An hour with Jake White and Gavin Varejes

When Gavin Varejes approached Jake White with the offer that kept him in South Africa, millions of local sports supporters rejoiced. The thought of losing one of our sporting heroes to England, Wales or worse, Australia was more than we could bear.

The eleventh-hour offer by Richmark Holdings Group to White and his subsequent acceptance thereof meant that South Africa was able to keep the coach of the 2007 Rugby World Cup champions right where he belonged — at home.

As co-author with Riaan Wolmarans of a book on the Springboks, I visited Jake and Gavin at their offices in Sandton to find out how the former coach was settling in.

It wasn’t pretty.

As before, when I first interviewed Varejes to find out about the South African Rugby Legends Association, I was confronted by a sea of Manchester United and Sharks memorabilia. Tonnes of this garbage line the walls — I made a mental note to have a full go at Manto; I mean, FFS, if you ban smoking because it might be dangerous, then what about this? But I digress.

Traps: Before anything else, I need to know which football team you support.

Gavin Varejes: He’s a big Man United supporter.

Jake White: No, I’m Liverpool.

Traps: Did you know Gavin was a big Man United supporter?

White: No, I just found out now.

* There should be laws governing this type of abuse.

I wrote out a prescription for antihistamines for Jake … I mean, the walls were covered.

Traps: Did Varejes tell you that when United got thumped by City at Old Trafford he told me he didn’t know the score, but straight after the Arsenal game I had him on the phone waffling on about how brilliant those no-hopers were?

White: I’m bringing in my signed Liverpool shirt and keeping it in my office.

Traps: Jake, you did us proud; a brilliant result, and a very grateful nation after your magnificent achievement.

White: Thank you.

Traps: You grew up in Johannesburg?

White: I did. I went to Jeppe Boys as a pupil and later became a master at the school.

Traps: What sports did you play?

White: As a young boy soccer for Suburbs and then rugby.

Traps: Which rugby team did you support?

White: I started out as a Northern Transvaal supporter but later became more of a Western Province fan. The team of the early Eighties with Rob Louw, the Du Plessis brothers, Shaun Povey and Divan Serfontein.

Traps: What’s your favourite movie?

White: Legends of the Fall.

Traps: How are you enjoying your new job? Are you guys getting along?

White: Loving my new job. It’s a great place with wonderful people. Even some of the wives of the bosses help out in the canteen. Family atmosphere, but geared for success. Whatever you need to succeed is there. No committee for every decision. If I need an office, I get an office — things get done.

Varejes: Jake is marketing director for the Richmark Holdings Group and an incredible asset to us.

Traps: Has Jake got any quirks?

Varejes: Before he started, Corne Krige phoned me and warned me that he doesn’t wear socks. [I checked and sowaar — no socks.]

Traps: You’re kidding me.

White: (laughing) I just got back from Fabianis and kitted out, but for some obscure reason they don’t sell socks.

* The genius with the Man United fetish just employed an oke who doesn’t wear socks — the whole thing stinks!

(BTW, we can confirm that the Jeppe school tattoo is on Jake’s right butt … don’t ask! Just understand that Valoid clashes badly with antihistamines.)

Varejes: An exciting development is that Jake White is starting his own website in conjunction with Google. We met with Stafford Massie, the CEO, who was wonderful. It really promises to be an exciting opportunity called “Jake White TV” and we’ll let you know more about it closer to the time.

Traps: I look forward to that — in terms of day to day, Jake?

White: I don’t think people will ever understand the pressure of coaching the Springbok rugby team; it just grows and grows. If you are doing well, the expectation grows — meaning more, not less, pressure. Then there’s the pressure of failure and interference. What is worse is having to tell a player that he is dropped. There is no nice way to do this — it’s like telling someone they have a terminal illness. There is no nice way.

Traps: It’s like the whole planet knows they’re out of the side.

White: Say you have five tough games and then an easier game (there are no easy games at Test level); everyone wants you to bring in younger players for that game. But the senior players also want to play that game. Not only for the win bonus, but because it’s a chance to shine. Often the media see players doing well against the easier teams and call for them to start in the tougher games. The reason they shone is because they were able to strut their stuff against easier opposition. People don’t understand that.

Traps: The pressure seems intense.

White: What I would do is select my teams on a Monday and tell the players; the media would be advised on a Wednesday. Some coaches believe that you do selection on a Thursday so that you don’t “lose” your reserves for those extra days. They train hard. I believe that by leaving it that late, you “lose” your starting line-up — they only gear up after selection is confirmed.

Traps: This job must be a lot easier?

White: This is bliss; working for a sports nut and, in particular, a rugby nut.

