Article by Scott "Boomser" Bednarski, UnderGround CSS Player

We wear it to every event we take place in, in and outside CGS events. We wear it to represent Australia, to be branded as the Sydney Underground with our name at the back - so obviously how can you write an article about a shirt?

The shirt is everything I wanted. The fame, the attention, the passion - the experience - the trip overseas, the team, the chance to meet my idols I always use to watch, the recognition. The dream.. The first day of competition play for CGS Pan Asian 2007 when all the teams met at the studio in Malaysia a few hours before we commenced play, we all sat around at the front office and teams were called upon to collect their team jerseys.

First was Wuhan Dragons (China) with this cool Dark Red shirt with a dragon at the front, which to me kind of kind of represented something fierce. Next was Seoul Jinhwa with a Snake against some dangerous animal or creature. By this point I really couldn’t wait to see ours. To be honest, I was expecting some a green and gold color and some sort of kangaroo logo. Although it would have been the same as every other Australian team jersey around, we’d have been just as proud to wear it.

The call was for Sydney UnderGround to come collect their shirts. I saw this bright blue jersey with this crappy looking transformer logo and this cheesy UnderGround name which obviously stands for us being DOWN UNDER! With this shirt came a bit of criticism with a few of the team members after seeing the other teams jerseys, but what the hell I’d wear a potato sack if CGS told me to!

Despite this, it began to transform on itself and took on a new life (no pun intended), and it started to tell a story. The team was the first Australian professional paid e-sports team - the team that came to shock everybody with its 2nd place in Pan-Asia. It told everybody it was the shirt that is dedicated to put Australian eSports on the map , It told about the laughs, the highs, the lows, the pain, the hurt, the disappointment, the success, the good times - it told us that this shirt was a thousand pictures in one and it told the story of what we all went through.. Together as a team with a blue shirt and a transformer logo.

What does it mean to me? It tells me that this shirt is my personal Thorpe from all the good and bad times that I went through to get to where I am. Before I go to an event I have to put on the shirt - and I would have it no other way. It’s like a best friend I haven’t seen in ages and I can’t wait to tell him how much I have practiced for the event we are competing in today. Every time I put this shirt on I become somebody else. I become a respected professional of the community and I have an oath to give it my best by doing the best to my potential in every situation. You know when i’m wearing this shirt – wait - for that matter when the team is wearing the shirt; from CSS to DOA we mean business. We don’t have to prove anything to you, we prove it to the shirt that permanently acts as storage of our success, hope and dedication that we seek every time we wear it.

For the future, if you ever get a chance to wear it i’m sure you will soon learn to love it and grow into it too , because after all its yours even if some of us do not get redrafted the shirt represents history and we are all a part of the history. Whether it be the good or bad and the best thing about history is that it cannot be replaced. I hope everyone could experience the feeling of being able to wear that shirt proudly up on stage in front of millions of viewers.

To feel untouchable no matter what comes next.

So to sum it all up, this shirt is what I aimed for, this shirt is my worst critic, this shirt is my trophy, this shirt is my success, this shirt is my life story, and this shirt is my dedication. This shirt is no other shirt; THIS SHIRT is the Sydney UnderGround jersey. It doesn’t care about my past results, it doesn’t care about my looks, it doesn’t care about my history, it doesn’t care how many groupies I’ve got, it doesn’t care how much I deserve it, it doesn’t care if I let down the team , It just demands one thing... That is respect cause after all, now the shirt has told ME what it is to me - it’s the True Blue Australian Sydney UnderGround jersey and its MINE.

AUSSIE! AUSSIE! AUSSIE! OI! OI! OI!