Football Saved Me, Couldn't Tell You How Many People I Killed - Bruce Grobbelaar

Former Zimbabwe and Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar has said that football saved him from living the horrors of the second liberation war. Grobbelaar admitted that he killed many men during the war and that motivated him to live for the present. In a wide-ranging interview, with the Liverpool Echo following the launch of his autobiography Life In A Jungle, Grobbelaar said,

My first time was at dusk. As the sun sinks you’re seeing shadows in the bush. You cannot recognise much until you see the whites of their eyes. It’s you or them. You shoot, you drop and there’s overwhelming gunfire. You hear voices on your side: ‘Hey, corporal, I’m hit.’ You whistle to shut them up otherwise we’re all getting killed. When the firefight is finished you see bodies everywhere. The first time everything in your stomach comes up through your mouth.

“How many people did he kill? I couldn’t tell you… This is why I’ve always lived my life for today. I can only say sorry for the past. I can’t change it.

Grobbelaar has expressed an interest to meet President Emmerson Mnangagwa and to join Zimbabwe’s politics.

More: Chronicle