, and now that we’re three events in, the Aussie competitors are starting to seriously level up their game.

“Aussie teams are just better now,” says Tyler “Tucks” Reilly, Chiefs Esports Club’s in-game leader. “We’ve got more international opportunities, we play against better teams more often, and now we’re sort of used to it.

“We know what to expect now, and that’s our biggest benefit.”

The influx of investment rolling into the local esports scene has a role to play, too. Although salaried Australian CS:GO competitors like Renegades’ Aaron “AZR” Ward initially had to move overseas to earn salaries, domestic teams are now paying full salaries to their top players, allowing them to stay in Australia and help build the local scene instead.

“Back in 2015, before I was getting paid, I was a student at university,” says Ward. “One of my teammates was a student as well, and two were tradies: one was a carpenter, one was a plumber.

“So we just couldn’t put in the full focus that we needed to. Now, with a bigger player base, the scene is growing, and more salaries are coming in. That makes it a lot easier for people to compete and focus on the game.”

A pessimistic esports fan might look at our country’s lagging technological infrastructure, small population and high costs of living as insurmountable obstacles to making Australia a relevant esports nation.

Yet, if you sat in the thousands-strong crowd at IEM Sydney, you might feel differently. There were raucous cheers for the visiting Americans, Swedes, and Brazilians, yes. But there was something in between too.

The ‘Caches’ match between Team Australia and Team UK (which saw the home team claim the ‘Jar of Salty UK Tears’ prize), the countless local jerseys spotted in a final that featured no Australian players, and the deafening shouts of “Aussie Aussie Aussie!” whenever there was a second of downtime, they all pointed to something else.

An emerging esports culture, uniquely Aussie in every way.