Trip Down Memory Lane When Craig Fulton Returned his ‘Colour Television’ Man of the Match Award at the 1995 Indira Gandhi Gold Cup Tournament
Indian men’s team chief coach Craig Fulton carries fond memories of New Delhi simply because he made his senior international debut for South Africa as a 21-year-old at the 1995 Indira Gandhi Gold Cup Tournament at then National Stadium (now rechristened Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium).
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Fulton was a part of the South African side that competed against the likes of hosts India, South Korea (who won the 1995 Indira Gandhi Gold Cup), England, Malaysia, Poland and Kazakhstan. “It was at the old Stadium with an athletics track around it. I remember we played our first game against Malaysia – it was a very tight game – South Korea had a strong side and went on to win the tournament, ” Fulton gets nostalgic in a chat with Hockey Passion.
The 50-year-old two-time Olympian was one of the star performers in the 7-8th place classification tie against Poland, scoring a goal in their 4-1 victory. Fulton’s standout performance in that game earned him the Man of the Match award – a relatively new thing in the nineties. Guess what – he received a colour television (a big deal in those days) as a Man of the Match award. “What would I do with the colour television? No way we are going to take it back to South Africa – so we gave it back to the organizers and received rupees for it and embarked on a night-out on our rest day,” grins Fulton.
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Fulton, who made 195 international appearances for South Africa between 1995 and 2006, dwells on the memories of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, where South Africa despite finishing 10th, was able to deliver a big impact in the marquee event. “South Africa really played well in the 1996 Olympics – we drew Australia 1-1, drew South Korea 3-3, drew Malaysia 2-2 but unfortunately we lost 0-2 to Great Britain that halted our momentum. I remember how Netherlands unleashed talented Brian Lomans against us – the Dutch deployed Lomas as a drag-flicker for the first time in the Olympics against us and he scored twice as all this time Taco van den Honert was used as a drag-flicker,” he reminisces.
At the 1996 Olympics’ Fulton’s younger brother Grant also played, even scoring two goals. Interestingly Fulton scored against India at the 2004 Athens Olympics, where South Africa lost 2-4.
