As part of the latest the Premier League’s No Room For Racism campaign, each of the league’s 20 clubs nominated an inspiring individual to be their respective No Room For Racism Icon, highlighting the contribution of Black, Asian and minority ethnic people in football and showcase the importance of diversity on and off the pitch.
West Ham United’s Icon is Kalam Mooniaruck, the Academy of Football’s Head of Coaching and Player Development.
Born and raised in England with Mauritian heritage – Mauritius an island country in the Indian Ocean, about 1,100 nautical miles off the southeastern coast of East Africa – Mooniaruck was identified as a talented young player, scouted and signed by Manchester United.
The winger departed Manchester United in 2002, aged 19, having been capped by England U17s and U202. However, while playing in non-league for a few seasons and being capped twice by Mauritius at senior level, Mooniaruck developed his passion for coaching.
In 2005, through contacts he had made at Manchester United, he joined the David Beckham Academy, before moving to The Football Association in 2009. He spent nearly a decade at The FA, working his way up to the role of Youth Coach Educator, helping youth coaches at professional clubs all over the country to develop their own skills, which they would then use to improve their coaching of promising young players.
In October 2018, Mooniaruck joined West Ham as Head of Academy Coach Development, before being promoted to his current role in July this year.
As Head of Coaching and Player Development, the 40-year-old plays a crucial role, promoting inclusive coaching practices and mentoring the Club’s Academy coaches and players, with the ultimate aim of supporting and enhancing their performances on the pitch, in training, in the classroom and in all aspects of their lives, inside and outside the Club.
An inspirational, approachable individual and a considerate leader, Mooniaruck has played an integral role in implementing a sustainable EDI strategy and translating that strategy into operational actions, including recruitment, mentorship and delivery, yielding measurable and beneficial results for the Academy of Football and its staff and players and their families.
Mooniaruck’s inclusive approach has helped the Academy to recruit talent from a wide variety of communities, backgrounds and circumstances, helped them to perform and flourish in their environment, and provided sustainable pathways for players and coaches from across the Academy and West Ham United Foundation.
As a senior Academy coach himself, he has also been instrumental in supporting the Club’s Link Mentoring Programme, providing professional development training for British South Asian coaches and a pathway for young players at local grassroots clubs.
Mooniaruck is proud of the work he and his colleagues have done, and to be nominated as West Ham’s No Room For Racism Icon.
“In my previous and current roles, I have helped introduce a range of initiatives that the Academy has in place or been part of to encourage people of all backgrounds to join us and develop their skills at West Ham United,” he said.
“They include the Premier League’s Coach Inclusion and Diversity Scheme (CIDS), which provides an employment opportunity and development programme to Louis Pernice, a coach from an underrepresented background, and the opportunities provided to ex-players like Carlton Cole and Zavon Hines to transition into coaching.
“We have an FA Club Placement each season for students and grassroots coaches and have transitioned part-time coaches into full-time roles.
“Internally, we have a mentorship and growth programmes to help coaches, including those from underrepresented backgrounds, move into senior roles, and we have had Lauris Coggin transition to our full-time Under-18s lead coach.
“One of the first things I have done is to create a recruitment strategy and a process so that different departments and different people play a part in that process, so we take different opinions on board and fill different criteria and everyone has the same opportunity as everyone else.
“It’s about providing opportunities for people from underrepresented groups who don’t get an opportunity to get into this professional setting. We want to develop people, support them and empower them within our environment.
“The environment we’re creating is one where everyone's equal. No matter where you've come from, when you come in, everyone should follow the values we have at the Academy.”
When he reflects on his own career, Mooninaruck believes the inclusive Academy environment he grew up at Manchester United – where he played alongside Darren Fletcher and Kieran Richardson – helped frame his own approach to coaching and player development.
He concluded: “I was really lucky that I went there and had the opportunity to work with the people I did and learned a lot through to create a good environment, be good to people and help them along the way and they will solve things and get better themselves.
“I love working at this Club and doing what I do and seeing people thrive.”
