djay blasts ATK in departure: "Late payments, zero payments, bad faith contract negotiations"

Just hours after Jonathan "b0denmaster" Bodenmalm announced his departure from ATK due to fatigue from playing in Europe and the overall contractual impasse with the organization, Jonathan "djay" Dallal has announced that the team has parted ways with him.

The news marks the latest chapter in a chaotic period for the team which saw multiple players come and go in the past five months while the team have been effective free agents since February.

During djay's five-month tenure with ATK, while the team largely maintained their standing in the NA scene, djay struggled to maintain his form on an individual level, ending his time with the team with a 0.91 rating over 149 maps. This is a far cry from the Canadian's time with Party Astronauts/EG White in 2022, where djay put up a 1.10 rating over 137 maps.

In an extended discussion with Dust2.us, djay admitted that his removal was based on performance, but pointed to a number of mitigating circumstances within ATK. As discussed by b0denmaster, ATK have been without contracts since February 28th, with djay saying he has has never had a contract with the team. Likewise, because of this situation, b0denmaster has had to play from Sweden for months on end, further harming performance.

Additionally, djay noted that the fifth slot in the team has been a constant rotating door, with Rhys "Fadey" Armstrong, Ian "motm" Hardy, Aleksandar "CacaNito" Kjulukoski, Saad "Pluto" Siraj, and Ethan "reck" Serrano all serving in the role in recent times. This combined with Michael "Swisher" Schmid's search for new opportunities has created a team environment of uncertainty and stress in the team.

While djay was highly critical of the team situation due to ATK's contractual impasse, his most pointed criticism of ATK to Dust2.us came in regard to how ATK has managed the team. djay accused the South African organization of "Late payments, zero payments, [and] bad faith contract negotiations" in their dealing with the team and its players. He further alleges that while Fadey's departure was in part due to his surgery, it was also in part due to frustration over ATK's failure to resolve the team's housing situation in a timely fashion.

He also noted that when contracts were last presented to the team, his agent warned him not to sign it as it was "really bad." In closing his comments to Dust2.us, djay summed the situation up by saying that "ATK as an org has a lot of work to do if they want to be taken seriously" and that things had been "a fiesta from beginning to end."

Dust2.us reached out for comment from ATK's owner, Warren "Flea" Barkhuizen, for an earlier story. Barkhuizen agreed to an interview on Monday to address claims about the organization and the contractual situation within the team.

With another player out of the lineup, ATK are set to field a third stand-in player for the foreseeable future. To this end, Swisher confirmed with Dust2.us that the plan is for the team to field his former Bad News Bears teammate Jonathan "Jonji" Carey for tomorrow's ESEA Cash Cup Circuit event. From there, Swisher said if things go well, Jonji could potentially take up a permanent position on the team.

ATK will likely play tomorrow's ESEA Cash Cup Circuit event with:

• Gareth "MisteM" Ries

• Michael "Swisher" Schmid

• Ethan "reck" Serrano (Stand-in)

• Adam "WolfY" Andersson (Stand-in)

• Jonathan "Jonji" Carey (Stand-in)

• Daniel "sprayxd" Kogan (Coach)

• Jonathan "b0denmaster" Bodenmalm (Inactive)

The sixth ESEA Cash Cup Circuit event is set to start tomorrow at 04:00PM.