Julio Arca played well over 350 games for Middlesbrough and Sunderland during a 13-year spell in the North-East, making the region his home after moving from Argentina as a teenager, and he is now turning out for South Shields. On Sunday he hopes to lift the FA Vase at Wembley and Deputy Sports Editor Craig Stoddart spoke to him about life in non-league

A 30-SOMETHING-YEAR-OLD joins a Sunday league team primarily to keep fit, plays well enough to be recruited by the local non-league club and becomes their star player in a silverware-laden season which ends with one last shot at glory in a Wembley final.

It reads like the far-fetched plot of a Sean Bean film, yet the player in question is no fictional character, though he is hardly a typical Sunday league player either.

Julio Arca has been pulling the strings in South Shields’ midfield, captain and scorer of 11 goals in 48 appearances, with the former Sunderland and Middlesbrough man named player of the season in a stellar campaign, both individually and collectively.

The rejuvenated Tyneside club have won the Northern League, two cup competitions and are the bookies’ favourites to make it four from four tomorrow against Cleethorpes Town in the FA Vase final at Wembley, the showpiece occasion for every club at Step 5 in non-league.

Victory would complete a remarkable Indian summer for Arca, one last hurrah for the Argentinian who thought he had hung up his boots for good in 2014.

“It’s about how much you like football and how much you want to carry on training,” says Arca, who was paying £3.50 subs for Willow Pond before being picked up by South Shields in 2015.

“The Sunday league was about keeping myself fit at weekends. I felt good doing that, then this challenge came up. I am playing with some great players here, players that have played at professional level in different countries.

“The Northern League is very competitive, a good standard, and I still love playing football.

“When I feel like my legs start going a little bit I will say it’s time to pack it in, but that’s not the case.”

Still fit, still trim, showing none of the tell-tale signs of the excesses of post-playing days life displayed by some of his fellow ex-pros, Arca looks like he could play higher and admits as much.

He shows no signs of slowing down. The ball-playing midfielder played almost every game for title-winning South Shields, who won the Northern League by seven points from second-top Morpeth.

It’s a long time since he captained Argentina’s World Cup winning Under-20 side in 2000.

Signed the same year by then Sunderland manager Peter Reid from Argentinos Juniors for £3.5m as a 19-year-old, he played 177 times for the Black Cats and became a hero to supporters during some lean times at the Stadium of Light.

Then came a switch to Gareth Southgate’s Middlesbrough in 2006 and a further 181 appearances – he was player of the year in 2010-11 – but after his contract expired in 2013 a toe problem brought an end to his days as a professional.

“When you play semi-professional you only train two times a week, so you have plenty of time to recover,” added Arca, who turned 36 in January. “The problem I used to have was with my foot; training a couple of times a week doesn’t cause me any problems.

“Physically I feel good and I probably could play higher, but you don’t know until you test yourself.

“But I feel good. I have probably played 50 games this season, which is a lot, I had never played that amount in a season before, but that’s the excitement I have for playing. I cannot wait for the next game.”

Surely being a well-known former Premier League pro would make him a target for tough tackles?

“It is physical and you get kicked and sometimes you kick people back, but not in a bad way,” he says.

“It is competitive. Obviously South Shields have been doing well and everyone wants to beat us, so we have had some competitive games, but we show character and we work hard and that’s why we are where we are.”

At a time when supporters complain of being disengaged from the game, certainly at the highest level, Arca is clearly not detached from the fans, and shows no sign of bitterness that he is no longer involved in the professional ranks.

He talks warmly about non-league, about connecting with supporters and having a post-match pint.

“When I stopped playing I was out for about 18 months or more,” he said.

“I randomly started playing Sunday league with friends, and then I got a call from South Shields. It’s been a fantastic two years.

“I’ve got excited about playing football again – playing in the Northern League has been like going back in time for me. It’s like when I was ten or 11, playing in front of family and friends, and it’s the same here. The fans are stood only two or three yards away.

“It’s happened a few times this season when fans have been on the pitch celebrating with players, and then after the game you have a beer and chat with the fans. It’s something that a professional would never get the chance to do.

“I enjoy it. I enjoy that connection with the fans. It’s been good, winning games and the club is doing well.”

More than well.

South Shields are a club re-born. Due to problems with their Mariners Park ground, they were based in Peterlee two seasons ago, attracting only 50 fans or so.

This season, however, they have played host to four-figure crowds, are taking over 10,000 to Wembley and have followed Darlington and Spennymoor Town’s lead in accepting promotion from the Northern League.

Those clubs now reside in National League North, Step 2 in non-league, and if the current levels of support are maintained it is not difficult to see South Shields continuing their ascent.

“It is a surprise how many fans are following the team,” he said. “We played Billingham Synthonia in the Durham Challenge final recently at Hartlepool United and there were nearly 1,500 there. That’s how much this club means to the people.

“Obviously there is Sunderland and Newcastle, they are the main teams people support, but people love coming here on a weekend. They don’t really spend much money compared to when they go and see a professional team, they love to see the team winning and now Wembley. There will be great support there.

“It has been a fantastic season up to now for all the players, the managers and, of course, the fans.

“We will take a lot of fans down to Wembley and it’s something everyone is looking forward to.

“When I stopped playing professionally I never thought I would come close to playing in a professional stadium again. Somehow this chance has arrived and I am really looking forward to it.”

Arca has done as much as anyone to take South Shields to Wembley. He’s played in eight of their nine ties, scoring twice, with one of the goals going viral online.

“That was probably one of my best goals in football, professional and semi-professional careers,” admits Arca, of the 40-yard lob at Team Solent in the fifth round.

“That was a good weekend for the team, we won 5-2 and I managed to score that goal.

“I’ve managed to score a few goals this season, some important ones, and that’s what I’m here for. I’m here to make the team play, and if I can add goals that is even better.”

South Shields, managed by joint bosses Graham Fenton and Lee Picton, are bidding to become the latest North-East club to win the Vase following a decade of dominance.

Whitley Bay, Spennymoor Town, Dunston, North Shields and Morpeth have won it seven times between them, while West Auckland have twice been runners-up.

A smattering of players from the Northern League’s annual Wembley invasion are now among Arca’s team-mates – Gavin Cogdon, Andrew Stephenson (both Spennymoor), Liam Connell (Dunston) and Robbie Briggs (West Auckland) – all of whom have achieved something the Argentinian hasn’t.

While he played over 350 games as a professional footballer, more than his South Shields team-mates combined, tomorrow will be his first game at the national stadium, a prospect he talks excitedly about.

He said: “I watched Chelsea v Spurs in the FA Cup semi-final on television and I was thinking ‘in a few weeks’ time we will be there!’ “We have a good pitch at South Shields, but at Wembley it will be a totally different level. Some of the lads here have played there for other teams in the Vase, they know what it’s like.

“People say to me ‘you should not be nervous because you’ve played professionally’. But you can still get nervous in that environment and stadium. I was really nervous when we played in the semi-final, so that tells you something!”

That was a two-legged affair with Coleshill Town, Arca scoring the opener in the 4-0 second leg, making for a happier occasion than 13 years ago when Sunderland lost an FA Cup semi-final with Millwall at Old Trafford.

“But the final would have been in Cardiff,” he reflects.

“As a professional you always want to play at these grounds, but it depends what team you’re playing for – you either have more chances or less.

“So I never got close to playing at Wembley as a professional, but now I am playing in the Northern League I get chance to go there!”