He luvva da rugga

Gerhard Swart really loves his rugby. The head coach for Johannesburg Police Rugby Club (nicknamed ‘Bobbies’) has just been made coach of the Lions Amateur B side, but his ambitions do not stop there.

From a young age, Swart’s father, Pieter, drilled rugby into Swart and his brother, Chris, and at the age of seven he started playing for Laerskool Unika at centre and flyhalf. Swart grew to love the physical nature of the sport and after primary school he started playing in the front row. “I used to be one of the dirty players,” chuckled Swart. “I wouldn’t stand back for anyone and I didn’t mind a punch. But as I grew up, I learned not to do it.”

Swart played as lock, flanker, and eighth man at the Diggers Rugby Club from 1993 to 2001. Swart then suffered an injury that shifted a vertebrae in his neck, and had to almost stop playing completely. Although he was disappointed, Swart could not abandon rugby. He started to coach at Diggers, and developed a broader maturity about the sport. Ironically, discipline became the most important aspect to teams under Swart, and he drove fitness and technical perfection in set pieces, particularly in line-outs.

Swart worked his way up the ranks until he was head coach at Diggers. Then, in 2012, Swart left Diggers and became head coach at Bobbies, in Emmarentia, where he pushed for discipline and a family culture at the club. Swart’s passion rubbed off on the players, and the club won the Senior Grand Challenge twice in a row, in the previous two rugby seasons. “It was the highlight of my career,” Swart smiled.

As a result, Bobbies was promoted to the Pirates Grand Challenge, where they play now. But Swart does not want to leave it there. “My short-term goal is to learn in this division and not get relegated. In five years I want us to go to the Gold Cup [the highest level of club rugby, previously called the Community Cup]. If we achieve there, I will be happy to retire.”

Details: Johannesburg Police Rugby Club, 082 850 1344.