Craig Ray

What I cover

I cover a wide range of sport with a special interest in rugby. I’m also the sports editor, which is a grand title for our little but effective department of three. I’m drawn to the human element of sport – of what makes certain athletes and teams special – and what drives/motivates them. I also love the narratives that sport naturally throws up and the echoes of history, which frame contemporary sports and athletes.

My background

I earned my first paycheque for sports writing with a feature on Berg River Canoe Marathon champion Robbie Herreveld. It was published in the long-forgotten West Rand Times in the mid-1990s and haven’t looked back since. Soon I was covering rugby, my first love, and have since covered more than 200 Springbok Tests and close to 1,000 professional games, four World Cups, written three books, edited numerous special projects and worked for a wide range of national and international clients. I’ve also commentated or broadcast on numerous sports for SAfm, the BBC World Service and others. In 2007, I wrote In Black and White: The Jake White Story, which sold a record 220,000 copies and won the 2008 Booksellers Choice Award. At Daily Maverick I’ve been fortunate to have a blank canvas to colour, which has included a successful podcast, moving into mentorship and management and growing my writing and reporting to include investigations. I was placed in the top 10 out of almost 2,000 entries for a piece on the State of Cricket Capture by the International Sports Press Association. Our Daily Maverick Supporters Club, which we launched for Rugby World Cup 2023, was honoured with the INMA award for Best in Show: Africa. Curiosity, a love of sport and storytelling drive me, and after all these years my passion for the craft only increases.

Journalistic ethics

Truth, accuracy, fairness, independence and impartiality are at the heart of every story I write and commission. Those traits are also central to the management of my team. Being a journalist and adhering to those rules should go without saying, but sadly they do not in a world where facts and information are increasingly drowned by lies and disinformation. But I strive to meet those basic standards at all times, as well as tenets such as protection of sources and ensuring that stories are in the public interest. Meeting those standards requires knowledge obtained in various ways from interviews and reading, to building and maintaining sources and gaining the trust of people you’re covering. Simple in theory, but harder in reality.

Latest work