Tale of two goalies and a hard man

Goalkeepers Bruce Grobbelaar and Hans Segers, and centre forward John

Fashanu, were being kept in police custody overnight after being

arrested by officers investigating allegations of match-rigging.

Until the Sun last November alleged game-fixing, the only charge those

involved in football would have laid against BRUCE GROBBELAAR was that

he was arguably the greatest eccentric in the modern game.

It was not only his obvious recklessness in leaving his line to go for

balls that were never his, it was his whole attitude and approach to the

art of goalkeeping that endeared him to millions throughout the world.

It is said you had to be mad to be a goalkeeper. There is madness and

then there is Bruce Grobbelaar.

However, his 13-year record with Liverpool proves he was a world-class

player.

He has to his credit medals for six English league championships,

three FA cup finals, and the 1984 European championship.

He is, and always has been, irrepressible. While lesser persons might

have been devastated by match-fixing allegations in a national newspaper

and could not have been blamed for fleeing the country to escape the

limelight, Grobbelaar left Britain only to play in an international

match for Zimbabwe under the glare of publicity.

He protested his innocence to the scores of journalists who chased

after him from London. He still does.

Grobbelaar's career has been extraordinary. Born in Rhodesia on

October 6, 1957 his formative years were obviously linked with his

country's battles with Britain over his country's unilateral declaration

of independence and the sanctions that followed.

He fought in the Rhodesian army in the civil war which eventually

brought about the new country of Zimbabwe, a nation he was later proud

to represent on the football field.

''I know how lucky I am,'' he once said recalling nightmares in which

he heard screams and saw terrified faces. ''If war teaches you anything

it is an appreciation of being alive.''

Grobbelaar first turned up in the UK at Crewe in 1979 on a free

transfer from the Vancouver Whitecaps. He played 24 games and then went

back to Canada. Liverpool brought him back to this country in 1981 for a

#250,000 fee where he took over from Ray Clemence.

He became an early hero helping the team to win the championship and

the League Cup.

He reached the heights in 1984 when Liverpool became the first team to

win the English hat-trick of titles since Arsenal in 1935. His so-called

''spaghetti legs'' antics in front of goal in the penalty shoot-out in

the European Cup final also helped bring that trophy back to Liverpool.

From then on he was a mainstay in the Liverpool team, winning his last

honour with the club in 1992 when the reds beat Sunderland 2-0 in the FA

cup final. Two years later he joined Southampton on a free transfer.

There his eccentricities continued.

He might reasonably have expected, however, that from then on his

career would begin to fade outwith the glare of publicity.

That might have been the case, but for the developments that brought a

horde of cameras and journalists to the door of his rented house

yesterday, just as detectives moved in to make an arrest.

HANS SEGERS had to be something special as a goalkeeper to win over

the Wimbledon fans.

He took over from Dave Beasant, who saved a penalty in the 1988 FA Cup

to give this somewhat unfashionable club the trophy. It was Wimbledon's

greatest moment.

However, not only has the Dutchman kept his team in the Premiership,

he has proved himself to be every bit the crowd-pleaser as his

predecessor.

He even learned some of his trade in Scotland: in 1988 he played four

games for Dunfermline while on loan.

On the field, Segers appears more of a journeyman goalkeeper, not the

type to make the same madcap dashes from the line as Bruce Grobbelaar.

In private, however, Segers is just as much an extrovert as

Grobbelaar. He was one of the self-styled Wimbledon Crazy Gang. Past and

present members of the club have always prided themselves that they know

how to play hard -- on and off the pitch.

When there had been rumours the Sun was to expose a goalkeeper for

allegedly taking bribes last November, Segers started receiving phone

calls.

He said at the time: ''People were asking if it was me. I couldn't

believe it. I thought it was a joke. They had put two and two together

and come up with five. I had a good laugh about it.

''As for the Everton game, no-one had really mentioned those three

goals (one a penalty and one a top-corner screamer from Barry Horne)

until now. But the suggestion is not only amazing, but stupid.''

Last May, Everton had been losing 2-0 when they needed a win to remain

in the Premiership, triumphed 3-2.

Born in Eindhoven on October 30, 1961 Segers has always resented the

fact that while contemparies in the under-18 Dutch national team Ronald

Koeman and Ruud Gullit made it to full international honours, he did

not.

He signed for Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest for only #50,000 in

1984 and played 58 league games. Before joining Wimbledon in 1988 he was

out on loan to various teams including Dunfermline, Stoke, and Sheffield

United.

Segers lives with his hairdresser wife Astrid and their three children

in the Hampshire town of Fleet, where he was arrested yesterday.

The 33-year-old owns a successful tie manufacturing company.

In the time he has been playing with Wimbledon, he has missed only

five games.

Until yesterday JOHN FASHANU, ''Fash the Bash'', might have considered

himself one of the luckiest players in football.

After a clash with Tottenham Hotspur defender Gary Mabbutt, the Spurs

captain was out of the game for months and required his face to be

rebuilt.

Many who saw the incident believed that Fashanu should have had no

further place in football.

Mabbutt still carries the scars.

The crowd saw it all, as did the television cameras. The referee did

not and Fashanu has been allowed to continue to play top level football.

In White Hart Lane last night, there were no tears over his arrest.

His brother Justin chose to come out the closet and declare his

homosexuality while playing football in Scotland.

However, according to newspaper reports, he had a relationship with

Julie Goodyear, who plays Bet Lynch in Coronation Street.

John's link with television has been more high-profile.

He is co-presenter of the popular Gladiators ITV programme on Saturday

evening.

Barnardo's boys born in London, the Fashanu brothers were fostered to

a couple in Norfolk. It was obvious that they were both talented in

sport, and in particular football.

In 1979, aged 16, John signed professionally for Norwich. He played

for Lincoln and Millwall before joining Wimbledon in 1985 for #125,000.

Within 15 minutes of his first game for that team, Portsmouth's Kevin

Dillon left the field with a broken jaw, after a clash.

In 1987 he was involved in a tackle which led to the early retirement

of Northern Ireland international John O'Neill.

In 1988 he was banned for three matches and fined #2000 for his part

in an incident in the tunnel involving Manchester United's Viv Anderson.

In the same year he helped Wimbledon win the FA Cup with a shock 1-0

victory over Liverpool.

He had a training ground clash in 1993 with Wimbledon team-mate Lawrie

Sanchez, who claimed: ''Fashanu used martial arts in a systematic

attempt to damage my legs seriously.''

His second and last international cap was against Scotland at Hampden

in 1989.

He was transferred to Aston Villa in 1994 for #1.35m.