JabulaBets launches the Jabula Squad through Beyond the Name, a campaign exploring what happiness, family and belonging mean to three South African athletes.
Everyone has someone they want to call when good news arrives. Everyone knows the relief of getting through a difficult day or the happiness of being welcomed home. Those familiar feelings sit at the heart of the Jabula Squad, the new community platform being introduced through JabulaBets’ Beyond the Name campaign.
Handré Pollard, Jurenzo Julius and Danie “Pitbull” van Heerden are its first three sporting personalities. Through their stories, the Squad invites South Africans to look beyond a well-known surname, a nickname or a match result and discover experiences they might recognise in their own lives.
The campaign, rolling out across JabulaBets’ digital channels from 6 November, marks the brand’s first major national campaign. Films, personal interviews and shared conversations introduce the Squad through one question: what makes you feel Jabula?
Jabula is the isiZulu word for “to be happy” or “to rejoice”. The answers take the campaign into family homes, conversations with parents and the private moments surrounding public achievement.
Three names, three personal stories
Each film follows one member of the Squad. When the Lights Go Down sits with Pollard, the Stoic Leader. Building the Name follows Julius, the Rising Spark, from Namibia towards his professional rugby ambitions. More Than the Pitbull introduces van Heerden, the Challenger, away from his competitive persona.
For Pollard, one of his happiest moments happens when he gets home.
“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,” he says. “I think it’s priceless.”
His reflections also reveal the pressure behind sporting success. Asked about the feeling that follows achieving a major goal, he describes relief and the weight of wanting to deliver for everyone who has contributed.
“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,” he says.
Julius’s story begins with leaving Namibia as a schoolboy on a scholarship to Paul Roos Gymnasium. The opportunity came with distance from home and moments of loneliness. During one difficult period, his father’s reassurance helped steady him.
“He reminded me that, ‘God is always with you. You are never alone.’”
Later, when an invitation to a national alignment camp arrived, his first calls went to his father and mother.
“To see how happy they were, and to see all the sacrifices they made paying off, was almost a full-circle moment,” he says.
For van Heerden, the campaign makes room for the person behind “Pitbull”: a father who games with his sons, enjoys a braai and understands how much of an athlete’s life goes unseen.
“The fans and the people at the moment, they see the results,” he says. “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.”
An invitation to belong
JabulaBets co-founder and director Caly McCall says the Squad is built around relationships and the people behind them.
“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.”
The growing platform brings together athletes, personalities and an expanding network of members. Its first campaign uses the Squad’s experiences to open a conversation about happiness, doubt, family and the support that helps people move forward.
That recognition is what JabulaBets calls the Jabula Effect: seeing the person behind the sporting name and finding something familiar in their story.
“Ultimately, our ambition is to build a Squad that South Africans don’t just follow, but feel part of,” says McCall.
Meet the Squad and watch Beyond the Name at jabulabets.co.za/squad.
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