Graham Stack knew that playing football in India was going to be different. The goalkeeper enjoyed a successful season with Kerala Blasters in the Indian Super League last year, but a single game, a 5-0 defeat against Mumbai City FC told him the fans there were unique. “I had let in a hat-trick from Diego Forlán,” he remembers. “It was an away game, so when we returned to Kerala I was a bit nervous about facing our fans. First time I see them after this bad defeat, they’re all profusely thanking me for trying my best and assuring me that the team would come back stronger. I thought I’m seriously a long way from home now.”

Stack started his career as a goalkeeper in the Arsenal academy and graduated to become part of the famed Invicibles squad in the 2003-04 season. The former Republic of Ireland U21 goalkeeper lifted the Premier League trophy at Highbury surrounded by Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira. As a member of that great squad, Stack is welcome at the club any time and he recently visited Arsenal’s training ground for lunch with his old boss, Arsène Wenger. Stack’s privileged football education in north London shaped him and he continues to apply the lessons he learned at Arsenal for Eastleigh in the fifth tier of English football.

Before he joined Eastleigh, Stack took what he describes as “a bit of a qualified risk” by signing with Kerala Blasters in the Indian Super League. Since leaving Arsenal in search of first-team football, he has enjoyed a successful if peripatetic career. Stack has gloves and will travel anywhere to work, an approach that has taken him to Leeds, Millwall, Reading, Plymouth, Wolves and Hibernian, among others.

Stack lifts the Premier League trophy. Photograph: Alex Morton/Action Images

After flitting between different clubs – Stack has been sent out on loan seven times in his career – he finally found a home at Barnet, where he made 125 appearances and even became captain when Edgar Davids resigned. After four years at the club, his contract was coming to an end last summer and he found himself searching for work.

“It’s the same for so many footballers,” he says. “You are getting to that nervous stage where your contract is coming up quickly and you are thinking, is this it? I had loved my time at Barnet and wanted to stay, but then the contract came up and I spent a summer without pay trying to earn another one. I eventually was offered one with Barnet, but I also had this offer which came out of nowhere with Kerala. I decided to take a gamble and go to India.”

Stack had never visited India before he arrived in Kochi last August. He was motivated to play in the ISL for several reasons. He wanted to work under manager Steve Coppell, experience a new country and earn good money for three months hard work. He left his wife and four children behind in England and took a blind act of faith.

“It was incredibly difficult leaving my family. I was missing my son’s first day at school and my wife’s birthday. It was especially hard knowing that I wouldn’t see them for months. I arrived in India and, within the first hour, it was sensory overload just like everybody tells you. I was shoved out of the way in a queue, then I got in a taxi with a driver going at full speed through the city. I just felt I had to go with it and embrace it.”

Stack was joined at Kerala Blasters by two former Premier League players, Northern Ireland international Aaron Hughes and former Sunderland striker Michael Chopra. The trio formed a close alliance immediately and were determined to work closely with their Indian team-mates. “There was a gulf technically with a lot of the Indian players, but we loved how hard working and humble they were. You will struggle to get a better attitude than the Indian players we had. They were desperate to improve and learn, so we tried to enjoy every training session with them.”

Life in Kochi became a bit like groundhog day for Stack: long days of training and studying for his coaching diploma, punctuated by the odd trip to the local Starbucks, often being surrounded by besotted fans. “I never realised just how passionate the Kerala fans were going to be. They model themselves on Dortmund fans and create this huge yellow sea of colour. Every single fan wears yellow for games. We played in front of 60,000 fans who couldn’t have been any more passionate or loyal. I remember going to Starbucks with my missus and she couldn’t believe it when we got surrounded for autographs and selfies. That’s the level of passion there.”

India is something of a sleeping giant when it comes to football. Cricket dominates the press and country’s affections, but football has always had passionate hotbeds on the subcontinent, particularly in West Bengal. The financial muscle of the three-year-old Super League has attracted players such as David Trezeguet, Nicolas Anelka, Robert Pires and Alessandro Del Piero. The league had more than 429m viewers in its first season, in 2014, which put it third behind the Premier League and the Bundesliga, with average attendances of around 25,000 in the grounds.

The burgeoning league has also attracted celebrity backers and the Kerala Blasters are co-owned by cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar. Stack got to know “the little master”, who is revered in the country. “In India, cricket remains number one and there is nobody quite like Sachin there. He has to be guarded everywhere he goes such is the adoration that people in India have for him. We were lucky to get to spend some time with him and he couldn’t have been anymore humble or welcoming to all of us playing in Kerala.”

Stack is now back with Eastleigh in the National League. Photograph: TGS/Rex/Shutterstock

Kerala Blasters had a slow start to the season, but they gained momentum gradually. Stack was surprised by the cordiality of his own supporters during the tough times. “There would be games when we would play badly and lose, and fans would still come up to you and thank you. They just have such a love for the game that their optimism would eventually rub off on you. It’s certainly a difference from the abuse I’d normally have been used to after a bad run of games.”

Stack was moved by what he saw on the streets as the team toured around India for matches. “We were often travelling to different cities and you saw a lot of things. Some things really upset me. As a dad, it’s very difficult to see children hungry on the streets with nothing, and then in contrast there’s huge wealth. That contrast is something that everyone talks to you before coming to India, but you can never get used to it.”

The Kerala dressing room was filled with different languages and cultures. Stack made strong friendships with his Indian team-mates and worked hard with the young goalkeepers. “You have to be patient. The facilities and coaching that we take for granted in England aren’t available in many places, so we’d focus a lot of the basics. Once we got those done, you could see the improvement was incredible. They are doing the right things with the league, but they need to invest in a solid coaching infrastructure for young Indian players.”

Stack’s Indian adventure was brief, just over three months. His last game in the country was the final of the Indian Super League, which was played in Kochi in front of the Blasters’ deafening yellow sea of supporters. Kerala Blasters lost on penalties to Atlético de Kolkata but Stack left India confident that football had planted a seed in Indian soil that will sprout for many years to come.

Stack arrived back in England and joined Eastleigh, where he is focusing on playing well and coaching when required. He plays in front of a loyal if small crowd in the National League and sometimes lets his mind wander back to Kerala. “It’s certainly a bit of an adjustment, you can find yourself playing in games with a few hundred people, and you think back to 60,000 fans screaming in Kerala. I am grateful to be home and doing what I love, but also so pleased to have got the opportunity to play in India and hopefully play at the start of something big.”

• This article is from Behind the Lines

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