FOUL PLAY

In January 2001 the Court of Appeal delivered one of the most remarkable verdicts of all time. In a decision which their own judgement described as "wholly without precedent", Lord Justices Brown, Thorpe and Parker overturned a libel jury's verdict that had found in favour of the former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar in his action against the Sun newspaper, awarding him 85,000 in damages. The court made its decision on the grounds that the original verdict had been perverse one which no reasonable jury could possibly have reached, given the evidence.;But the game was still not all over. Grobbelaar took his case to the House of Lords, the fifth time it had come to court and the fourth time Grobbelaar had 'won', up to a point. He was awarded damages of 1.;Peopled with larger-than-life, unforgettable characters, "Foul Play's" narrative takes us to South Africa, Britain and the Far East. In the courtroom itself, there are scenes such as the face-off between Grobbelaar and George Carman QC with all the tension and drama of a Cup Final penalty shoot out.;The case reached its legal conclusion early in 2003 and only now can the full story be told. "Foul Play" paints a portrait of profound corruption at the heart of the game we all like to think of as beautiful.