Craig Fulton (born 6 November 1974) is a South African coach and former

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

player. He currently coaches the India men's national team and formerly coached the Ireland men's national team. As a player he represented South Africa at the

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

and

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

and at the

2002 Men's Hockey World Cup The 2002 Men's Hockey World Cup was the 10th edition of the Hockey World Cup, a men's field hockey tournament. It was held from 24 February to 9 March 2002 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Germany won their first title after defeating Australia 2–1 ...

. As a player-coach with Pembroke Wanderers he won two Irish Senior Cups, two

Men's Irish Hockey League The Men's Irish Hockey League is a field hockey league organised by Hockey Ireland that features men's teams from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The league was first played for during the 2008–09 season. It replaced the All ...

titles and the

EuroHockey Club Trophy The EuroHockey Club Trophy I is an annual men's field hockey competition organised by the EHF for European hockey clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club competition, being one tier below the top men's European club competition th ...

. As a coach Fulton guided Ireland to third place at the

2015 Men's EuroHockey Nations Championship The 2015 Men's EuroHockey Championship was the 15th edition of the men's EuroHockey Nations Championship, the biennial international men's field hockey championship of Europe organised by the European Hockey Federation. It was held from 21 to 29 A ...

and to qualification for both the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

and the

2018 Men's Hockey World Cup The 2018 Men's Hockey World Cup was the 14th edition of the Hockey World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national field hockey teams organized by the FIH. It was held from 28 November to 16 December 2018, at the Kalinga Hocke ...

. While coaching Ireland, Fulton was named the 2015 FIH Men's Coach of the Year. He was assistant coach of the

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

team that won the 2018 Men's Hockey World Cup. He is currently the coach of the

India men's national field hockey team The India men's national field hockey team represents India in international field hockey competitions. The team is governed by the association Hockey India. In Field hockey at the 1928 Summer Olympics, 1928, the team won its first Olympic Ga ...

and guided them to an Olympic Bronze Medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Early years and education

Fulton was educated at

Pretoria Boys High School Pretoria Boys High School (colloquially known as "Boys High") is a public, Tuition payments, tuition-charging, English language, English-medium high school for boys situated in the suburb of Brooklyn, Pretoria, Brooklyn in Pretoria in the Gauten ...

and

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...

Domestic teams

Chelmsford

Between 1999 and 2005 Fulton served as player/coach of

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

in the

Men's England Hockey League The Men's England Hockey League is a field hockey league organised by England Hockey that features men's teams from England and Wales. Format Regular season There are 62 teams in the league, the top tier consists of a Premier Division of ...

. In September 2002, while in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

, Fulton was hospitalised after he and his then girlfriend and later wife

Natalie Natalie may refer to: Places * Natalie, Michigan, an unincorporated community People * Natalie (given name) * Natalie (singer) (born 1979), Mexican-American R&B singer/songwriter * (born 1999), better known as Natalie Zenn, Indonesian act ...

, interrupted a suspected burglar at his home. Fulton was reportedly stabbed or slashed seven times during the incident. In 2004 he guided Chelmsford to promotion to the Premier Division. During this time Fulton also coached field hockey at

Felsted School Felsted School is a co-educational independent school, independent boarding school, boarding and Day school, day school, situated in Felsted in Essex, England. It is in the British Public school (UK), public school tradition, and was founded i ...

Pembroke Wanderers

In 2005 Fulton was appointed director of coaching and player/coach to the senior men's team at Pembroke Wanderers. With a team that included

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

and Conor Harte, Ronan Gormley, Stuart Loughrey, Justin Sheriff,

Alan Sothern Alan Sothern (born 28 July 1987) is an Irish field hockey player who plays as a forward for the Pembroke Wanderers. He competed for the Ireland men's national field hockey team at the 2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), o ...

and Ian Symons, Fulton subsequently guided Wanderers to five national titles in four seasons. These included the 2006 All-Ireland Men's Club Championship, two Irish Senior Cup wins in 2008 and 2009 and to two

titles in 2008–09 and 2009–10. They also won the 2009

South Africa international

Fulton represented

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

at the

and

and at the

. His brother, Grant, and his wife,

, were also South Africa field hockey internationals. The brothers were teammates at the 1996 Olympics. In

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Fulton and his wife became the first married couple to represent

at the same Olympic Games.

