David Leggat: Long wait for Coutts to surface in pool of sharks

COMMENT

Amid a mix of reactions to Russell Coutts receiving his latest accolade, the DCM - Don't Come Monday - from his Swiss employers yesterday, one emotion thin on the ground for the world's finest sailor was sympathy.

This shouldn't be a surprise given that four years ago he was the central figure in the biggest opinion divider in New Zealand sport since a bloke called Shelford copped a red card from the All Black selectors in 1990.

There were some similarities. But there was one key difference: Shelford didn't pack his bags and become a Wallaby overnight.

Coutts has said he was surprised to be told he was no longer required by Alinghi as they prepare their defence of the America's Cup in three years' time. As a pragmatic man with a decent dollop of steel in his makeup, he shouldn't have been.

When you swim with sharks - in their pond - sooner or later you'll get nipped. Coutts joined forces with a hard-minded businessman, one used to getting his own way and a billionaire who undoubtedly does not like being challenged.

The honeymoon and early stages of the marriage were harmonious. Ernesto Bertarelli and Coutts had a common goal. During last year's regatta, when Coutts lifted the Auld Mug for the third time, they appeared to be more than just business partners.

They seemed to be good mates. Back slaps all round. Ernie and Russ, plus the rest of Coutts' former Team New Zealand buddies, including Brad Butterworth, Murray Jones, Simon Daubney, Dean Phipps and Warwick Fleury, who planned and executed masterfully in their old backyard, the Hauraki Gulf, last year.

How quickly things change. Bertarelli and his fierce rival of a year ago, computer software squillionaire Larry Ellison, have chummed up to rejig the protocol for the next cup regatta.

It won't take long for the 180-day rule to become known as the Coutts Rule, much as the Rugby Union had a regulation which became popularly known as the Henry Rule, which made it clear if New Zealand's best coaches headed overseas they could forget any ideas about taking charge of the All Blacks.

Again, Coutts insists he was surprised by the introduction of the 180-day rule, which chops him out of any role with another syndicate in 2007, and the speed with which it was introduced. And again, he shouldn't have been.

This is no gentleman's club. In truth it probably never has been, even back in the days when the British tangled with the New York Yacht Club 150 years ago.

And Team New Zealand can take yesterday's events as a serving of notice. Alinghi will be every bit as difficult to defeat off the water as on it in 2007.

Coutts, a single-minded, highly motivated individual, has other challenges, but he will be back. Just maybe not in three years' time.

For the many callers to Radio Sport yesterday wanting bygones to be bygones, there is at least one reason he's unlikely to be in Team New Zealand colours, or anyone else's for that matter, in 2007: the protocol, with its still-damp ink.

That is unless Coutts and his legal eagles pull off their own three-card trick. But don't hold your breath.