One of the most significant moments of India's bronze medal-winning Olympic campaign came after India's stunning win over Great Britain in quarterfinals, where they played with 10-men for almost three quarters. As the camera came up to the celebrating squad, coach Craig Fulton looked up. "It was our day," he shouted into the camera - a very rare display of public emotion for a man usually calm and controlled.
That moment summed up how far Fulton and his team had come - not only in terms of success, the bronze was two matches away - but in forming an emotional and sporting bond. The win over Great Britain was based on the coach's tactics but needed the players' heroics to get the team over line. It showed Fulton's flexibility and the team's buy-in, the best possible omen for Indian hockey.
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There's a clear reason why Fulton was hired, in March 2023, to be the head coach of the Indian men's hockey team.
India were quite successful playing the Graham Reid way. Fast and aggressive hockey, the focus on scoring goals. It helped them win an Olympic medal in Tokyo after a gap of 41 years and also to strong finishes in the Pro League, where the best teams play each other.
The downside of their style, though, was the number of goals they conceded and their struggles to control matches. On their best days, they were capable of scoring 10 goals in a match; on their worst, even lower-ranked teams had plenty of chances against them. What this team needed was to make the jump to the next level in terms of consistency and control.
Fulton, then assistant coach with the Belgium team, had impeccable credentials. Belgium were the best team in Europe, their hockey epitomised control, their focus on solid defence. Fulton joined Belgium in 2018 and helped them win the Olympic gold as well as the World Cup. Before that, he was the head coach of the Ireland men's team for four years, helping them to qualify for the Rio Olympics. He had the CV of working with the best as well as reviving the prospects of a national team to qualify for the Olympics after a gap of almost 100 years.
While with Belgium, he also got to see the European club hockey system, which is where the sport's best domestic teams feature. "Besides Australia, the strongest teams sit in Europe. There's a lot of hockey intelligence that sits in Europe, from a tactical point of view," Fulton told ESPN before the Olympics, while explaining his philosophy.
And that philosophy was very different to Reid's. He needed a strong defence; he wanted control on the pitch, even if it slowed down the game. And he wanted to improve efficiency inside the circle, even though it might mean a smaller number of chance creations. "When you see India play more than three passes together, they have control. When we get caught up in going direct quickly, then it's chaos. Not good for us," Fulton said.
Fulton came with tactics, but tactics would never be enough to find success; he needed the players on his side, to believe in his vision and to believe in themselves. He took charge under difficult circumstances -- after the team's brutal failure at the home World Cup in January 2023. Most of the players at his disposal were part of Reid's core group and had tasted success at the Tokyo Olympics. These core players were still India's best and had age on their side. Changing personnel for a squad was not an option. Fulton had realised the enormity of the challenge; "It's not easy to make changes," he told this writer.
PR Sreejesh had once spoken about Fulton the person. He pointed to the lower age difference (as compared to Reid) between coach and players, which helped Fulton understand the players' perspective. There's no 'my way or the highway' with him. In press conferences and media interactions, Fulton might come across as single-minded and extremely focussed on his ways, which could be similar to the 'control' style he wants to implement, but it's different with the players.
"He wants us to do well as a team but he also believes in the individual skills of the players," Harmanpreet - whom Fulton inherited and retained as captain - told ESPN before going to Paris. "He has been saying it from day 1. If there's a one-on-one situation, he will say go for it because this has been India's strength. Or for that matter counterattack. He has given the license for the players to bank on their strengths."
Fulton made it clear he didn't want to tamper with the DNA of Indian hockey tactically, earning the players' trust.
"With the DNA of the Indian men's hockey, their ability to counterattack collectively and score off limited chances, that's exciting," Fulton said. "But if you have a system where you win the ball from anywhere, that means you can attack from anywhere. Basically, your defence is the first form of attack because it's organised and you win the ball in certain areas and you play to the space."
From March 2023, when he was appointed, to August 2024, when the team won the Olympic bronze, he couldn't implement everything he wanted on the pitch. In the run-up to the Olympics, it seemed to observers that his philosophy - controlling the match with the focus on defending - would be going against the players' natural attacking instincts. Those not so polite would call it boring hockey.
But it all came together when it mattered, at the Olympics - Fulton managed to achieve a balance between his ideas and India's natural strengths. After the first two matches, the team's performance took a lift when Fulton allowed the team to play with a bit of freedom, the players responded and their attacking game improved against the likes of Belgium and Australia.
Fulton was also justified in the squad selection for the Paris Olympics. When the team was first announced, there were questions about not picking youngsters like Araijeet Singh Hundal and Mohammed Raheel and trusting senior players like Mandeep Singh and Lalit Upadhyay who were not at their best going into the Games. It looked like an ultra-conservative selection.
But the most important factor for the coach was getting the chemistry right. It involved finding the balance between youth and experience and also accounting for role definition. "Sometimes you have four or five strong individual players, they play very well individually but are not connected to everyone else." Then he added, significantly, that the young players would have their turn in future.
Fulton was appointed as a coach for his tactical expertise but now he means something to the players, and vice versa. That's what the post-match celebrations in the quarterfinals signified.
The Paris Olympics success will reinvigorate the belief that both Fulton and the players were able to get the best out of each other. The style of play may not be eye-catching, but an Olympic medal means they are doing things right.