Anton Ferdinand says The Foundry encapsulates everything that is special about being part of the West Ham Family.
Ferdinand joined the Hammers at the age of nine – alongside his older brother Rio – and immediately felt the love and support of a special Football Club.
He would spent 14 years with West Ham as a player, winning promotion in 2005 and appearing in the 2006 FA Cup final, before returning to the Club as an ambassador following his retirement.
Ferdinand has been a regular contributor to the Hammers’ community work in recent years, championing the Club’s contribution to the people of East London, while his son is now a promising player at the Academy of Football.
This week, he was at the Club’s award-winning Foundation headquarters in Beckton in the London Borough of Newham, where West Ham will reach more than 60,000 people each year via 35 dedicated programmes catering for all ages and backgrounds, delivering £75 million in social value in its first five years of operation.
“It’s fantastic,” he enthused. “I feel really honoured and privileged to be a part of this as someone who’s a West Ham fan, started at the age of nine, has been a player at this Football Club and am now an ambassador.
“So, to be able to see what they’re doing now, it just shows that at our Football Club, we don’t just talk about it, we do it, and for me, I feel really honoured and proud to be part of that. To have a place where people of all ages, from all communities, within East London can come and feel safe, feel heard and feel seen is something that communities need.
“I think that’s what The Foundry is going to do. It’s going to bring the community together, which is needed, but also show people what West Ham are about. We’re a community-driven Football Club, always have been, and we’re not just talking about it, we’re doing it.”
Many of the The Foundry’s 35 programmes use the power of football to deliver their positive messages, and Ferdinand says the sport and the Club will inspire thousands upon thousands of young people to lead healthy, productive and successful careers and, ultimately, lives.
“Football nurtures a lot and I speak about it in myself – my parents laid the foundations, and football and West Ham as a football club nurtured it,” he confirmed. “And this place is going to epitomise that. The stuff that we’ve got going on here, the business studies, activities for people to come and be active on the fantastic pitch – I wish I would have had a pitch like this as a kid – where it can get kids off their tablets and get them more active.
“I think that lays the foundations for life, being able to be educated in a place where they may not feel isolated and feel they can be heard and be seen. You learn in a different capacity when you feel like that.
“So, to have a place like this in the heart of the community in Beckton, which can lay the foundations for kids in life, epitomises what our Football Club is about.
“The way to do that is to have a safe space to come, which this is. Us as a Football Club and the Foundation are at the heart of it, going into communities. We’re a community-driven, community-based Football Club. No matter where we go in the world, we always start in the community because the community is where the heart and loyalty is.”
For Ferdinand, returning to The Foundry brought his own career and life full-circle.
“Beckton, this turn off on the A13 was my turn off that I used every weekend when coming to Upton Park as a fan and as a player if I wasn’t getting the train!” he smiled, remembering. “So, to see where this turn off is and for the Foundry to be next to that turn off, for me, it’s bigger than just football, bigger than myself.
“I feel really honoured and proud to be an ambassador of this Football Club, to be someone who’s championing and at the heartbeat of the community.
“There is nothing bigger for me in this Football Club than seeing the community thrive through The Foundry, through the Foundation, with everyone wearing the West Ham badge.”