Janus Fhurek Janus Fhurek was a male human who served as the athletic director at the Junior Academy of Applied Sciences on the planet Lothal . With the academy ' s heavy focus on athletics , Fhurek was generally believed to hold more power and influence than even the Academy ' s headmaster . Fhurek had close connections to the Academy for Young Imperials on Lothal and was seen as a middleman for prospective academy recruits . When Zare Leonis became center striker on the school ' s grav - ball team , the AppSci SaberCats , he eventually came into conflict with Fhurek when he ordered the removal of two of the team ' s players , Frid Kelio and Hench Sina , prior to the championship game , due to their being Nonhuman . Fhurek ' s stated reason for their removal was that some individuals felt their Nonhuman status gave them an unfair advantage , but Leonis felt this was simple xenophobia . Leonis ignored Fhurek ' s orders and kept the two Alien players on his team ; who helped propel the team to victory during an important qualifying grav - ball tournament against the Mavericks . In retaliation , Fhurek had Kelio and Sina transferred to the Technical Institute for Agricultural Research , a less reputable institution . On a later occasion , Zare and his hacker friend Merei Spanjaf discovered that Fhurek had made a bet that the SaberCats would win by eight points during the final grav - ball tournament match without alien help . In retaliation , Zare carefully guided his team to a victory of only six points ; causing Fhurek to lose his bet . After Zare ' s older sister Dhara Leonis mysterious disappearance , Fhurek taunted Zare by commenting that disloyalty ran in the latter ' s family ; prompting Zare to give him a black eye . As a result of the incident , Leonis feared that Fhurek would interfere with his application to Lothal ' s Imperial Academy . However , Fhurek ultimately had no influence in this matter as the Grand Inquisitor had taken a personal interest in Leonis ' s application . Biography . Imperial service . Janus Fhurek was a male human from the Outer Rim planet of Lothal who served as the athletic director of the Junior Academy of Applied Sciences . In his youth , Fhurek was a player on the Junior AppSci ' s grav ball team , the AppSci SaberCats . Known as " Fury Fhurek " , he served as the SaberCats ' strong - side striker before moving up to the position of centre - striker . For over forty years , Fhurek held the AppSci record for completed passes until an Alien broke it a few years prior to Zare Leonis ' migration to Lothal . Following the end of the Clone Wars , Fhurek supported the new Galactic Empire and developed close ties with several high - ranking local Imperial officials on Lothal . As AppSci ' s Athletic Director , Fhurek wielded more power than the school ' s principal and became the middleman for youths seeking to enroll at the Academy for Young Imperials on Lothal . The Imperial Academy ' s administration saw the school ' s athletes as prospective recruits for the Imperial Army and Stormtrooper s . Enter Zare Leonis . After the new student Zare Leonis was appointed as the AppSci SaberCats ' centre striker during Lothal ' s fall season , Fhurek sought to ingratiate himself with the young teenager . During their first meeting in his force , Fhurek stressed the importance of the centre striker as the leader of the grav - ball team and likened it to the Empire ' s efforts to promote development in the Outer Rim . While conversing with Zare , Fuhrek inadvertently exposed his prejudice against Alien s when he commented that the Empire needed to ascertain which alien and immigrant elements bettered Lothal society and which were undesirable . In an attempt to win Zare over , he even offered to speed up his enrollment process to join the Imperial Academy . While Zare disagreed with Fhurek ' s view that the centre striker won a game alone , he kept his views to himself since he did not want to antagonize the athletic director . At the end of the meeting , Fhurek offered to mentor Leonis . Prior to a practice session , Zare visited Fhurek ' s office to discuss his concerns about his friend Beck Ollet , whose temper had cost the SaberCats their victory during a winter match against the East City Brawlers . Zare feared that Beck ' s inability to control his anger would jeopardize the SaberCat ' s chances of success . Instead of giving Zare advise on how to deal with Beck ' s discipline issues , the athletic director proceeded to lecture the young man about why leadership was more important than teamwork . When Zare gave a favorable appraisal of the