Bruce David Grobbelaar was born on 6 October 1957 and is a Zimbabwean former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, most prominently for English team Liverpool between 1981 and 1994, and for the Zimbabwean national team.
38 Facts About Bruce Grobbelaar
2.
Bruce Grobbelaar is remembered for his gymnastic-like athletic ability, unflappable confidence and 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.
3.
Bruce Grobbelaar was appointed as goalkeeper coach for Ottawa Fury FC of the North American Soccer League in 2014.
4.
Bruce Grobbelaar left Liverpool for Southampton in 1994, transferred to Plymouth Argyle two years later, and thereafter played for an assortment of English lower-league teams, never for more than a few games.
5.
Bruce Grobbelaar attended David Livingstone Primary School in Harare before moving onto Hamilton High School.
6.
In 1979 Bruce Grobbelaar was signed by the Vancouver Whitecaps of the NASL after he had attended their scouting camp in South Africa.
7.
At the Vancouver Whitecaps, Bruce 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.
8.
Bruce Grobbelaar spent the rest of the season as second choice to former Wolverhampton Wanderers keeper Phil Parkes.
9.
Atkinson was keen to sign Bruce Grobbelaar but owing to difficulties over gaining a work permit, the deal fell through.
10.
Bruce Grobbelaar then produced a similar performance before Francesco Graziani took his kick, wobbling his legs in mock terror.
11.
Bruce Grobbelaar was retained by three of Liverpool's greatest managers; Paisley, Fagan and Dalglish, over a period of 13 years.
12.
Bruce Grobbelaar's strengths were his gymnastic-like agility, and an unflappable confidence.
13.
Bruce Grobbelaar was never afraid to be seen to berate his defenders if he thought they had given easy opportunities to the opposition, such as in his verbal assault on Jim Beglin in the first all Merseyside FA Cup final against Everton in 1986.
14.
Bruce Grobbelaar was an ever-present in his first five league campaigns at Anfield, when Liverpool were champions four times and runners-up on the other occasion.
15.
Bruce Grobbelaar left Liverpool in mid-1994, transferring on a free to Southampton.
16.
Bruce Grobbelaar spent two seasons with the Saints competing with another goalkeeper with a reputation for eccentricity, Dave Beasant.
17.
The Southern Daily Echo reported that Bruce Grobbelaar was "swept along on a tidal wave of emotion, to emerge triumphant from the toughest match of his life".
18.
Bruce Grobbelaar was born in Durban, South Africa to ethnic Afrikaner parents.
19.
Bruce Grobbelaar made his international debut for Rhodesia as a 19-year-old in a friendly versus South Africa in 1977.
20.
Bruce Grobbelaar played for Zimbabwe in both of their 1982 World Cup qualifying matches versus Cameroon.
21.
Bruce Grobbelaar appeared for his country in a qualifying match for the 1986 World Cup versus Egypt.
22.
Bruce Grobbelaar earned 32 caps for Zimbabwe between 1980 and 1998.
23.
On 7 June 2018, Bruce Grobbelaar played a one-off game for Matabeleland in the ConIFA World Cup against the Chagos Islands, playing 30 minutes.
24.
On 10 November 1994, Bruce 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.
25.
Bruce Grobbelaar 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.
26.
Bruce Grobbelaar pleaded not guilty, claiming he was only gathering evidence with the intent of taking it to the police.
27.
Bruce Grobbelaar was unable to pay the costs and was declared bankrupt.
28.
Bruce Grobbelaar moved back to South Africa, his place of birth, where he coached a number of teams with various degrees of success.
29.
Bruce Grobbelaar managed Seven Stars in 1999 and took the team from the relegation zone to finish fourth in the final league table.
30.
Bruce Grobbelaar 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.
31.
Bruce Grobbelaar spent time coaching Supersport United, Manning Rangers and Umtata Bush Bucks, as well as in Zimbabwe, where he was twice briefly player-manager of Zimbabwe's national team in 1997 and 1998.
32.
Bruce Grobbelaar came back to the United Kingdom briefly to help coach a number of clubs.
33.
Bruce Grobbelaar returned to England in 2006 to play in a replay of the 1986 FA cup final against Everton for the Marina Dalglish Appeal, a charity for Cancer research set up by former team-mate and manager Kenny Dalglish and his wife, Marina, a cancer survivor.
34.
Bruce Grobbelaar played in the Sky One's The Match in 2004 and The Match 3 in 2006, keeping a clean sheet in both games.
35.
Bruce Grobbelaar, known as "Brucie", is still a firm favourite amongst the Anfield faithful, and was voted as No 17 in a poll 100 Players Who Shook The Kop conducted in mid-2006 by the official Liverpool Football Club website.
36.
Over 110,000 worldwide voted for their best 10 players in the Anfield club's history, with Bruce Grobbelaar finishing 2nd in the goalkeeping stakes.
37.
In March 2007, Liverpool's official website announced that Bruce Grobbelaar would come out of retirement for a one-off game and play for non-league Castleford side Glasshoughton Welfare to help them in their fight for survival.
38.
Bruce Grobbelaar was persuaded to play for Winterbourne United in their Gloucestershire FA Trophy game against Patchway Town on 5 December 2009 but in the end did not make an appearance.