Kalam Mooniaruck (born 22 November 1983) is a

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a winger. Born in England, he represented the Mauritius national team.

Playing career

Mooniaruck was a member of the youth team at

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

, before signing for

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

on 3 March 1999 at the age of 13; United attempted to get around the rule that youth team players had to live within 90 minutes of the club by flying him to Manchester from

Stansted Airport London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acros ...

, and although

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

later clarified that it had to be a 90-minute drive, Mooniaruck remained at United.Kalam Mooniaruck
Ex-Canaries He was released in June 2003 without a single appearance for the first team, despite playing for England U-20 in a friendly match against Germany U-20. After his release, Mooniaruck had unsuccessful trials with

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

and

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

, before signing for Braintree in August 2003. He was released early in 2004 after the club stated that his skills and style of playing were not suited for the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

. Following an unsuccessful trial with

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

, He later joined local club Bishop's Stortford Swifts in the same year, playing for the club until 2006. In August 2006 Kalam joined Cambridge City, before moving to

Thurrock Thurrock () is a unitary authority area with borough status and unparished area in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The l ...

in January 2007 and signing for Saffron Walden Town before the end of the season when he announced retirement to become a coach for a

David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending fr ...

's football school. He came out of retirement to sign for Tiptree United in 2008, playing two games before leaving football.

International career

Born in England with

Mauritian Mauritians (singular Mauritian; french: Mauricien; Creole: ''Morisien'') are nationals or natives of the Republic of Mauritius and their descendants. Mauritius is a multi-ethnic society, with notable groups of people of South Asian (notably I ...

heritage, he played for England U-20 in 2001. In 2005, he played two matches for the

Mauritius national football team The Mauritius national football team (french: Équipe de Maurice de football), nicknamed Club M and Les Dodos (The Dodos), is the national team of Mauritius. They are overseen by the Mauritius Football Association and are members of FIFA, the Co ...

Coaching career

Mooniaruck is currently Head of Coaching Development at

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mooniaruck, Kalam 1983 births Living people Footballers from Yeovil Mauritian men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Mauritius men's international footballers English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Braintree Town F.C. players Cambridge City F.C. players Thurrock F.C. players Saffron Walden Town F.C. players Tiptree United F.C. players West Ham United F.C. non-playing staff Association football coaches Footballers from Somerset