Aqualish player Hench Sina ' s ability to follow orders , Fhurek remarked that Hench ' s talents were little more than brute force . Fuhrek further irked Zare when he commented that an intelligent but undisciplined player like Beck was preferable to an obedient but untalented fullback like Hench . Stressing the important of leadership over teamwork , Fhurek advised Zare that as centre striker it was his duty to teach his team to obey him and suggested weeding out players who could not be taught . Fhurek also told Zare that a good leader should not let affection for his players blind him to their shortcomings . Rising Tensions . During the winter season , relations between Janek Fhurek and his mentee deteriorated when the former summoned the latter to his office prior to the tenth and final regular - season grav - ball game . The school ' s grav - ball coach Ramset , an elderly Duros man was also present at the meeting . The athletic director advised Zare remove the SaberCats ' two alien players — the Aqualish Hench Sina and the Rodian Frid Kelio — from the team ' s roster on the grounds that some Human grav - ball fans complained that alien physiognomies gave non - Human players an unfair advantage over their Human counterparts . Zare protested and sprung to Hench and Frid ' s defence , arguing that they were important members of the team and that they had earned the right to be there . Fuhrek attempted to resolve himself of responsibility of his proposal by suggesting that Zare carry out the hatchet job himself . The athletic director also added that he did not want the school grav - ball team ' s reputation to be " tainted " by talk that they had an unfair advantage . While disagreeing with Fhurek ' s views , Coach Ramset gently advised Zare to comply with the athletic director ' s wishes in order to appease " misguided " people . While Fuhrek conceded that there were " misguided " Human bigots , he argued that Zare should not worry about social change but should instead focus on winning the grav - ball title . When the centre - striker reiterated that there was no league rule proscribing non - Human players , Fhurek urged Zare to take charge of the team and alleged that Hench and Frid lacked the necessary capabilities to grasp strategy and tactics . When Zare pointed out that Fuhrek was belittling his friends , the athletic director reluctantly allowed Kelio and Sina to play the following day but ordered him to remove the two alien players from his team before the final championship game . Zare rejected Fuhrek ' s demand and reiterated that he and Coach Ramset had spent the entire fall season training his cohort to be the best possible SaberCats team . Zare ' s defiance angered the athletic coach who decided to go out of his way to make Zare ' s life at AppSci difficult . Defying Janek Fuhrek ' s orders , Zare kept Hench and Frio in the SaberCats and the two alien players helped contribute to the team ' s victory over the rival Mavericks , which qualified the AppSci team to compete in the league championship . When Zare and his team arrived back at Junior AppSci to a victory celebration , a bitter Fuhrek remarked that he would have kicked Zare out of the team if he had another centre striker . When Zare ignored him and tried to walk past the athletic director to the locker room , Fuhrek grabbed him by the arm and spun him round . Fuhrek then told Zare to enjoy his stunt and warned that the youth had no idea what he was capable of as athletic director . Making good on his threat , Fuhrek had Hench and Frid transferred to the Technical Institute for Agricultural Research over the weekend . While Fuhrek admitted that the Institute was a less reputable institution than AppSci , he told Zare that the academy had some excellent academic programs . Fuhrek ' s actions struck a raw nerve with Zare since he did not get the opportunity to farewell his alien players . Later , Zare found a way to get back at Fhurek when his hacker friend and fellow SaberCat player Merei Spanjaf discovered that the had made a bet that the SaberCats would win by eight points during the final grav - ball tournament match at the end of the winter season without alien help . Using this information , Zare carefully guided his team to victory over the Kothal Roughnecks by a margin of six points ; causing Fhurek to lose his bet . Zare ' s defiance only further angered Fhurek who sought every opportunity to make life difficult for Zare . The following week , the athletic director issued the young grav - ball center - striker with several demerits for trivial misdemeanors . In addition , Fhurek also tried