Grobbelaar foots the bill - 26/11/02
Former soccer star has been ordered to pay more than ?1m in legal costs for his libel action against The Sun newspaper.

The House of Lords decision is the final humiliation for the ex-Liverpool keeper who spent eight years trying to clear his name of match-fixing allegations.


A High Court jury awarded him ?85,000 damages in August 1999 after finding that the newspaper had libelled him in articles that contained the allegations. This verdict was quashed and the damages award stripped away in January last year by the Court of Appeal which found there had been a "miscarriage of justice".

Mr Grobbelaar took his case to the House of Lords, who reinstated the jury verdict but slashed the damages to just ?1.

In a ruling last month The House Of Lords said he had acted in a way in which no decent or honest footballer would act and which any right-thinking person would condemn.

Bruce Grobbelaar was born 6 October 1957. He signed from Canadian club Vancouver Whitecaps for ?250,000 by Bob Paisley in March 1981, Grobbelaar was prematurely plunged into the daunting role of succeeding Ray Clemence when the England goalkeeper left for Tottenham a few months later.

But the eccentric South African-born Zimbabwe international rose to the challenge and was Liverpool’s last line of defence in a stream of triumphs at home and abroad.

He made more than 600 appearances in 13 years at Anfield, which brought him 13 major medals comprising six League titles, a European Cup, three FA Cup and three League Cup, ironically a total matched by Clemence over his two-club career.

He joined Southampton in 1994, later playing for Plymouth, Bury, Lincoln, Motherwell, Chesham United and Northwich Victoria, coaching Zimbabwe and managing in South Africa.