Documenting British Basketball History – With John Atkinson – Ep. 30

For episode 30 of the Hoopsfix Podcast, we sit down with John Atkinson (pictured above, right), aka Statkinson one of the only British basketball historians and the most highly regarded statistician in the country.

Atkinson has been involved with the game for well over 40 years, initially with the legendary Crystal Palace programme, before going on to do work both with the national and international federations in terms of collecting statistics, information and historical data around the British game.

In this hour-long episode, hear from John Atkinson on:

• How he first got involved with the game over four decades ago
• Why he became interested in statistics and chose that route
• His work with the federations, in particular the national teams
• His frustrations with ill-informed attempts to wipe history from the game
• The lack of continuity in staffing across the administration that has hindered the historical side of things
• What he would like to see the federation do when it comes to the history of basketball
• The National Basketball Heritage Archive & Studies Centre at the University of Worcester
• The importance of using history and information to create a culture around the game
• Why context is everything
• How to create British basketball legends
• Why he believes recording and publicising the history of the game is so important
• The biggest things British basketball fans should be aware of from a historical standpoint
• Comparing the state of British basketball now in comparison to previous years
• The decade-long drought of having a British team competing in Europe
• The importance of having people involved with the game who think outside the box
• And much, much, more!

As always, I’d love to get your feedback, come back after you’ve listened and lets get some discussion going in the comments.

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