Johannesburg – Fly-half Handré Pollard, well-known for his passion for rugby, has revealed that the best part of his day happens nowhere near a stadium.
“The thing that makes me the happiest in life currently is coming home, stopping and watching my son stand in the doorway waiting for me,” said the professional rugby player.
“I think it’s priceless.”
Moments like these, the ones a scoreboard never records, sit at the heart of Beyond the Name, the first major national campaign from JabulaBets.
The campaign coincided with the launch of The Jabula Squad (a growing community platform that brings together athletes, personalities and an expanding network of members).
Rolling out across JabulaBets’ digital channels from 6 November, the campaign brings together three South African athletes whose names already carry weight, Pollard, Jurenzo Julius and Danie “Pitbull” van Heerden, through a series of films, personal interviews and candid shared conversations.
Each film follows one member of the Squad.
When the Lights Go Down sits with Pollard, the Stoic Leader.
Building the Name travels with Julius, the Rising Spark, from Namibia to the edge of the national setup.
More Than the Pitbull steps into the corner with van Heerden, the Challenger.
Together, they open up about the moments, dreams and vulnerabilities that rarely make the headlines, and show South Africa the people behind the names.
Running through all three stories is one word: Jabula.
Jabula is the isiZulu word for “to be happy” or “to rejoice”, and the campaign asks each athlete the same simple question.
What makes you feel Jabula?
The answers take the cameras into family homes, calls to parents, and the private moments surrounding public achievement.
For men whose lives are so often measured in results, those answers have very little to do with winning.
“The fans and the people at the moment, they see the results,” said van Heerden.
“They don’t see the travel, they don’t see the struggles, they don’t see those moments where I wanted to quit.
“They only see the results.”
The relief before the celebration
Behind the composure supporters know so well, Pollard carries a feeling few would expect.
When a major goal is achieved, the first emotion is not joy.
“I personally feel it’s a relief, quite honestly,” Pollard said.
“I think it’s the relief of not disappointing everybody around you who’s worked just as hard or who has been part of this common goal.”
Fatherhood has since redrawn his idea of success.
“Since I got married and had kids, my perspective of success has completely changed,” Pollard said.
“When you’re young, you look at medals, trophies, caps and money as success.
“But being a good husband and father, and being present at home, is something I don’t think you can put a price on.”
Even his plans for life after rugby, farming with his wife’s family at a slower pace, are built around the same idea.
“Hopefully, I can give that to my kids,” Pollard said
“You are never alone”
Julius was still a schoolboy when he left Namibia on a scholarship to Paul Roos Gymnasium.
“I was going there to live out my dream and make my family proud,” Julius recalls.
The distance brought loneliness, and in one of his hardest periods, it was a conversation with his father that steadied him.
“He reminded me that, ‘God is always with you. You are never alone,’” Julius shared.
Behind the Boogeyman nickname is a self-described introvert who admits he can be his own worst enemy, and who had to rediscover his “why” when senior rugby arrived at 20, far sooner than he expected.
So when the invitation to a national alignment camp came, the first call went to his father, and the next to his mother.
“To see how happy they were, and to see all the sacrifices they made paying off, was almost a full-circle moment,” he said.
In that moment, a professional milestone became a family memory.
What you once prayed for, you now live
In Power Slap, Van Heerden faces his opponent alone, carrying a team that can only reach him between rounds.
“If I lose, it feels like I’ve let my team down, although no one sees it,” Van Heerden said.
“Away from competition, the fighter fans assume is “quite hardcore all the time” is a braai-loving dad who games with his two sons and jokes about being a “trophy husband”.
“The real people know the real Danie,” Van Heerden said.
He revealed that the joy arrives before the result, in the walk to the stage, the roar of the crowd and the knowledge that his family is right there behind him.
“For me, that’s the joy, and to know, you know what, what you once prayed for, you now live,” Van Heerden said.
Built by the people, for the people
That sense of recognition, of seeing your own life in someone else’s story, is why Jabula exists.
Co-founder and director Caly McCall spent nearly a decade in igaming, across marketing and the game-provider industry, before she and husband Darren McCall set out to build a brand rooted in South African culture, with people at its centre and room for everyone to play a part.
Beyond the Name is where that idea steps onto the national stage, in a category where a few giants have long owned the colours on South Africa’s billboards, jerseys and screens.
True to the Squad behind it, the homegrown brand arrives as a challenger, backing its own people and trusting their stories to do the talking.
“Jabula Bets was built on the foundation of people, by the people and for the people,” said McCall.
“We don’t simply want famous faces representing Jabula.
“We want genuine relationships with people who share our values, believe in what we’re building, and have the freedom to bring their authentic selves into our brand.”
Beyond the prestige, Jabula aligns with athletes whose character has been forged in the trenches of hard work and hard-won comebacks.
Their grit mirrors the soul of Jabula itself, serving as a beacon for a wider community brought together by shared hustle, real substance, and a collective refusal to sit back.
It is a spirit Julius recognises in the country that became his second home.
“One of the reasons I love this country is because there are so many different people, different personalities and different cultures, and everyone comes together as one,” he said.
“It’s that community of love and coming together as one nation.”
What makes you Jabula?
Across the three stories, “Jabula – It’s a Feeling” stops being a tagline and becomes something you can picture.
A son waiting in a doorway. A phone call to proud parents.
A stage with family in the background.
The campaign also makes room for loneliness, doubt, and the fear of letting others down, because those are the days that give the joy its weight, and they rarely make the highlight reel.
This is what JabulaBets calls the Jabula Effect.
You see the person behind a familiar sporting name, and you find a little of your own life in his story.
In the end, the campaign hands South Africans the same question it asked of Pollard, Julius and van Heerden.
What makes you Jabula?
“Ultimately, our ambition is to build a Squad that South Africans don’t just follow, but feel part of,” said McCall.
