On 10 November 1994, The Sun published allegations that Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar had discussed manipulating matches for the benefit of a betting syndicate. The newspaper said its undercover investigation had captured Grobbelaar on videotape discussing possible fixes with Malaysian businessman Heng Suan Lim. Grobbelaar was charged with conspiracy to corrupt alongside Wimbledon goalkeeper Hans Segers, Wimbledon striker John Fashanu—who had recently joined Aston Villa—and Lim. Grobbelaar pleaded not guilty, insisting that he had been pretending to participate in the conversations in order to gather evidence for the police. Despite the extraordinary allegations, he continued playing, including for Southampton, while Fashanu retired from professional football less than a year after being charged. Two criminal trials ended without verdicts because juries could not agree, and in November 1997 Grobbelaar and his co-defendants were cleared. The legal story did not end there: Grobbelaar sued The Sun for libel and initially won £85,000, but the case reached the House of Lords on appeal. The Lords reduced the damages to one pound, ruling that although the specific match-fixing allegations had not been proved to the criminal standard, there was sufficient evidence of dishonest conduct to justify the newspaper's position. Grobbelaar was also ordered to pay legal costs estimated at £500,000, leaving him bankrupt. He was never criminally convicted of fixing matches, but the civil judgment permanently stained his reputation and became one of English football's most notorious betting scandals of the 1990s.
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