• Tributes paid by family, friends and colleagues after sudden passing • ‘He was a talented journalist and a much liked presence around the office’

Warm tributes have been paid by family, friends and colleagues to the Guardian journalist Dan Lucas, who died suddenly last weekend.

Lucas, who was 31, had been an enthusiastic, knowledgeable and engaging author of the Guardian’s popular cricket and rugby union live online reports since 2013 and helmed our coverage of many of those sports’ biggest events, including the 2015 Rugby World Cup final.

While working as a freelance music and sport writer, Lucas was a regular reader and contributor to the Guardian’s live over-by-over cricket coverage. In 2013, he wrote to senior sports writer Andy Bull for tips on how to become a writer and from there secured regular shifts.

Lucas, who inherited his passion for sport from his father, Gary, after being taken to watch his beloved Northampton against Leicester Tigers for the first time in 1994, was a keen and lively presence on the Guardian website from then on – right up to the past weekend, when he covered England’s record-equalling Calcutta Cup victory over Scotland in the Six Nations.

Northampton Saints (@SaintsRugby) Really sorry to hear this news about Dan - we send our wishes to his colleagues, friends and family https://t.co/21O5nmRpzm

Raised in Northampton, his other big passion was music and Lucas began writing while studying German at Lancaster University. He went on to write for the music websites Drowned in Sound and Louder than War, alongside his persistent work in breaking through as a sportswriter.

“He did it his own way, and did it the hard way,” said his father, Gary. “He kept trying and kept trying, his passion linking his two loves of sport and music and a chance to air his own unique sense of humour.”

The Guardian’s head of sport, Owen Gibson, said: “In many ways Dan epitomised the appeal of the Guardian’s live coverage and the community it has fostered over many years. First as a contributor and then as one of its main writers, he combined a love of sport with forensic knowledge to paint a picture of the action for readers and keep them involved. He was a talented journalist and a much liked presence around the office. Our thoughts are obviously with his family, friends and girlfriend Liz at this time. He will be much missed.”

As well as helming live coverage for rugby union and cricket, often waking in the middle of the night to cover overseas tours of the latter, Lucas also began developing other strands to his journalism. These included taking a close interest in the issues surrounding the future of London Welsh, building contacts and following proceedings in the high court in his own time in order to progress the story.

Adam Sills, who is head of sport at the Telegraph, where Lucas also worked last year, said: “The thoughts of all those on the sports desk at the Telegraph are with Dan’s family. We were deeply saddened to hear the news about someone who was a passionate and knowledgeable contributor to our website and paper and highly regarded by those who worked with him.”

John Robb, a writer and musician who worked with Lucas at Louder than War, said: “God bless you Dan, you were a wonderful, passionate and fiercely intelligent person and it was an honour to talk and argue music with you in the time that I knew you from when you started writing for Louder Than War and then became my first music editor. These impassioned music conversations would continue when we met as well. Great debates. Great music passion.”

Sean Adams, the editor of Drowned in Sound, added in an Instagram post: “Woke up today to a devastating reminder of quite how short and fragile life is. One minute you’re writing a live blog and tweeting about Batman, the next someone is sharing the news that you’re gone. My deepest condolences go out to Liz and his family.”