The goalkeeping great's wobbly legs inspired Liverpool to European Cup glory in 1984 – and, as he tells FFT, he's put his anatomy to good use again more recently...
(Image credit: Ben Radford/Allsport via Getty Images)
Bruce Grobbelaar enjoyed a trophy-laden 13-year spell as a Liverpool player – and the legendarily bonkers goalkeeper might have helped the club end their 30-year top-flight title drought in 2020 by watering the pitch (sort of).
Answering readers' questions for the new issue of FourFourTwo, the Anfield icon reflected on his time in the Reds net and told the story of how a rather crude superstition possibly propelled Reds to the Premier League title two years ago.
Grobbelaar grew up in Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe) and a slightly crude superstition seems to have stuck with him.
"In Africa, if the pitch was cursed then you peed on the posts," he explained. "So when I came back to live in England, I was asked to play in the corporate game at Anfield. I told the story to Tage Herstad, the fan who invited me, and he said, 'Bruce, you've got to do the business'."
Grobbelaar may have misunderstood the request at first– but he didn't seem to take much convincing to, er, sprinkle his magic at the ground where he enjoyed so much success back in the 80s.
"I said, 'Yeah, I'll try to play well'," he continued. "[Herstad] said, 'No, you've got to finally lift the curse!'. So I peed in a bottle, poured it all down the posts and crossbar at both ends, and saved a penalty at the Anfield Road End. Then the Reds went on an undefeated run at Anfield and won the Premier League!"
After falling to a 2-1 defeat away to Manchester United, Liverpool have made their worst start to a league campaign for a decade; perhaps they could do with a bit of help from Bruce and his bladder...
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Tom Hancock started freelancing for FourFourTwo in April 2019 and has also written for the Premier League and Opta Analyst, among others. He supports Wycombe Wanderers and has a soft spot for Wealdstone. A self-confessed statto, he has been known to watch football with a spreadsheet (or several) open...
