Taking a mid morning coffee break on a beautiful Spring day in Greenpoint, a stones throw away from our impressive new Stadium, is a colourful experience in it’s own right. Add Jonathan Kaplan to the scene, and things just get so much more colourful.
I was luck enough to grab JK for an interview for SACSRUGBY between his hectic schedule of Tri-nations, Currie Cup and Test match duties. As the most capped Test Referee of all time (with 53 Tests), I was in seriously good company. I was later to discover, this was actually “GREAT” company.
I had prepared a number of questions for JK, but realised a minute or so into the interview, that he was in a talking mood, and questions to some extent became less relevant than simply listening to the perspectives, experiences, and general wisdom of this man. For the record, JK started refereeing at the age of 17 in the Northern Transvaal. He has represented Transvaal, KZN and of course WP in the years since, but is now officially a professional referee contracted to SA Rugby. While studying at UCT, he served on the executive of the UCTRFC, where I met him for the first time some 20 years ago.
In those days, JK also applied his talents to coaching and in fact led the UCT 19B’s to a league title. He is qualified in Level 1 and 2 coaching, and still holds some aspirations for coaching perhaps after retirement from refereeing. In a career spanning 26 years, he has been in charge of 894 matches!!! And believe me, he is keeping score. JK is not a man who leaves much to chance. He is well organised and approaches life with purpose. There are still some very challenging goals ahead of him, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he were aiming serioulsy at the magical 1000 games before retirement.
The part I really liked was how quickly he recalled the times he had reffed SACS firstXV. 9 times in total, with SACS winning on 4 occasions, with a best result being the 2004 win against Bishops 32-31. In truth, JK is not compelled to ref schoolboy games. He does it for the love of the sport. And to give back to the schools that helped propel him to almost 900 games so far.
It was clear in this interview, that JK is a scholar of personal leadership. He operates with a vision and believes life doesn’t just unfold in front of you. It is a series of events that can provide clues and signals to what we need to do and learn. Applying his leadership to rugby and refereeing, JK believes you will move from being “good to great” if you can nurture and demonstrate the following qualities:
- Flair
- Judgement
- Nerve
Next time you watch him in action, look out for how he applies these in the game. From a future aspiration point of view, JK would love to do more Currie Cup games as he believes this is one of the best competitions in the world. He would relish the opportunity to do some European Cup games, and of course there is the matter of doing a RWC Final. But of course we know that for him to fulfill that dream, it means the Boks would have to be knocked out!!
His message to youngsters is simple. Be patient, hardworking and believe in yourself. And have no fear! For a guy whose greatest sporting achievement at school was making the Chess team, these are very, very valuable words. I left the inteview understanding more about JK the man and how he has developed into a great referee. He has always believed in himself and I am sure we’re still going to see great things from him.
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ACHIEVEMENTS :
·        MOST CAPPED INTERNATIONAL TEST REFEREE OF ALL TIME ( 53 CAPS )
·        ATTENDED 3 WORLD CUPS 1999/2003/2007 ( REFEREED A TOTAL OF 9 MATCHES – SA RECORD )
·        REFEREED QUARTER FINAL IN 2003 AND SEMI FINAL IN 2007
·        324 FIRST CLASS MATCHES ( RECORD )
·        66 SUPER 14 CAPS ( SA RECORD ) INCLUDING 3 FINALS AND 4 SEMIFINALS
·        131 CURRIE CUP MATCHES ( RECORD ) INCLUDING 4 FINALS AND 4 SEMIFINALS
·        MOST CAPPED 6 NATIONS REFEREE OF ALL TIME ( 14 TESTS )
·        MOST CAPPED TRINATIONS REFEREE OF ALL TIME ( 7 TESTS )
·        MOST CAPPED BLEDISLOE CUP REFEREE OF ALL TIME ( 7 TESTS )
·        ONLY REFEREE TO HAVE REFEREED BRITISH AND IRISH LIONS IN SA, AUS , NZ and SA AGAIN ( FREE STATE 30 LIONS 52 / AUSTRALIA 35 LIONS 14 / NZ 38 LIONS 19 / SHARKS 3 LIONS 39)
·        SOUTH AFRICAN REFEREE OF THE YEAR 4 YEARS RUNNING 2003-2007
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