The Money or The Bag?

By Hokey.

Rumours wil circulate that New Zealand All Black 7's coach and global rugby icon Gordon Teijens may be offered a coaching deal worth in excessing of NZ$30 Million by the chinese Olympic programme to oversight the Chinese Olympic 7's programming for Rio Olympics.

Should he "do a Russel Coutts" and take the money to coach a team (this time with little chance of real success), or face the uncertainty and struggling for the one rugby prize in his field he is yet to accomplishing?

What should he do? What would you do?

Source of these rumours?

For 30 million I'll sell my mother in law.

What am I saying, I'll give her away for free.

That would keep you in stock of Biltong

For life.

If it's true he should take the money and do it, he'd be insane not to.

But what of national pride? sense of achievement? Is it worth nothing?

I don't really get those feelings when it comes to the Olympics. Coaches seek employment for different countries all the time, especially at the Olympics so i don't see any issue in it at all.
Depends on him i guess. It's a professional sport and a free market at the end of the day

Surely the Olympics is supposed to be THE AMATEUR Sports pinnacle.

emack2 wrote:Surely the Olympics is supposed to be THE AMATEUR Sports pinnacle.

It used to be. It hasn't been for a while. Like rugby really.

At least rugby doesn't sell itself as an amateur sport

I agree it's a farce when the finalists at the *amateur* Wimbledon Olympics tennis final are the same two who fought out the grandslam Wimbledon final for a 2 Million pound prize pot.

At least Federer had the dignity to play like an amateur!

The Olympics are NOT an amateur event, and haven't been since the late 1980s, when track and field decided to do away with the shamateurism and 'held in trust' payments and just become a genuinely professional sport.

Indeed, it is now only the events like boxing that do hold on to the original amateur ideals of the Olympics - most everyone else involved are full time professional sportsmen.

I'm all for the inclusion of rugby 7s into the Games - raises the profile of rugby without compromising the integrity of the RWC. Also, obvioulsy a fifteen a side tournament would be impossible within the 2 weeks of the Olympics (even the football has to start early to try and fit in the matches), and there would be too few nations in with a chance of winning a medal, wheras 7s widens the field and can be run over the course of a weekend.

Ive always thought golf would make a great olympic sport.

I dont have a big issue if Tietjens coached China at the next Olympics, but if theyre prepared to offer $30mil then he should hold out for $60mil,we all know that China are willing to try and buy a medal.

If Titch did go, then the assistant coach just would take over, he knows a fair bit about it.

For $30millions he would be insane to stay. He could start his own teams with that much!

China won't medal even with the best coaches.

The man he done great service to Rugby and I have no problem if he wants to collect a big pay day. Shouldn't be limited only to players making big money. He has earned his opportunity. However..........

aucklandlaurie wrote: I dont have a big issue if Tietjens coached China at the next Olympics, but if theyre prepared to offer $30mil then he should hold out for $60mil,we all know that China are willing to try and buy a medal.

To me, this is what bothers me rather than him collecting big dough. I suppose we would all be terribly naive to think this doesn't happen all the time in sport. But not so much in Rugby and not on such a gross scale. And certainly not from China who is using their newly given money to buy everything. Maybe that's where it grates. We are the enablers...........

All sorts of teams have tried to nab a Kiwi coach. Shame on them.
I wouldn't begrudge him going to China - though preferably after Rio.

This is all hypothetical right, surely? I really really really dislike Russell Coutts. I don't mind a coach/player leaving for money, but to shaft your own country like Coutts did is unforgiveable. I throw Deans in the same basket. But strangely not Gatland, as much.

That's interesting EBOP. So what about Graham Henry?

Nah, he's ok monkey, GH came back. My logic is terrible, I know that. Actually, I don't feel that strongly about Deans and Gatland, as long as they don't beat us in world cups or the bledisloe cup. If they did, straight to the naughty corner with Coutts.