Varejes: Not one Springbok has ever been able to bench-press a heavier weight than Jake.

Traps: How would you like to be remembered?

White: I would like people to remember me as a “rugby man”; not a man who was involved in rugby, but a rugby man, steeped in the laws and the traditions of the game, an integral part of the values and everything that makes this game the wonderful sport that it is.

Traps: How are you getting on with Gavin?

White: Gavin is the most consistent person you will ever meet. Wherever, whenever, you get the same guy. He is pure energy and driven. I have yet to meet a person in sport, business or elsewhere who has a bad word to say about Gavin.

Traps: He is a very kind man.

* Gavin Varejes, Sarla president along with former springbok hooker John Allan (CEO), has been responsible for the coaching of tens of thousands of underprivileged children. When Sarla hosted the meeting between the 2007 and 1995 Springboks, the country was made aware of just how enormous the contribution of Gavin and John has been — along with all the former Springboks who give of their time freely. Through their efforts, impoverished communities that have been overlooked are now being reached. (The details are set out in the first article above.) Unlike many who talk a good game, Gavin is driven when it comes to reaching the street children and impoverished people of our country.

White: What I love about Gavin is that his word is his bond. We did our deal on a handshake and that’s the way I also like to operate.

Varejes: Jake has been incredible value for the group. We are in the process of doing a high-tech deal and the party responsible for bringing the deal to us said that the reason he chose us was because anyone who could keep Jake White in South Africa was someone he wanted to business with. The staff and people who meet him love him. He is happy to sign autographs and speak to people.

Traps: Jake, anything on the rugby side?

White: I am currently negotiating with the IRB to consult on developing countries like Russia, Croatia, Cyprus and Argentina. This will be done on an ad hoc basis and strictly regulated, so as not to interfere with my role in Richmark. I consider Richmark my priority.

Varejes: Jake has been invaluable in this role in devising strategies for us. But we are proud of his rugby achievements and will be sending some of our Springbok legends to assist him on these trips. Sarla will fund these players. Jake will also be coach of the Sarla coaches.

White: What a lot of people don’t know is that there is a very close bond between South Africa and Argentina. Doctor Danie Craven and a former Natal coach, Isaak van Heerden, pioneered the game in that country. We started their game. In fact, when I saw Hugo Porta at the Laureus Awards in St Petersburg he told me that we must come over to Argentina.

Traps: Jake, being named as world team of the year ahead of Ferrari, Australia’s cricket team, AC Milan and the Iraqi football team is an incredible achievement in itself.

White: Thank you, and what a fabulous occasion it was. We had Kim Cattrell from Sex and the City, Dennis Hopper and Cuba Gooding Jnr as presenters.

Traps: Dennis Hopper is great.

White: But Richmark is my priority. Everyone here is always in a good mood — it’s infectious. They even made my office into a rugby room with pictures and other memorabilia.

Varejes: What I like is that Jake and I share a vision in terms of business and in respect of upliftment of our people — bringing about a more positive approach. [Gavin showed me a wonderful email by Alan Knott Craig that is cause for optimism and needs to be read by all of us.]

Traps: What does Richmark see as priorities?

Varejes: Uplifting the poor; doing our utmost to try to promote exports from South Africa. As Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said, the gap between imports and exports is in the region of R3-billion a week. We need to export our products abroad and I believe the country will benefit sooner rather than later from our efforts. Employment is to play a major part in reducing crime and poverty.

Traps: What else is going on, guys?

White: We’ll be launching a Jake White wine label; this will be from the farm Wildekrans near Hermanus.

Traps: Makes sense — without socks you can stomp the grapes. When did you guys meet?

Varejes: Mid-1990s, when Jake was under Nick Mallett. Even then I could see what a great character he was. Not one player past or present has ever said a bad word to me about Jake the coach or Jake the man.

Traps: What made up your mind to employ Jake?

Varejes: I saw the reaction of 50-million people to his leaving. I looked at the fact that he is the only coach to win both the under-21 and senior world cups. He won the Tri-Nations and had two teams of the year and two players of the year in his four-year stint. How could I go wrong?

Traps: And now?

Varejes: Best decision I’ve made — his approach and savy will allow companies in the group to reach another level. He has an incredible mind — he never forgets faces or even scores from some obscure games. Tanya Harvey, the PA we share, and the rest of the staff love him. Listen, he took Springbok rugby to number one in the world. There is no reason he can’t do the same for us. We want him to take our brands, South African brands, on to a world stage that will benefit us all.

Traps: Guys, thank you for taking the time out. It really is much apprecited.

White: Thank you.

Varejes: My pleasure.