Journalism & Reporting
My notebook-and-pencil experience!
If you had to ask me what my trade or calling is, then ‘sports journalist’ would be the answer. My degree from Rhodes University was in Journalism & Media Studies, and I’ve done more sports reporting over the years than anything else.
My specialist areas of interest are motorsport, cricket, golf and rugby. I was on the staff at the venerated Autosport magazine for several years, sometimes a little too close to the action (see above - thanks Bruno!). I also edited Golf Punk in South Africa and PGA Escapes in Australia. I’ve done everything from match reports and player interviews to opinions columns, historical stories and stats-based stories. There’s even been a spot of investigative journalism thrown in.
I've freelanced everywhere from Wisden to Golf World to Cricinfo, and still do regular stints for Autosport. I also launched a Substack page this year.
Then there's my travel writing, which has been published in magazines across the English-speaking world. And one glance at my books will be enough to tell you that my stories tend to stay well wide of the luxury press junket tropes (though I’ve done a handful of those too).
But two pigeon-holes are not enough! I can do (and have done) work on topics of social or business interest, motoring reviews and even some straight news reporting. Thanks to my first job, in the newsroom at the Sunday Times in Cape Town, I have genuine, old-school newspaper experience under my belt.
In recent years I’ve also learned to write (and learned while writing!) about innovation, entrepreneurship and technology. Or a mixture of all three, as in this story I whipped up on cryonics, a topic I had to learn from scratch. I’ve developed the skill of extracting the essence of a complex idea from technical souls and then telling the story to a non-technical audience. It absolutely helps that I’m not much of a geek myself.
With all of the above, I refer to journalism in the strict sense of writing balanced, accurate, well-researched articles/reports in order to bring truth to readers of principled publications. This is still my ideal work...but the world has changed. That's why I, like so many other journalists, have also learned how to make myself useful in the world of marketing and PR in order to pay the rent.
For more on that – and because I think it’s important to make a clear distinction here – please refer to Content.
Sure, I’d still love to be sports editor on a big paper (though there’s a danger I’d ban the theatre football pages). I’d still kill to be a correspondent for Cricinfo (I got published there once already, so it’s hardly a mad idea). I’d still revel in writing rugby columns for The Times. And whatever happens, I fully intend to continue to write about my sports and travel experiences on a freelance basis.
Cape of Good Hope
Feature in The Nightwatchman, December 2022 (Paid print magazine, cannot share full piece. Typo introduced during production process.)
See article
Dutch GP MotoGP Report
Autosport magazine, June 2023
See article
Marco Jansen feature
South Africa v Australia match programme, 2022-23
See article
Autosport writers' favourite Brazilian Grands Prix
Autosport.com feature, November 2022
See article
When South Africa's dark period came to lights
Headline feature on Cricbuzz.com, September 2022
See article
Young golfers claim intimidation
The Sunday Times, February 1999
See article
Max Verstappen: A future world champion
Predicting the future at the Nürburgring, Autosport, August 2014
See article
My Green Jacket
My quest to become a pro golfer, Compleat Golfer, September 2011
See article
Bonjour paradise!
Travels in New Caledonia, PGA Escapes, December 2012
See article
Ready, headset, go!
espncricinfo, August 2017
See article
The Greener Sex
GQ, August 2012
See article
England hang on for tight draw
Test cricket reporting from Cape Town, SuperSport.com, January 2010
See article
Expat's Voice
Culture column in Die Presse, Vienna, 2018
See article
Internet shopping won't change the world
Reader's Digest UK, April 2012
See article
Putting the customer last
The West Australian & Yahoo, April 2015
See article
Reuters Correspondence
European Tour reporting for Reuters, January 2010 (syndicated worldwide)
See article
Sharks fall to second after Lions scare
Rugby reporting for SuperSport.com, 2009
See article
Maldonado on brink of GP2 title
Reporting at Spa, Belgium. Autosport, September 2010
See article
Crabs & Birdies: A trip to Christmas Island
Golf Australia, September 2013
See article
Defying the years
Ashes Series Match Programme, December 2021
See article
Shops that bear soul
Australian International Traveller, 2016
See article
The Man for the Job
Australia v West Indies match programme, November 2015
See article
Introducing the Open champion: Louis Oosthuizen exclusive feature
Golf World, October 2010
See article
Euro brooms sweep mean
Sunday Times, November 2011
See article
Pay for Play
Sport Illustrated South Africa, August 2010
See article
Plastic - not so fantastic
Automobile Association Magazine, 2011
See article
David vs Goliath
Compleat Golfer, June 2012
See article
Different Strokes
Get Lost Magazine, January 2016
See article
Branden Grace interview
Golf Punk South Africa, March 2009
See article
A movable feast
Metropole, November 2017
See article
Chasing Tintin
Getaway International, July 2012
See article
A different ball game
Cricbuzz.com, August 2017
See article
The incident in Ulan Bator
Go! magazine, September 2010
See article
The Black Knight speaks
Australian Open programme, 2012
See article
Keep on truckin'
Australian Traveller, 2015
See article
Life in the slow land
Topcar, October 2011
See article
Fore wheel drive
Higher View (China Eastern Airlines) magazine, December 2012
See article
On Tour in Zimbabwe
Golf Punk South Africa, June 2009
See article
This page has timed out
GQ, March 2012
See article