Interesting that Coutts cop so much blame for that debacle when really the Swiss win was more down to the team NZ design team who went to the Swiss first, leaving behind those with the crazy design ideas that didn't work that had been suppressed by the better brains for years. Coutts was just the straw man and fall guy for the "everybody has their price" cliche.

My mind is Tiejens is mad to go anywhere. Money only buys so much, but become a legend and you can never spend it.

Actually, you forgot to mention butterworth. The thing with butterworth, he actually revelled in shafting NZ. I vividly recall him creaming his pants as he rubbed our noses in dog poop, disgraceful. Think Coutts has a wonderful sailing brain and was involved in design also. And Coutts was the fall guy, because he was the skipper and spokesman, along with his smug lapdog butterballs.

See, I don't like Coutts.

Tietjens has more NZ pride in one of his little fingernail clippings than those two put together.

EBOP wrote:Actually, you forgot to mention butterworth. The thing with butterworth, he actually revelled in shafting NZ. I vividly recall him creaming his pants as he rubbed our noses in dog poop, disgraceful.

And they showed that on TV? Sounds like some scene from one of those "bad" German movies.

Ha! Whoops, that didn't read very well did it. Poor Germans, it's not nice.

Christ, I can’t believe that people are still hung up over Coutts and co leaving Team NZ. A lot of things contributed to that sorry saga. At the top of the totem pole I believe, was the killing of Sir Peter Blake who had stood down after the 2000 defence. Had he been alive he may have been able to step in and sort things out. I believe Coutts wanted to step up to Blake’s position but was rejected and this is where the rot set in. NZ is quite unique in that it’s AC team was almost exclusively NZer’s but the fact is America’s Cup ceased being about national identity before 2003, it’s more akin to Premier League football and money talks. We just happen to be one of the ‘clubs’ who produce great young talent on a shoe string budget, sooner or later they get picked off by rival clubs.

Anyway, if Teitjens has been offered $30m to coach the Chinese then I wouldn’t begrudge him taking the money. They won’t win gold but he’ll get his overdue rewards. But I think deep down, one of NZ’s greatest coaches has a heart that is all black and will remain so. He’s got every Commonwealth Gold medal, now he’ll want the first Olympics Gold medal. He’ll stay but if he goes, you couldn’t say one bad word about him.

Last point – AWOP, for someone who spent such ‘little’ time in NZ whilst an exchange student, how is it you know the phrase ‘money or the bag’?? That show died out in the early 90’s???

They must have already been showing repeats of "The Money Or The Bag" when a young AWOP was 'studying' there... learning his crafts.

Whaddya say Wanganui??

The Bag!!!

ps. Coutts and Butterworth are still mud

First Class Mud

chewed_mintie wrote:Christ, I can’t believe that people are still hung up over Coutts and co leaving Team NZ. A lot of things contributed to that sorry saga. At the top of the totem pole I believe, was the killing of Sir Peter Blake who had stood down after the 2000 defence. Had he been alive he may have been able to step in and sort things out. I believe Coutts wanted to step up to Blake’s position but was rejected and this is where the rot set in. NZ is quite unique in that it’s AC team was almost exclusively NZer’s but the fact is America’s Cup ceased being about national identity before 2003, it’s more akin to Premier League football and money talks. We just happen to be one of the ‘clubs’ who produce great young talent on a shoe string budget, sooner or later they get picked off by rival clubs.

Anyway, if Teitjens has been offered $30m to coach the Chinese then I wouldn’t begrudge him taking the money. They won’t win gold but he’ll get his overdue rewards. But I think deep down, one of NZ’s greatest coaches has a heart that is all black and will remain so. He’s got every Commonwealth Gold medal, now he’ll want the first Olympics Gold medal. He’ll stay but if he goes, you couldn’t say one bad word about him.

Last point – AWOP, for someone who spent such ‘little’ time in NZ whilst an exchange student, how is it you know the phrase ‘money or the bag’?? That show died out in the early 90’s???

I do some research to my article and try to making some texture with a topical reference. I have not seen this programme before.