When Gurpreet Singh Sandhu had left East Bengal for Stabaek, Bengaluru FC was little over a year old. The Blues had won their first league title and Gurpreet had become first-choice for the Red and Golds.

Three years later, the two had a momentous re-union when Gurpreet, India’s number one keeper by now, had returned from his three-year stint in Norway and signed for the two-time I-League champions who had recently moved to the Indian Super League.

The journey hasn’t been an easy one for the the 26-year-old stopper.

Volleyball, cricket and finally, football

Volleyball and cricket grabbed Gurpreet’s attention before football entered his life. “The coaches had a look at my physicality, then they came and asked me to try out for volleyball. The team didn’t make it, didn’t go play tournaments. I opted out.”

Sandhu’s father, a huge cricket fan, made sure his son joined the Punjab Cricket Academy in Mohali. Gurpreet has a humorous take on it, “I wanted to bat. They only made me field and bowl. Mujjhe bhagaaiya jaa raha hai, batting nahi de rahe hai (They’re making me run, not letting me bat.)”

The physical education teacher at St. Stephen’s, also doubling up as a coach at the football academy, witnessed eight-year-old Gurpreet win a 100 metre race. The future Indian keeper thought he was being punished as the coach summoned him.

“For the first time in my life, I won a 100 metre race. He comes to me and tells me to bring my diary. I was like ‘Saala, race jitke bhi diary mein likh raha hai. Cheating toh nahi kar li’ (I won the race, but he’s writing something in my diary. I hoped I hadn’t cheated),” laughs Gurpreet.

Gurpreet became the first of the Sandhus, who had never watched a football match according to him, to take up the sport at the St. Stephen’s academy. “It was very difficult for me to get access to football. Dad wants to watch cricket, family wants to watch something else, Gurpreet gets to watch nothing. I knew nothing about football or football teams,” he recollects.

“I keep telling everyone this. I didn’t choose the game, the game chose me.”

A lack of goalkeeper training

Gurpreet, by his own admission, wasn’t good when he started. “At first, I was shit. I wasn’t good at all. It was very hard to get training. GK training, it just isn’t in our curriculum. Keepers need training from a goalkeeping coach. I started at the age of 8. I didn’t get specific goalkeeper training till 15. All those years, I have done only the basics of goalkeeping. Gripping kar li, diving kar li, bas (I only worked on my gripping and diving).”

Many keepers in the country still don’t take their own kicks, at the Santosh Trophy or other domestic competitions. For Gurpreet, the need for educating keepers and specific goalkeeper training is required.

“This is the worst thing I can imagine, me not taking my kick. If I break my leg, only then will I not take a kick. At that level, they only want to save a goal and little else. If you don’t educate, then how do you expect them to learn? Due to no coaching, no training, what they do is habit,” Gurpreet laments.

In fact, it was only under Tanumoy Bose at the Indian under-18 team that Gurpreet starting getting specific training for goalkeepers. In a losing effort for the Chandigarh team at the Haldwani U-15 nationals in 2006, Gurpreet stood out and when AIFF’s technical director Colm Toal came calling, he jumped at the chance to finally join an organised set-up.

Rejecting TFA

Three fruitful years in the Indian age group teams, U-16 to U-19 followed as Gurpreet grew stronger under reliable guidance from the former Mohammedan Sporting keeper, Bose. It must be remembered that Bose kept in training to the legendary Iranian import, Majid Bishkar.

Under Bose, his anticipation improved and so did his command of the box. Gripping and diving aside, he was, in his own words, ‘being smacked around more’ as he kept getting aerially and otherwise, challenged.

In 2008, on tour with the India U-16 team, Gurpreet played against the Manchester United under-16s, featuring Danny Welbeck. The game ended 3-3. After the game, Gurpreet remembers being told by one of United’s goalkeeping coaches that he had a physical presence like Edwin Van der Sar. “Van der Sar was my hero.”

The Tata Football Academy called Gurpreet for a trial in 2009. Coincidentally, East Bengal officials also present in Jamshedpur wanted him, as they had watched some of his performances for the junior national team. At 18, it was a difficult choice for Gurpreet who also had offers from Salgaocar and Churchill Brothers.

Thirteen years into the national leagues and the latter two did not have keeping coaches. Once again, the fact that the Red and Golds had a specific keeper coach swung the decision for Gurpreet. Toal also questioned the TFA route, reasoning with Gurpreet that since he was India’s number one for the Under-18’s, joining an academy set-up would be less fruitful than a first team spot.

“My father didn’t know much about East Bengal, he just told them to take me and go,” he says with a straight face, later bursting into laughter.

Gurpreet didn’t start at first for East Bengal, making five appearances towards the end of the season and then being loaned out to the Pailan Arrows.

The present core of the national team, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Pritam Kotal and others such as Manandeep Singh, Lalrindika Ralte all played in the Arrows where Gurpreet played a single season without making an appearance.

Asian Cup call-up and East Bengal expectations

A surprise call-up as third choice keeper for the Asian Cup in 2011 followed, where Gurpreet watched from the bench as India fell to three losses. East Bengal recalled him to be their second-choice but was firmly first choice after the Federation Cup.

It was only at East Bengal that Gurpreet finally began discovering the range of his skills and bulking up, in his own words, hitting the gym till he was ‘dead tired’ every night. “I owe a lot to EB. That time, I thought goalkeeper training – wow, this is the best training I could ever get,” he reminisces.

He was also close to club officials during his time in Kolkata, especially to Swapan Ball who died in 2017. “You joke with someone, you pull their leg 24X7 for 4 years, you’re bound to be close to them. Me and Swapan da, we were tight. It’s still difficult to register. But he just didn’t take care of himself, he should have,” Gurpreet’s voice trails away.

It is also during his time at East Bengal that Gurpreet recalls the worst game of his life. Five years later, Sandhu vividly recollects, “A weak long-range shot went through my legs when we were playing Prayaag United in the I-League. We were 2-0 up and I let them back into the game.”

East Bengal would end up third in the title race after Prayaag clawed back to draw 2-2, running out of steam at the end of season. Post-game, Gurpreet clashed with angry fans who were demanding an apology from the keeper, taking to social media to apologise later.

For Gurpreet, living alone in Kolkata after leaving home for the first time was tough. The added pressure of performing week in, week out for a club with sky-high expectations and no league titles since 2004 meant that Gurpreet was baptised by fire in the cauldron that was and continues to be Kolkata football.

At that time, little did the 22-year-old know that he was going to throw himself into more severe and testing conditions, and end up becoming the first Indian player to play in the Europa League. The Stabaek years will probably come to define Gurpreet not only as a footballer, but also as a person.

This is the first part of a 2-part series on Gurpreet Singh Sandhu. In the second part, the Bengaluru keeper opens up about life in Norway, finally debuting for the national team, his cartooning skills, his love of road trips, dislike of planes and other peeves.