Few people have had a life quite as eventful as Bruce Grobbelaar. Born in South Africa before growing up in Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe, Grobbelaar fought in a civil war, headed to Vancouver to take on Pele & Co, then made his home in Liverpool via a spell as a goalscoring goalkeeper at Crewe.
The jelly-legged hero of Liverpool’s 1984 European Cup Final victory over Roma also won six league titles, three FA Cups and three League Cups in his 13 years at Anfield, which produced a total of 628 appearances, the ninth highest tally in the club’s history. After making his debut in 1981, he didn’t miss a game for five years, playing 310 consecutive matches.
All of that followed a bizarre journey from Vancouver to Merseyside, then a tough first six months as Liverpool’s first-choice shot-stopper, which almost brought a premature end to his time at the club. It wasn’t the only difficult period throughout the gloveman’s long career: Grobbelaar successfully fought allegations of match-fixing during the 1990s, having previously witnessed horrifying stadium tragedies at Heysel and Hillsborough.
Now 64, he’s ready to discuss his life in football with FourFourTwo, after an unexpected playing comeback in 2018, and his successful mission to overcome a curse and help his beloved Liverpool finally lift the Premier League trophy two years later…
Were you really offered a US baseball scholarship when you were young?
Andy Hampton, Ohio
Yes I was. I played for Ralyton Braves as a kid in Rhodesia, then got scouted because baseball came to Africa with the American missionaries – it was one of the top sports in Rhodesia. I joined the army, then when I came out they continued to watch me. North Adams State College in Massachusetts offered me a scholarship at 19. I chose football. I felt it was less advantageous to go back to school after the army, so I said no. At the time I was playing football for Durban, the place where I was born.
What was it like working with a witch doctor at Highlanders in Rhodesia?
Emma Jackson, Reading
When we won, he was the hero. When we lost, the club tried to fire him! If he didn’t give us good muti [traditional African medicine or magic charms], he was the one being chased by fans. On one occasion, the witch doctor told me to strip naked and stand around a tree with all the other players. He splashed water over us, told us to get our gear on, then we went to the stadium and won. He was the hero, not the players!
You were involved in the Rhodesian War – what were your experiences?
Hamid, via Instagram
It wasn’t something I signed up for. We signed up to do national service as patrolmen on the border; six months on, the real war started and we were a mobile unit instead. We were used as a fire force – you went around as
