Bruce Grobbelaar

From Free net encyclopedia

Bruce Grobbelaar (born October 6, 1957 in Durban, South Africa) was a football goalkeeper for Zimbabwe and a number of clubs, most notably Liverpool F.C.

1 Early years
2 Career
3 Teams
4 Honours
5 References
6 Notes
7 External links

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Early years

In his teenage years, Grobbelaar was a talented cricketer and was offered a baseball scholarship in the United States, but a career in football was his main ambition. In his late teens he was signed up by Jomo Cosmos in South Africa, but left claiming to have been sidelined owing to his colour in this predominantly black team. Immediately after leaving the Cosmos, he signed up for National Service, spending two years on active service in the Rhodesian National Guard. In 1979, Grobbelaar was signed up by the Vancouver Whitecaps after he had attended their scouting camp in South Africa.

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Career

At the Vancouver Whitecaps, Grobbelaar played under the management of former England & Blackpool goalkeeper, Tony Waters, making his debut against the Seattle Sounders in 1980. Though second choice to former England International Phil Parkes, he became a cult figure at the Whitecaps. During 1980, he visited England to see family friends, and a chance phone call from Ron Atkinson, brought him an impromptu trial with West Bromwich Albion. Atkinson was keen to sign Grobbelaar but owing to difficulties over gaining a work permit, the deal fell through and he returned to Vancouver, but subsequently returned to the UK on loan to Crewe Alexandra. During his time at Crewe, Grobbelaar played 24 League games and scored his only professional goal, a penalty, in his last game. By good fortune, on the evening when he gave his greatest performance for Crewe, he was spotted by Liverpool FC's Head Scout Tom Saunders.

By the time Liverpool FC had completed their research on Grobbelaar, he had returned to Vancouver with his loan spell now over. Liverpool approached Tony Waters with the idea of taking Grobbelaar to Anfield, and Waters, who had a working relationship with Liverpool in the 1970's, paved the way for the move. Grobbelaar signed for Liverpool in early 1981 as their reserve goalkeeper, but in the summer of 1981, regular goalkeeper Ray Clemence's departure to Tottenham Hotspur gave Grobbelaar his opportunity.

During the period 1981 - 1994, Grobbelaar played 627 first team games for Liverpool, becoming known for his eccentric and flamboyant style. In 1984, the European Cup final between Liverpool and A.S. Roma finished 1-1 after extra time, and went to penalty shootout. Before Roma's Francesco Graziani took his kick, Grobbelaar famously wobbled his legs in mock terror. Graziani duly missed, Grobbelaar repeated the performance with another Roma player and Liverpool won the shootout 4-2.

Whilst criticism is often aimed at him for his sometimes erratic performances, Grobbelaar was retained by three of Liverpool's greatest managers; Paisley, Fagan and Dalglish, over a period of 13 years. They all recognised that beneath the showbiz, there was one of the outstanding goalkeepers of his generation: he defended his eccentricity by claiming that, having fought in a civil war in Zimbabwe, he could appreciate that football is not as important as some people would suggest. His strengths were his gymnastic-like agility, and an unflappable confidence; even if he made a mistake, he would always want to be involved. He was never afraid to be seen to berate his defenders if he thought they had given easy opportunities to the opposition, most famously in his verbal assault on Jim Beglin in the 1986 FA Cup final. Over the course of his Liverpool career he won more medals than any of his contemporaries, and he would certainly challenge his predecessor Ray Clemence for a place in an all-time Liverpool XI.

Although there were occasional challenges to his position as Liverpool's number 1, Grobbelaar was a virtual ever-present from Clemence's departure to the end of the 1980's, apart from occasional injuries and a bout of meningitis which cause him to miss half the 1988/89 season. It was the signing of David James in the summer of 1992 that spelt the beginning of the end for Grobbelaar. Although James struggled to impress at first, Grobbelaar's insistence on playing for Zimbabwe gave James chances; Grobbelaar only played 6 times for Liverpool during 1992/93, and even spent a period on loan at Stoke City. James' uncertainty allowed Grobbelaar to regain his place in the first team at the start of the 1993/94 season, in which his performance, like the team's, started well but fell away badly. He was ever-present until he was injured in the final minute of a 2-0 defeat at Leeds United on 28 February 1994. It turned out to be his final appearance for the club.

Grobbelaar left Liverpool in the summer of 1994, transferring to Southampton. However, the same year he was accused by the British tabloid newspaper The Sun of match fixing during his time at Liverpool to benefit a betting syndicate, after being caught on videotape discussing match-fixing. He was charged with conspiracy to corrupt, along with the Wimbledon goalkeeper Hans Segers and Aston Villa striker John Fashanu, and a Malaysian businessman, Heng Suan Lim.

Grobbelaar pleaded not guilty, claiming he was only gathering evidence with the intent of taking it to the police. After two successive trials, in both of which the jury could not agree on a verdict, he and his co-defendants were cleared in November 1997. Grobbelaar later sued The Sun for libel and was awarded £85,000. The Sun appealed, and the case was eventually taken to the House of Lords where it was found that, though the specific allegations had not been proved, there was adequate evidence of dishonesty. The Lords slashed his award to £1, the lowest libel damages possible under English law, and ordered him to pay The Sun's legal costs, estimated at £500,000. In his judgement, Lord Bingham of Cornhill observed:

"The tort of defamation protects those whose reputations have been unlawfully injured. It affords little or no protection to those who have, or deserve to have, no reputation deserving of legal protection. Until 9 November 1994 when the newspaper published its first articles about him, the appellant's public reputation was unblemished. But he had in fact acted in a way in which no decent or honest footballer would act and in a way which could, if not exposed and stamped on, undermine the integrity of a game which earns the loyalty and support of millions."Template:Ref

Grobbelaar was unable to pay the costs and was declared bankrupt. He has since moved back to South Africa, coaching a number of teams with various degrees of success. Grobbelaar has recently stated that he "hopes to one day return to Anfield as the manager of Liverpool FC" but with outstanding debt orders in the United Kingdom, and the damage to his reputation from the match-fixing allegations, this seems nothing more than wishful thinking on Grobbelaar's part.

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