Jonathan Kaplan (rugby)
Encyclopedia
Jonathan Isaac Kaplan is a full-time international rugby union
referee
and currently holds the record for the most international matches as referee.
, and King David School, Linksfield, Johannesburg
. He gained a bachelor of social sciences degree, with majors in economics and psychology, from the University of Cape Town
and a postgraduate degree in marketing management from the University of South Africa
.
and Zimbabwe
in Harare
.
He was appointed as a touch judge for the 1999 Rugby World Cup
, and as a referee for the 2003 Rugby World Cup
in Australia
, where he took charge of three pool games and the quarter-final between France
and Ireland
. He was one of the twelve referees appointed to officiate at the 2007 Rugby World Cup
in France
, and took charge of four pool games and the semi-final between England
and France, becoming the first South African to officiate at three World Cups.
Some of Kaplan's notable games in charge include the first ever game in the Six Nations Championship
, between Italy
and Scotland
in 2000, the second test between the British and Irish Lions
and Australia
in 2001
and the third test between the Lions and New Zealand in 2005
.
Kaplan was the referee for the 2005 Super 12 final and the 2006 Super 14 final
(a game notorious for the dense fog which obscured much of the action from spectators and commentators). In December 2008 he was chosen as one of nine referees on a merit panel who, it was intended, would between them have charge of 75% of 2009 Super 14
matches irrespective of the nationality of the teams involved. In line with this policy, Kaplan was appointed to referee the 2009 Super 14 Final; in previous years he would have been debarred from officiating because of the involvement of a South African team. In late 2009, he was again named on the merit panel for the 2010 Super 14.
In October 2008 he took charge of the final of South Africa's
premier domestic competition, the Currie Cup
, for the fourth time, and was the referee again for the 2009 final.
, and has since increased his total to 58 Tests (as at end-June 2010).
He also holds the record for refereeing the most Tests involving a single team: the New Zealand-Wales game in June 2010 was his 17th involving the host nation, surpassing the record of 16 matches previously held jointly by Welshman Derek Bevan (also refereeing New Zealand) and New Zealander Paul Honiss
(refereeing Australia).
Other refereeing records held by Kaplan are: most Bledisloe Cup
matches (7); most Tri Nations matches (7); most Six Nations matches (16); only referee to have participated in four British and Irish Lions tours and to have had charge of matches in all three tour countries (Free State v B&I Lions, South Africa 1997; 2nd Test, Australia 2001; 3rd Test, New Zealand 2005; Natal Sharks v B&I Lions, South Africa 2009).
Kaplan also holds South African refereeing records for most Rugby World Cup appearances (3: 1999, 2003, 2007) and most World Cup games (9); most Super 14 games (75, including 3 finals and 4 semi-finals); and most Currie Cup matches (133, including 5 finals and 4 semi-finals); and is the only referee to have won the award as South African Referee of the Year for four years in succession (2003–2007).
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
referee
Referee
A referee is the person of authority, in a variety of sports, who is responsible for presiding over the game from a neutral point of view and making on the fly decisions that enforce the rules of the sport...
and currently holds the record for the most international matches as referee.
Background
Kaplan was born in Durban to Jewish parents, and was educated at Carmel College, DurbanCrawford College, Durban
Crawford College, Durban was an alternative, independent school in Glenmore in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.From 1997 to 2006 it was the Durban Campus of the Crawford Schools....
, and King David School, Linksfield, Johannesburg
King David Schools, Johannesburg
The King David Schools are a network of Jewish day schools in Johannesburg, South Africa, offering nursery through high school education. There are three campuses across Johannesburg: Linksfield, Victory Park, and Sandton; "each school has an atmosphere of its own serving the specific community"...
. He gained a bachelor of social sciences degree, with majors in economics and psychology, from the University of Cape Town
University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...
and a postgraduate degree in marketing management from the University of South Africa
University of South Africa
The University of South Africa is a distance education university, with headquarters in Pretoria, South Africa. With approximately 300 000 enrolled students, it qualifies as one of the world's mega universities.-History:...
.
Refereeing career
Kaplan began refereeing in 1984, while still a high school student. He made his first-class debut in 1991 and was appointed to South Africa's national panel of referees in 1993. On 4 May 1996 he made his international debut in a match between NamibiaNamibia national rugby union team
The Namibian rugby union team, nicknamed the Welwitschias or Biltongboere, represents Namibia at rugby union. Although they are a tier-three nation in the International Rugby Board tier system, the team have participated in all three Rugby World Cup competitions since their first appearance in 1999...
and Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe national rugby union team
The Zimbabwe national rugby union team is the rugby union team representing Zimbabwe. They are considered to be a third tier rugby union nation...
in Harare
Harare
Harare before 1982 known as Salisbury) is the largest city and capital of Zimbabwe. It has an estimated population of 1,600,000, with 2,800,000 in its metropolitan area . Administratively, Harare is an independent city equivalent to a province. It is Zimbabwe's largest city and its...
.
He was appointed as a touch judge for the 1999 Rugby World Cup
1999 Rugby World Cup
The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, and the first to be held in rugby union's professional era. The principal host nation was Wales, although the majority of matches were played outside the country, shared between England, France, Scotland and Ireland...
