Bruce Grobbelaar
Bruce David Grobbelaar is a Zimbabwean former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, most prominently for English club Liverpool between 1981 and 1994, and for the Zimbabwean national team. Regarded as one of the best goalkeepers of his era, he is remembered for his gymnastic-like athletic ability, unflappable confidence, eccentric and flamboyant style of play, as well as his rushing ability, which has led pundits to compare him retrospectively to the sweeper-keepers of the modern era.
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. He attended David Livingstone Primary School in Harare before moving onto Hamilton High School in Bulawayo, Rhodesia's second biggest city. His footballing career started with a Bulawayo-based team, Highlanders. In his late teens, he was signed up by Durban City in South Africa, but left, claiming to have been sidelined owing to his colour in a predominantly black team — the team had played in an all-white league until the previous year. Immediately after leaving Highlands Park, he was conscripted into National Service, spending eleven months on active service in the Rhodesia Regiment during the Rhodesian Bush War.
Vancouver Whitecaps
In 1979, Grobbelaar was signed by the Vancouver Whitecaps of the NASL after he had attended their scouting camp in South Africa. At the Vancouver Whitecaps, Grobbelaar played under the management of former England and Blackpool goalkeeper, Tony Waiters, making his debut on 4 August 1979 against the Los Angeles Aztecs away. The Whitecaps lost 2–0, Johan Cruyff scoring one of the Aztecs' goals. Grobbelaar spent the rest of the season as second choice to former Wolverhampton Wanderers keeper Phil Parkes. During 1979, 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. In stepped Crewe Alexandra, signing Grobbelaar on loan on 18 December 1979. In an early League appearance for the Railwaymen in the Fourth Division, the unknown Grobbelaar was named on the team sheet in the York City matchday programme as "Bill Grobbelaar". 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's head scout Tom Saunders.[citation needed]
Liverpool
By the time Liverpool had completed their research on Grobbelaar, he had returned to Vancouver with his loan spell now over. Liverpool approached Tony Waiters with the idea of taking Grobbelaar to Anfield, and Waiters, who had a working relationship with Liverpool in the 1970s, paved the way for the move. Grobbelaar signed for Liverpool for £250,000 on 17 March 1981 as their reserve goalkeeper, but in mid-1981, regular goalkeeper Ray Clemence's departure to Tottenham Hotspur gave Grobbelaar his opportunity. Grobbelaar made his debut on 28 August 1981 but failed to prevent Wolverhampton Wanderers winning the league fixture 1–0 at Molineux. Also making their debuts were defender Mark Lawrenson and midfielder Craig Johnston. His first clean sheet came a fortnight later at Anfield on 5 September, Arsenal were the visitors who were beaten by a 2–0 scoreline.
Southampton
Grobbelaar left Liverpool in mid-1994, transferring on a free transfer to Southampton. He made his debut on 20 August 1994 in the 1–1 league draw with Blackburn Rovers at The Dell. He spent two seasons with the Saints competing with another goalkeeper with a reputation for eccentricity, Dave Beasant. Despite the fuss caused by the match-fixing allegations (see below), manager Alan Ball maintained faith in him, and he kept his place in the team for most of the 1994–95 season. Allegations that Grobbelar had been match-fixing first appeared in November 1994. Nevertheless, in his next game, at home to Arsenal, he kept a clean sheet despite the media frenzy that surrounded the game. The Southern Daily Echo reported that Grobbelaar was "swept along on a tidal wave of emotion, to emerge triumphant from the toughest match of his life".
After Southampton
Grobbelaar spent the 1996–97 season with Plymouth, after which he spent short spells at Oxford United, Sheffield Wednesday, Oldham Athletic, Chesham United, Bury, Lincoln City and Northwich Victoria over the next two years before returning to his native country.
Grobbelaar was born in Durban, South Africa to ethnic Afrikaner parents. When he was two months old, he emigrated to Rhodesia with his mother and sister to join his father, who had got a job on the railways there. Grobbelaar grew up and learnt his football in Rhodesia. He made his international debut for Rhodesia as a 19-year-old in a friendly versus South Africa in 1977. Grobbelaar played for Zimbabwe in both of their 1982 World Cup qualifying matches versus Cameroon. He also appeared for his country in a qualifying match for the 1986 World Cup versus Egypt. In 1992, he returned to the national team after an absence of several years. With a team including Grobbelaar and Adam and Peter Ndlovu, Zimbabwe came just a victory short of qualification for the 1994 World Cup under the guidance of manager Reinhard Fabisch. Grobbelaar earned 32 caps for Zimbabwe between 1980 and 1998. On 7 June 2018, Grobbelaar played a one-off game for Matabeleland in the ConIFA World Cup against the Chagos Islands, playing 30 minutes.
On 10 November 1994, Grobbelaar 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 (only recently signed from Wimbledon), and a Malaysian businessman, Heng Suan Lim. Despite these allegations, Grobbelaar and Segers were allowed to continue playing, while Fashanu retired from playing less than a year after being charged. 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:
Grobbelaar moved back to South Africa, his place of birth, where he coached a number of teams with various degrees of success. He managed Seven Stars in 1999 and took the team from the relegation zone to finish fourth in the final league table. In 2001, he took over struggling Hellenic. While at the club, he saved them from relegation, and played in their last match of the season, against Kaizer Chiefs, starting the game, and substituting himself after 20 minutes after cracking his ribs. He was the oldest player ever to have played in the South African league, at 44 years old, until his record was beaten in 2013 by fellow keeper Andre Arendse. He also spent time coaching Supersport United, Manning Rangers (2004) and Umtata Bush Bucks (2004), as well as in Zimbabwe, where he was twice briefly player-manager of Zimbabwe's national team in 1997 and 1998. Grobbelaar briefly returned to the United Kingdom to help coach a number of clubs. Grobbelaar has previously stated that he "hopes to one day return to Anfield as the manager of Liverpool FC."[citation needed]
From 1983 to 2008 Grobbelaar was married to Deborah. They have two daughters. He then married Karen Phillips. They have a daughter. He is now married to Janne Hamre Karlsen.
