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 lea ...

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 is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

, before signing for

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

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 Stansted Airport is an international airport serving London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Uttlesford, Essex, northeast of Central London. As London's third-busiest airport, Stan ...

, and although

the Football Association The Football Association (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 oldest footb ...

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 association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

and

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

, 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 Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

. 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 currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

, 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 authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Essex, England. It lies on the north bank of the River ...

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 Sir David Robert Joseph Beckham ( ; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Primarily a right winger and known for his range of passing, cross ...

'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; ; Creole: ''Morisien'') are nationals or natives of the Republic of Mauritius and their descendants. Mauritius is a melting pot of multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious peoples. Mauritian is made up ...

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 (), nicknamed Club M and Les Dodos (The Dodos), is the national team of Mauritius. They are overseen by the Mauritius Football Association, which is a member of FIFA, the Confederation of African Football ...

Coaching career

Mooniaruck is currently Head of Coaching Development at

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

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 21st-century English sportsmen English people of Mauritian descent