Cox chosen to lead Green Machine’s World Cup bid

Stephen Findlater

Irish hockey have landed a major coup with the announcement of Alexander Cox as the new senior men’s coach for the World Cup campaign.

The vacancy came up following Craig Fulton’s shock decision to depart the role in June to become the Belgian assistant coach.

Cox has built up an impressive coaching cv at both club and national level.

For the past six years, he has worked with SV Kampong in the Netherlands, leading them to back-to-back national titles in the toughest club league in the world, ending a 32-year drought. The 40-year-old also won the Euro Hockey League with them in 2016 and was the Dutch U21 men’s coach in their Junior European gold medal success.

Previously, he worked as an assistant coach with the Dutch men and women’s teams at the 2012 Olympics where they won silver and gold, respectively.

Taking the job, Cox — who works with Irish skipper David Harte at Kampong — said: “The Irish culture, the work ethic of the team, motivates me to start our preparation towards the World Cup in India.

I’m looking forward to working with the team, staff and Hockey Ireland.

He begins the job on August 1 following the Four Nations Cup in Dusseldorf where Ireland defend their title against Germany, Argentina and France this weekend.

Given Irish hockey’s recent financial travails, obtaining a coach of his stature does come with caveats. Cox will continue to coach SV Kampong in the Dutch league in tandem with the role and he will be based in the Netherlands throughout.

At this stage, Cox has committed until the end of the World Cup with Hockey Ireland chief executive Jerome Pels hoping to extend the tenure. “The intent is a long-term commitment,” Pels told the Irish Examiner.

The current arrangement, combining the role with Kampong coach is to be reviewed after the World Cup and both parties will sit down on how we move forward after that.

With over 20 Irish players now based outside of Ireland — predominantly in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany — Cox’s Dutch base should not be an issue.

Pels says this issue was discussed during the interview stage, saying: “Given the timeline of preparation for the World Cup and the fit with the team, we believe this solution suits us now at this particular moment in time and allowed us to move forward quickly.”

He also expressed confidence that not being in Ireland would not lead to young, domestic-based players being overlooked by Cox.

Ireland squad (for Four Nations in Dusseldorf, July 26th-29th): David Harte (Captain, SV Kampong), Jamie Carr (Three Rock Rovers), John Jackson (Bath Buccaneers), Jonny Bell (Lisnagarvey), Matthew Bell (Crefelder HTC), Luke Madeley (Three Rock Rovers), Matthew Nelson (Lisnagarvey), Alan Sothern (La Gantoise), Peter Caruth (Annadale), Sean Murray (HC Rotterdam), John McKee (Banbridge), Owen Magee (Banbridge), Michael Robson (Lisnagarvey), Daragh Walsh (Three Rock Rovers), Paul Gleghorne (Crefelder HTC), Jeremy Duncan (Herakles), Lee Cole (Oree), Stuart Loughrey (Hampstead & Westminster), Stephen Cole (Oree) Stephen Findlater