, and as a referee for the 2003 Rugby World Cup
2003 Rugby World Cup
The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and Rugby World...
in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, where he took charge of three pool games and the quarter-final between France
France national rugby union team
The France national rugby union team represents France in rugby union. They compete annually against England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales in the Six Nations Championship. They have won the championship outright sixteen times, shared it a further eight times, and have completed nine grand slams...
and Ireland
Ireland national rugby union team
The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...
. He was one of the twelve referees appointed to officiate at the 2007 Rugby World Cup
2007 Rugby World Cup
The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 20 October. France won the hosting rights in 2003,...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and took charge of four pool games and the semi-final between England
England national rugby union team
The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...
and France, becoming the first South African to officiate at three World Cups.
Some of Kaplan's notable games in charge include the first ever game in the Six Nations Championship
Six Nations Championship
The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....
, between Italy
Italy national rugby union team
The Italy national rugby union team represent the nation of Italy in the sport of rugby union. The team is also known as the Azzurri . Italy have been playing international rugby since the late 1920s, and since 2000 compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland,...
and Scotland
Scotland national rugby union team
The Scotland national rugby union team represent Scotland in international rugby union. Rugby union in Scotland is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union. The Scotland rugby union team is currently ranked eighth in the IRB World Rankings as of 19 September 2011...
in 2000, the second test between the British and Irish Lions
British and Irish Lions
The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...
and Australia
Australia national rugby union team
The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...
in 2001
2001 British Lions tour to Australia
The 2001 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia was a series of matches played by the British Lions rugby union team in Australia.This tour followed the Lions' 1997 tour to South Africa and preceded the 2005 tour to New Zealand....
and the third test between the Lions and New Zealand in 2005
2005 British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand
In 2005 the British and Irish Lions rugby union team toured New Zealand for the first time since 1993, playing 7 tour matches against first and second division clubs from the National Provincial Championship series, 1 tour match against the national New Zealand all Māori club, and 3 official test...
.
Kaplan was the referee for the 2005 Super 12 final and the 2006 Super 14 final
2006 Super 14 Final
The Final of the 2006 Super 14 season, a rugby union competition in the Southern Hemisphere, took place on May 27, 2006 at Jade Stadium in Christchurch, New Zealand. The match was won by the Crusaders 19 points to 12 over the visiting Wellington-based side, the Hurricanes...
(a game notorious for the dense fog which obscured much of the action from spectators and commentators). In December 2008 he was chosen as one of nine referees on a merit panel who, it was intended, would between them have charge of 75% of 2009 Super 14
2009 Super 14 season
The 2009 Super 14 season kicked off in February 2009 with pre-season matches held from mid-January. It finished on 30 May, when the Bulls won their second Super Rugby title with a decisive 61–17 victory over the Waikato Chiefs at Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria, South Africa. The 2009 season...
matches irrespective of the nationality of the teams involved. In line with this policy, Kaplan was appointed to referee the 2009 Super 14 Final; in previous years he would have been debarred from officiating because of the involvement of a South African team. In late 2009, he was again named on the merit panel for the 2010 Super 14.
In October 2008 he took charge of the final of South Africa's
Rugby union in South Africa
Rugby union is a popular team sport played in South Africa. Along with cricket and football it is one of the most popular ball sports in South Africa...
premier domestic competition, the Currie Cup
Currie Cup
The Currie Cup tournament is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring , featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces...
, for the fourth time, and was the referee again for the 2009 final.
Records
Kaplan is now the most experienced Test referee of all time: he became the first referee to reach the milestone of 50 Test matches when he refereed the Scotland-Ireland game during the 2009 Six Nations Championship2009 Six Nations Championship
The 2009 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2009 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the tenth Six Nations Championship, an annual rugby union competition contested by the six major Northern Hemisphere rugby union national teams...
, and has since increased his total to 58 Tests (as at end-June 2010).
He also holds the record for refereeing the most Tests involving a single team: the New Zealand-Wales game in June 2010 was his 17th involving the host nation, surpassing the record of 16 matches previously held jointly by Welshman Derek Bevan (also refereeing New Zealand) and New Zealander Paul Honiss
Paul Honiss
Paul Gerard Honiss is a retired rugby union referee from Hamilton, New Zealand.Honiss held the record of the most test matches refereed when he retired as an international rugby union referee in July 2008. That record has since been surpassed by Jonathan Kaplan...
(refereeing Australia).
Other refereeing records held by Kaplan are: most Bledisloe Cup
Bledisloe Cup
Rugby Union's Bledisloe Cup is contested by the Australia national rugby union team and New Zealand national rugby union team. It is named after Lord Bledisloe, the former Governor-General of New Zealand who donated the trophy in 1931. The trophy was designed in New Zealand by Nelson Isaac, and...
matches (7); most Tri Nations matches (7); most Six Nations matches (16); only referee to have participated in four British and Irish Lions tours and to have had charge of matches in all three tour countries (Free State v B&I Lions, South Africa 1997; 2nd Test, Australia 2001; 3rd Test, New Zealand 2005; Natal Sharks v B&I Lions, South Africa 2009).
Kaplan also holds South African refereeing records for most Rugby World Cup appearances (3: 1999, 2003, 2007) and most World Cup games (9); most Super 14 games (75, including 3 finals and 4 semi-finals); and most Currie Cup matches (133, including 5 finals and 4 semi-finals); and is the only referee to have won the award as South African Referee of the Year for four years in succession (2003–2007).