A salute to Hans Coetzee's Monumental achievements

Who will write the next edition of Monnas se Witbulle, asks Theo Garrun.

I had decided, at the time of his axing, to stay out of the Monument v Hans Coetzee matter until the dust had settled and I could talk to him about it.

This week, however, it emerged that he and the school had settled his Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) unfair dismissal case “on the court house steps”, and that a secrecy clause had been built in to the agreement.

So, I guess, we will never get to the bottom of what happened, and while I have known Coetzee for close to 30 years, he’ll never give me the official reason why his contract to coach the school’s first team was not renewed.

In my other newspaper life I’m a bit of a wannabe expert on the labour law - we report on it weekly in The Star Workplace - and my experience is that in these sorts of agreements the employer is usually paying a lot of money to keep the complaining party quiet.

To say that’s what happened here is pure speculation, so I’ll concentrate on Coetzee, and what he has meant to schools rugby in these parts over the past 30-odd years.

To put things in perspective you have to, in the first instance, reflect on the success of the teams he has coached over the years.

Since he took over in 1988, the team has won the Golden Lions provincial title in the league system played by the Afrikaans-medium schools considerable times and, with only one or two exceptions, has made it into the final every year.

They have also won the Northern Unions knockout competition (known as the Virseker Beeld Trofee in its current form) numerous times.

And in his time, Jorrie Muller, Heinke van der Merwe, Jacque Fourie, Jaco Taute, Willem Alberts and Julian Redelinghuys became Springboks.

As significant as the success rate, year after year, has been the style of rugby his teams have played. Monument exploded the myth that the strong Afrikaans schools play “head-banger”, forward-based rugby only.

Every year, including this one, the bulk of the players in the Golden Lions provincial schools teams come from Monnas.

Coetzee has written a history of the school’s rugby, Monnas se Wit Bulle (Monument’s White Bulls), which looks at the Monument story from 1921 to 2003.

In that era, apart from the seven Springboks (Christo Wagenaar and Brendan Venter were earlier internationals), 18 SA schools players came from the school, according to the book.

Coetzee’s first stint as coach, from 1988 to 2007, was among the most successful in the school’s history - the team won the league 15 times in those years.

Monument played 392, lost 89, drew 10 and won 293 games.

He then left to work at the Golden Lions Union, but later returned to the school.

By then, of course, the professional game had trickled down to schools level and better coaching and preparation at rival schools had closed the gap between Monnas and the rest.

Monument, although beating about all of the top schools at one time or another during Coetzee’s second period in charge, never won the Beeld Trophy again in that time.

Neither have the team been ranked No 1 on those odious rankings that pop up all over the internet these days.

I suspect Coetzee’s track record, his unquestionable loyalty and love for the school didn’t count for much when those who have the power - who bring the money - called for a coach who can get them to win consistently on a bigger stage.

I have no evidence to back that, although the choice of Coetzee’s replacement - the former Garsfontein coach, who has a couple of Beeld Trophy titles under his belt - seems to bear me out.

And the relationships Coetzee built with generations of Monument players over the years, his encyclopaedic knowledge of Monument rugby and all of his institutional knowledge have been discarded.

Who will write the next edition of Monnas se Witbulle, you have to wonder?

Independent Media