[2][3] Born in South Africa, Grobbelaar grew up in neighbouring Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe), and served in the Rhodesian Army before he joined the Vancouver Whitecaps of the North American Soccer League in 1979.

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] In his teenage years, Grobbelaar was a talented cricketer and was offered a baseball scholarship in the United States, but a career in football was his main ambition.

At the Vancouver Whitecaps, 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.

During 1979, he visited England to see family friends, and a chance phone call from Ron Atkinson, brought him an impromptu trial with West Bromwich Albion.

By good fortune, on the evening when he gave his greatest performance for Crewe, he was spotted by Liverpool's head scout Tom Saunders.

As Roma's Bruno Conti prepared to take his kick, Grobbelaar walked towards the goal smiling confidently at the cameras lined-up behind, then proceeded to bite the back of the net, in imitation of eating spaghetti.

He 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.

[9] Although there were occasional challenges to his position as Liverpool's number 1, Grobbelaar was a virtual ever-present from Clemence's departure to the start of the 1990s which coincided with the end of the club's dominance.

However, in 1988–89, injuries and illness restricted his first team opportunities and he played 21 times in the league, with Mike Hooper taking his place on the other 17 occasions.

In a notorious incident in a Merseyside derby that year, Grobbelaar even physically assaulted young teammate Steve McManaman.

[14] The Southern Daily Echo reported that Grobbelaar was "swept along on a tidal wave of emotion, to emerge triumphant from the toughest match of his life".

[11] With a team including Grobbelaar and Adam and Peter Ndlovu, Zimbabwe came just a victory short of qualification for the 1994 World Cup under the guidance of manager Reinhard Fabisch.

[19] On 10 November 1994,[20] 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.

The Sun appealed, and the case was eventually taken to the House of Lords where it was found that, though the specific allegations had not been proved, there was adequate evidence of dishonesty.

The Lords slashed his award to £1, the lowest libel damages possible under English law, and ordered him to pay The Sun's legal costs, estimated at £500,000.

While at the club, he saved them from relegation, and played in their last match of the season, against Kaizer Chiefs, starting the game, and substituting himself after 20 minutes after cracking his ribs.

He 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.

Grobbelaar, also 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.

In March 2007, Liverpool's official website announced that 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.

[24] On a 16 April 2009 episode of ITV's Hell's Kitchen, Grobbelaar wore a black armband on his left arm in remembrance of the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.

[25] He 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.

[4] In May 2018, he became goalkeeping coach for the Matabeleland football team, and on 1 June it was announced that he would join the playing roster for their remaining group games.