David Gwilliam
Well-Known Member
The name Gyula Grosics will mean nothing to most members of the Forum. In the early 1950s before the advent of Lev Yashin he was probably the best goalkeeper in the world. He was in the Hungary team that beat England 6-3 at Wembley and 7-1 at Budapest.
Grosics was an extraordinarily modern goalkeeper. English goalkeepers like Hopkinson and Springett were brilliant shot stoppers and that was their job. The centre half dealt with crosses and to pass back to the goalkeeper was a sign of desperation. Grosics saw himself as a sweeper being willing to come out of the penalty area which was unheard of for an English goalkeeper.
The Hungarian Revolution happened when the team was on tour and some of the players like the great Puskas defected. Pressure on his family back home meant that Grosics returned where as a known anti-communist he was banned from football for a year. Footballers behind the Iron Curtain faced pressures unknown to English players.
Grosics did play at Leicester. In the early 1970s there was a charity match between Old England and the Rest of the World in which Grosics old team mate Puskas scored. The recently retired Gordon Banks was in one goal and the long retired Grosics was in the other. I wonder what the then current Leicester great Peter Shilton thought of the two old goalkeepers.
Grosics was an extraordinarily modern goalkeeper. English goalkeepers like Hopkinson and Springett were brilliant shot stoppers and that was their job. The centre half dealt with crosses and to pass back to the goalkeeper was a sign of desperation. Grosics saw himself as a sweeper being willing to come out of the penalty area which was unheard of for an English goalkeeper.
The Hungarian Revolution happened when the team was on tour and some of the players like the great Puskas defected. Pressure on his family back home meant that Grosics returned where as a known anti-communist he was banned from football for a year. Footballers behind the Iron Curtain faced pressures unknown to English players.
Grosics did play at Leicester. In the early 1970s there was a charity match between Old England and the Rest of the World in which Grosics old team mate Puskas scored. The recently retired Gordon Banks was in one goal and the long retired Grosics was in the other. I wonder what the then current Leicester great Peter Shilton thought of the two old goalkeepers.