to sabotage Zare ' s application to study at the Imperial Academy by sending a letter questioning his fitness for Imperial service . Fhurek ' s vindictiveness towards Zare even unnerved Coach Ramset who encouraged Zare to ignore Fhurek and to remember that he was a champion . A Painful Lesson . After Zare ' s older sister Dhara Leonis , a Cadet at the Imperial Academy " ran away " , Janus Fhurek taunted Leonis by remarking that disloyalty ran in the latter ' s family . In response , Zare attacked Fhurek and gave him a black eye . It took Zare ' s fellow player Beck and three other students to restrain Zare and pull him away from the athletic director . Fhurek was forced to put a coldpack on his eye and gave Zare a demerit . This incident was the last known encounter between Fhurek and Zare , who graduated on a warm day in late spring . During Lothal ' s summer season , Zare related his last encounter with Fhurek to his former Rodian teammate Frid Kelio , who praised Zare for chastising the bigoted athletic director . Despite Fhurek ' s best efforts to sabotage Zare ' s application to join the Imperial Academy , some unknown Imperial authority , later revealed to be the Grand Inquisitor , disagreed with the athletic director ' s report on Zare and instead sped up Zare ' s application process . In the end , a reluctant Zare decided to infiltrate the Imperial Academy on Lothal in order to find his missing sister and to learn about the Empire ' s secrets in order to help any future Rebellion . Legacy . During Leonis ' s time at the Academy for Young Imperials , Captain Piers Roddance attempted to use Leonis ' s altercation with Fhurek against him . Cadets throughout the Academy were questioned regarding their possible participation in treason ous activities on Lothal and Roddance brought up the incident during an interrogation session , trying to paint Leonis as someone who had a history of treacherous behavior against the Empire . Leonis , however , remained firm , explaining his reasoning for his actions against Fhurek and giving Roddance no further ammunition to use for attacks against him , besides those which he already had planned . Personality and traits . Janus Fhurek was a skinny Human man with a red face and a temper , who had little tolerance for dissent . Fhurek was a strong supporter of the Galactic Empire and believed that the Imperial authorities should remove undesirable alien and immigrant elements from Lothal . While Fhurek claimed that he was not personally prejudiced against Alien s and that he had non - Human friends , he still accepted the contention of some prejudiced Human grav - ball fans that the alien players ' unique physiognomies gave them an unfair advantage over Human players . However , Zare Leonis refused to accept Fhurek ' s explanation and suspected that the man was xenophobic . Leonis ' suspicions were confirmed when Fhurek twisted his face after the former complimented the team ' s Aqualish player Hench Sina . Later , Fhurek unilaterally transferred the AppSci SaberCats ' two alien players — Frid Kelio and Hench to another school . Fhurek was also a bully and sought every opportunity to torment Leonis , after the teenager refused to remove his two Alien teammates . After Zare ' s older sister Dhara mysteriously disappeared , Fhurek taunted Zare which prompted the young man to assault him . As revenge , Janus tried to sabotage Zare ' s admission to the Imperial Academy on Lothal but was overruled by the authorities , who were interested in Leonis ' talents and skills . Zare ' s father Leo Leonis had a dim opinion of Fhurek and regarded him as an incompetent small - minded thug who treated AppSci as his own " little kingdom . " While sharing her husband ' s assessment of Fhurek , Zare ' s mother , Tepha , cautioned her son not to get onto the athletic director ' s wrong side since he could jeopardize Leonis ' career opportunities . Behind the scenes . Janus Fhurek first appeared as a minor antagonist in Jason Fry ' s 2014 young - adult novel " " , the first of the " " series which is set in the world of " Star Wars Rebels " and told through the point - of - view of Zare Leonis , a young Imperial Cadet . According to the author , Fhurek was intended to be an " out - and - out " xenophobe but added that his views were not representative of the Galactic Empire . In Fry ' s view , the Empire in the newly established Canon was not openly and uniformly xenophobic or sexist unlike the Galactic Empire from the Star Wars Legends universe . However , he acknowledged that some of the Empire ' s strongest supporters were xenophobes like Fhurek .