Former England and Tottenham defender Gary Mabbutt has revealed a rat ate his foot while he slept during a trip to South Africa in 2018. The 64-year-old, who has diabetes, said he couldn't feel the rodent chewing on his toe and the underside of his foot due to a lack of feeling caused by the condition.
Mabbutt, who starred for Tottenham between 1982 and 1998 after breaking through at Bristol Rovers, played 16 times for England despite being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 17. The incident occurred while he was escorting his daughter, a veterinary medicine student at Cambridge University, to a placement in Kruger National Park.
Rat attack in Kruger Park
Speaking about the ordeal, Mabbutt said: "My daughter is at Cambridge University studying Veterinary Medicine and during the recess they have to do placements. She got a placement in South Africa in the Kruger Park. So I escorted her out there and we were staying in a thatched house about 16 miles from the nearest town."
He added: "Unfortunately, due to the injuries through my career and some diabetes - I have very little feeling in my feet. So I've gone to sleep and during the night a rat has come into the bedroom, climbed into the bed and decided to chew on my foot."
Mabbutt revealed the rat bite caused a significant injury: "It made quite a big hole in my toe going down to the bone and ate underneath my foot so it became infected. I then got home quite quickly and then I was in hospital for a week."
Famous knee and career
Mabbutt is arguably most famous for his knee, which inadvertently decided the 1987 FA Cup final against Coventry. He scored an own goal in extra-time while attempting to intercept Lloyd McGrath's cross, with the ball deflecting off his knee and looping over Ray Clemence. Despite putting Spurs ahead in the first half, his own goal helped Coventry win their first and only FA Cup.
He said: "Ninety-nine times out of 100, the ball would have hit my knee and gone out for a corner or fallen to Ray Clemence. But it hit the top of my knee and as soon as I turned, I could see it looping over Ray and realised he's not going to get it. I remember going down on my haunches and thinking 'aaagh'. I was distraught. I couldn't believe it."
Mabbutt, who earned redemption in the 1991 FA Cup final, said Coventry fans still want to kiss his knee: "Every Coventry fan I meet wants a picture taken of themselves kissing my left knee. I reckon this knee has been kissed more than any other in the world."
Health battles
In 2013, Mabbutt underwent surgery to save his leg from amputation after his diabetes triggered peripheral arterial disease, which caused a blockage in the blood vessels in his leg. He told the BBC: "I can no longer do any sport or go running, and my life is now a lot more sedentary. It is frustrating that I cannot kick a ball ever again, but I still have my leg, which is the most important thing."
Following the rat bite, Mabbutt had to visit the hospital every day for two to three hours to receive intravenous drips to clear the infection, and the incident also caused blood clots to form. He reflected: "When you think about it all the opponents that I played against I finally get taken out by a rat. Firstly it bit my daughter's thumb in the other bedroom and she came to me and said 'Dad something's bitten me'. Of course being in Africa you think of snakes and scorpions. Unfortunately the rat had a nice meal, I hadn't been able to feel it and of course I hadn't woken up. It was quite fortunate that there weren't two rats. Otherwise I might not have woken up and it could have been a lot worse."
