Mike Atherton and the Annual Sport Journalism Lecture

The transition from dressing room to press box may be well travelled, but few sportsmen have carved out such an impressive journalistic career as Michael Atherton.

His on-field career needs little introduction. Having burst through the ranks at boyhood club Lancashire, Atherton broke into the England set-up where, at the age of just 25, he laid claim to the Test captaincy before ending a prestigious career with 115 caps.

But life after cricket, even if he did not know it at the time, was seemingly set in stone for the Cambridge graduate, who reflected on his next move while speaking at the University of Brighton’s Annual Sport Journalism Lecture. 

“I didn't know what else to do,” admitted Atherton. “I have never been somebody to plan ahead. I just got to the end of my career and thought, 'what can I do?' 

“I had been writing in the Sunday Telegraph since 1993 and enjoyed it, so therefore it seemed like an obvious thing to do. 

“More importantly for me was that I had the great fortune of meeting a very inspiring editor in South America. He got me interested in the role of newspapers in a different society, so that was really sparked by him. I then fell into it when I finished playing.” That inspiring editor, he added, is now his father-in-law.

After retiring from the game, Atherton took on a full-time role with the Sunday Telegraph before succeeding the late Christopher Martin-Jenkins as The Times’ cricket correspondent in 2008. After his first year he was voted Sports Journalist of the Year by the Sports Journalists’ Association: the first ex-player to be so honoured. 

But how did relinquishing the bat 12 years ago lead to supplementary roles with the likes of Sky Sports, and that coveted award from his peers? After all, he had no formal training. 

“Well,” said Atherton, “what is training to be a sports writer? I am not at the sharp end of the paper. I am not doing politics or business, I write about sport, which is not the most important thing in the world.” 

What would he recommend to the aspiring sportswriters in the audience? “You have to read. It sounds like a silly thing, but everything you can get your hands on. You have to know about the sport too, and I would like to think I do. That, to me, seems like reasonably good grounding.” 

What, then, drew him to writing about sport, apart from a considerable degree of practical expertise? “What I love is the uncertainty. There is no better feeling. The first morning of the first Test between England and Australia, you open your laptop or sit with a microphone in your hand and you just don't know. You never lose that with good sport.” 

That uncertainty was unwavering in 2012, arguably one of the finest sporting years in living memory. So what do you get when you cross the one of the planet's best-known sportsmen, Barcelona’s former manager and Atherton? 

“The moment I actually enjoyed the most was the Ryder Cup,” he said. “We were there at the side of the 18th green at Medinah on the Sunday evening, and it was one of the greatest experiences of my sporting life. 

“There were six of us in my group and we had three green armbands between us. Golf is a hopeless spectator sport unless you are inside the rope, and if you can do that you can wander alongside Rory McIlroy and co. It's like being stood at slip in a Test match, it's incredible. 

“On that final day I was wandering down the 12th watching McIlroy with Michael Jordan, Pep Guardiola and Rory's dad. We talk about uncertainty and on that final day it was gloriously laid out before us again.”

The Annual Sport Journalism Lecture is a key component of the Sport Journalism BA (hons) course and is a highlight of the year.