Stedman Gans believes the Vodacom United Rugby Championship has changed the game. Now he wants to understand why, and maybe even help to make it better.

Vodacom Bulls backline star Stedman Gans wants to know what’s in your head. Not in a Rassie “In Your Head” kind of way. Gans is more interested in what makes the Vodacom United Rugby Championship fan so unique.

Throughout his career as first a Sevens star and now a Loftus Versfeld favourite, Gans has thrilled rugby fans with his exploits on the field. He’s seen what this game does for people, and he wants to know more.

From backline to boardroom

So much so that the 28-year-old centre is now spending quite a bit of time upstairs at Loftus Versfeld.

“Last year I joined the Vodacom Bulls’ commercial team for an internship for seven months, and then I started in their business development position focusing on the fan experience and engagement,” says Gans.

If you know Gans’s background, then this latest interest isn’t all that surprising.

Business brain

Throughout his playing career, Gans has been fascinated with business and developing this side of his life off the field.

While he was playing for the Springbok Sevens, he ran a successful business selling pies. A few years ago he started his own coffee roastery, beginning with a coffee trailer at Loftus Versfeld for the players during Covid so they didn’t have to expose themselves – and the team – by leaving the stadium to go and get coffee.

“Coffee has always been a big passion of mine from my Sevens days. We’re now looking at getting our coffee into a few retailers. Our target market is primarily restaurants and offices. I suppose I’ve always had this entrepreneurial thing about me,” he says.

Now Gans wants to understand the rugby fan even better, and hopefully help to take the Vodacom United Rugby Championship to even greater heights at a Loftus Versfeld that has already set competition attendance records.

‘Rugby has so much to offer’

“I’ve started studying a BCom so that I can better understand the business side of game. I’ve grown a real interest in and fascination with how rugby and sport is run from the top. The Vodacom United Rugby Championship is one of the few products where you can come out as a family and enjoy it together. I’m focusing on how we can target our communications to fit people’s specific needs and what they’re interested in. Rugby has so much to offer, and everybody comes to a game for a different reason. So I’m interested in how you speak to what that person’s reason is when you’re communicating to them. It’s about a more personalised communication to fans, which I think is an area for growth.”

Gans is definitely a busy man off the field.

Mental health

As he now looks inward towards the rugby fan, he’s also looking inward towards the players. Quite literally so, with a mental health platform called Inward which he launched a year ago.

“We’re in a six-month trial period with the Vodacom Bulls. Basically, it’s a platform for players to schedule a session with a mental health professional online, and it’s free and anonymous. As a player I’ve seen how the game has become more demanding over the last decade that I’ve been playing. Everything around the game has evolved to meet this demand, except for the mental side of it. I studied psychology, which is also a big passion of mine, and I feel like that mental side of rugby can be better addressed. I always say that in the beginning you take a 19 year old and put him in a house with other 19 year olds and you give him his first salary and tell him every weekend he’s special. Now how do you keep him grounded?”

Faith and family

For Gans, who is enjoying a solid Vodacom United Rugby Championship season and who still harbours dreams of playing for the Springboks, that grounding has always come two sources. 

“My faith, and my family. I know there is a plan for my life, and I have an amazing support system in my wife and my family. Whenever I fall down, they’re there for me. Those two pillars keep me upright.”

That’s how Gans keeps his own head in the game.

And now he’s excited to get your head into the game as well.

Photo: Lee Warren/Gallo Images