Coach

South Africa

Between 2011 and 2014, after returning to

, Fulton held several coaching positions including serving as Assistant Coach of both the

women's A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

(2011) and men's (2013–2014) national teams. He also coached the Northern Blues at interprovincial level and served as technical director with the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria (, ) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and ''de facto'' capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johan ...

while his wife,

, served as the club manager.

Ireland

Between 2006 and 2009, in addition to being player/coach at Pembroke Wanderers, Fulton also served as Assistant Coach of the

Ireland men's national field hockey team The Ireland men's national field hockey team is organised by Hockey Ireland and represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in international men's field hockey competitions, including the Men's Hockey World Cup and the EuroHocke ...

, first to Dave Passmore and then to Paul Revington. In 2014 he succeeded

Andrew Meredith Andrew Meredith (born 24 April 1972) is an Australian field hockey coach for the International Hockey Federation. He was the former Analysis Operations Manager at Premier League club Manchester United, having previously ...

as the senior Ireland coach. Fulton subsequently guided Ireland to third place at the

, to World League Round 2 tournament wins in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

and to qualification for both the

and the

. While coaching Ireland, Fulton was also named the 2015 FIH Men's Coach of the Year. In May 2018 he resigned as Ireland coach after accepting an offer to become

's assistant coach.

Belgium

In May 2018 Fulton was appointed Assistant Coach of the

Belgium men's national field hockey team The Belgian national men's field hockey team represents Belgium in international men's field hockey and is controlled by the Royal Belgian Hockey Association, the governing body for field hockey in Belgium. Belgium won the Men's Hockey World Cu ...

. He was assistant coach when Belgium won the

and

Field hockey at the 2020 Summer Olympics Field hockey was a sport at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo which took place from 24 July to 6 August 2021 at the Oi Seaside Park. Twenty-four teams (twelve each for men and women) competed in the tournament. It was originally scheduled to be ...

India

In March 2023 Fulton was appointed as Head Coach of the Indian national hockey team. He guided Indian hockey team to a Bronze medal in

2024 Paris Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Personal life

His brother Grant and wife

were also South Africa field hockey players. In

, Fulton and his wife became the first married couple to represent

at the same Olympic Games. His child, Milla, were Ireland indoor hockey player, 2023 Nkosi Cup in senior caps.

Honours

Player

;

* Hockey Africa Cup of Nations **''Winners'': 1996, 2000: 2 * Men's Hockey Champions Challenge **''Runners up'':

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

: 1

Player/coach

; Pembroke Wanderers *

**''Winners'': 2009: 1 *

**''Winners'': 2008–09, 2009–10: 2 * Irish Senior Cup **''Winners'': 2008, 2009: 2 *All-Ireland Men's Club Championship **''Winners'': 2006: 1

Coach

;

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

*Hamburg Masters **''Winners'': 2017 *

Men's FIH Hockey World League The Men's FIH Hockey World League was an international field hockey competition organised by the International Hockey Federation. The league also served as a qualifier for the 2014 Men's Hockey World Cup, 2014 and 2018 Men's Hockey World Cups an ...

Round 2 **''Winners'': 2015 San Diego, 2017 Belfast *Men's Hockey Investec Cup **''Runners up'':

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

;Individual * FIH Men's Coach of the Year **''Winner'': 2015 *''

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

India Award'': Coach of the Year **''Winner'': 2024

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fulton, Craig 1974 births Living people South African male field hockey players South African field hockey coaches Olympic field hockey players for South Africa Field hockey players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 2004 Summer Olympics 2002 Men's Hockey World Cup players Field hockey players at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Field hockey players at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games field hockey players for South Africa Pembroke Wanderers Hockey Club players Men's Irish Hockey League players Men's England Hockey League players South African expatriate sportspeople in Ireland South African expatriate sportspeople in England Sportspeople from Pretoria Stellenbosch University alumni South African expatriate field hockey players Ireland men's national field hockey team coaches Coaches at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century South African sportsmen Alumni of Pretoria Boys High School