It is 10.15 on a Sunday morning at the Shipwrights council playing fields in Sunderland, kick-off is a quarter of an hour away and there is no sign of the home team.

Willow Pond FC, a second division pub side, are locked out of the car park and are getting changed on the roadside. The odd player still wears the ink of a nightclub entry stamp.

A woman of about 50 – militant in her approach – marches from Pickersgill House, a sheltered housing scheme nearby.

VIDEO Scroll down to watch Julio Arca in action for Willow Pond FC and talk to Sportsmail

Meet Willow Pond FC's new star player - former Sunderland and Middlesbrough midfielder Julio Arca

The Argentine made 177 appearances for the Black Cats during his stay

Rather than the Stadium of Light today, Arca is at the Shipwrights council playing fields

Julio Arca career Argentinos Juniors (1999-2001) Apps: 36 Goals: 0 Sunderland (2001-2006) Apps: 177 Goals: 23 Middlesbrough (2006-2013) Apps: 180 Goals: 9 Advertisement

She hollers: ‘Who’s in charge? You can’t leave your cars here, what happens if we need to get an ambulance in?’ It is then that she realises. ‘Bloody hell, how you doing son?’.

Julio Arca (pronounced Hoo-lee-o Aaa-ca in these parts) – the city’s adopted son and former Sunderland favourite of 177 appearances – happily engages in conversation. The abandoned cars – Peugeots not Porsches – are not mentioned again.

It is now 10.20. In the distance, four aluminous, checked corner-flags emerge from the bushes followed by a group of lads from Royal Marine FC dragging two nets. Game on.

Arca – still only 33 and forced to retire earlier this year because of a toe injury – pays his £3.50 subs and races through a warm-up routine, which, for some of his team-mates, does not extend beyond a blast at their goalkeeper, who normally plays in midfield.

There are a few nudges and glances from the opposition, they’re about to share a pitch with their Black Cats idol, a ball-playing midfielder who was signed by Peter Reid from Argentinos Juniors for £3.5million as a 19-year-old in 2000. He had captained Argentina’s World Cup winning Under-20 side, which included Fabricio Coloccini, Maxi Rodriguez, Javier Saviola and Willy Caballero.

Arca admits that his team-mates don't make the same kind of runs he is used to

The former youth international poses with his team-mates ahead of a crucial game... against Royal Marine FC

Today, though, the players are overweight, the pitch is overgrown and play is overcrowded. Except when Arca has the ball. His first touch is second nature, his final pass never wayward. He is shown due respect.

One lad, however, having been outwitted by Arca, tugs on his jersey as he breaks away. He immediately regrets it and apologises. There is a handshake and the perpetrator is all smiles. He’s not going to wash that hand. Those on the sideline seize upon his weakness. ‘Aww, friends, football friends,’ they mock, using the line from The Inbetweeners.

The comedy apart, it’s a cracking contest and Arca is its best player, save for one audacious 45-yard lob which buries itself in the bushes and calls for a new ball.

Willow Pond win 1-0, they are honest, hard-working and enjoy it from first minute to last. Arca provides the class.

Arca was the star of the show as his side won the game 1-0

Back down to business, Arca admits he enjoys heading to the pub after the matches

Arca was bought for a total of over £5m by Sunderland and Middlesbrough, now he pays £3.50 in subs

And so it is back to the boozer to celebrate, the former Premier League footballer pulling up his barstool among the boys, including workers from car plant Nissan, plumbers, security guards and students.

There are two questions for Arca, whose Argentinian wife Valeria is at home a few miles away in Ashbrooke with their boys Mateo, two, and three-month-old Franco.

How and why?

‘I know one of the lads, Andy. When I was still playing he always said to me, “You’ll have to play for us one day”,’ he laughs, suggesting the idea was never entertained.

‘Then we came here for a drink about five weeks ago and he asked me again. I wasn’t playing so thought “Okay, why not?”. He got me to sign the forms that day!

‘It was only when I started playing again with these lads that I realised how much I was missing it.

‘You have to adapt and I can’t expect them to run all over. The first few weeks I was looking for a pass and it wasn’t there. I now know what they can and can’t do. But I’ve scored a couple of goals, a free-kick on my debut, and it’s great when you win.’

Still in shape, Arca gets ready for the game against Royal Marine FC

The 33-year-old says he doesn't need the swanky footballer bars to have fun

He continues: ‘My missus wants me in the house with our boys but she is okay about this - she knows how much I love it. Last night my little one did not sleep at all and I was up every two hours, but that’s fine, this isn’t the Premier League anymore.

‘But they are great lads and I’m just one of them. I love it. I’ve been out with them for a few drinks and it’s great fun – no shiny bars like when you’re a footballer, just good old pubs like this.’

Arca moved to Middlesbrough from Sunderland in 2006 and, after 181 appearances, that is where his career was brought to a premature end.

‘I picked up the injury in 2006,’ he reveals. ‘I played with Cortisone injections to take the pain away. As the years went on I was having too many injections and I went for an operation. They tried to correct the position of my toe but it didn’t work out, it was too painful to play.

‘My contract finished in 2013 and I tried rehab for nearly a year but it just didn’t work out. It’s hard to accept at times. My body is still fine and, apart from the foot injury, I could still be playing.’

Arca and his family plan to return to Quilmes – 11 miles south of Buenos Aries - next year, where media work or coaching is the plan. But the North-East will always be his second home.

He plans to head back to Argentina with his family for media work or possibly coaching

‘I have been here nearly 15 years away from my family,’ he says. ‘It’s been great and I would do it all again, no regrets.

‘Everyone has always been friendly with me. I always get people talking to me, but I love that. I’m just a normal lad who was lucky enough to get paid to play football.

‘Now I pay to play, although you do get a free pint if you’re man-of-the-match!’

It was Arca who was involved in the challenge which ended Alan Shearer’s career in 2006. It was innocuous and the Newcastle legend was due to retire the following month in any case.

Still, though, the lads from Willow Pond would not let him play in a recent match against a team from Tyneside for fear of reprisal.

‘I get a little bit of a bite from Newcastle fans,’ he smiles, ‘but they’re generally okay with me. Yes, Alan had his last 50-50 with me, but he never blamed me for that, it wasn’t even a tackle really. But the lads here quite like mentioning it.’

Willow Pond FC will be grateful to have his services for a while longer

Arca poses with Sportsmail reporter Craig Hope in the Willow Pond pub after the game

Those same lads are captivated by his tales.

‘I came here as a teenager from a small club in Argentina and was playing in front of 48,000. It was incredible,’ he recalls, enjoying a pint among his new comrades.

‘I could not speak much English but I got involved with the banter. After a few months I went to training with Diego Maradona’s book. I showed Peter Reid the pictures of that goal (dribble against England, including Reid, at Mexico 86) and he wasn’t happy! But he was a great guy and I thank him for bringing me here.

‘I was looking to make that big step to Europe. I took the chance, sometimes you don’t get another one. My mum was upset but my dad understood how important it was. I spent some long nights on my own but I knew what I wanted to do. ‘