Matthew Paul Booth (born 14 March 1977) is a South African former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Booth spent the majority of his career in his home country, but also played in Russia for six years and briefly played in England for three months. Booth is remembered as a fan favourite among South African fans, who chanted "Booooooth" when he touched the ball, while British media outlets dubbed him as White Knight, as he was the only white player in the South Africa national team in this period.

Early life and youth career

Booth was born in

Fish Hoek Fish Hoek ( af, Vishoek, meaning either Fish Corner or Fish Glen) is a coastal town at the eastern end of the Fish Hoek Valley on the False Bay side of the Cape Peninsula in the Western Cape, South Africa. Previously a separate municipality, Fish ...

to Paul and Anthea Booth. His father Paul was an engineer at the

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

city council, a semi-professional footballer and administrator for Fish Hoek AFC, while his mother Anthea was a legal secretary. Booth started playing football for Fish Hoek AFC in 1982 at the age of five. In 1993, he played in the Bayhill U19 tournament for Fish Hoek, where he was spotted by

Cape Town Spurs A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. T ...

coach Richard Gomes, who saw a lanky youngster flying into tackles halfheartedly and towering above the opposition's attackers and invited him to train with the club's youth. In 1994, shortly after he turned 17, he trained with the senior squad, which went on to win the league and the BobSave Super Bowl. At the time, he worked at a sports shop in

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...

and would travel by train to Parow after work to train with the team at

CR Vasco da Gama Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama (), commonly referred as Vasco da Gama or simply Vasco, is a professional sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Originally a rowing club, Vasco is mostly known for its football team, who it currently compet ...

fields at the time, then travelled back to Fish Hoek after training.

Career

Club

Booth started playing professionally in 1996, alongside experienced players like

Shaun Bartlett Shaun Bartlett (born 31 October 1972) is a South African professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Cape Town Spurs. During his playing career, he played as a striker. Early life Born in Cape Town, Bartlett was ra ...

and

Craig Rosslee Craig William Rosslee (born 1 January 1970 in Cape Town) is a former South African association football player and manager. Rosslee enjoyed success as a player with Cape Town Spurs, Hellenic and Santos. He made his league debut for Cape Town S ...

. Cape Town Spurs and Seven Stars were merged in 1999 to form

Ajax Cape Town Cape Town Spurs F.C. (formerly known as Ajax Cape Town) is a South African professional football club based in Parow in the city of Cape Town that plays in the National First Division. Dutch Eredivisie club AFC Ajax was their parent club and ...

. He was deemed surplus to requirements at Ajax and wanted to sell him to newly formed Mother City. He fought back, and eventually joined

Mamelodi Sundowns Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the Premier Soccer League, the first tier of South African football ...

, staying for three seasons. In 2001, Booth moved to England as he was loaned out to First Division side Wimbledon, but he never made an appearance for the first team, and was only used in reserve team matches. He was later quoted as saying that his stint at Wimbledon was "not a happy time because the club was in turmoil over the move to Milton Keynes". In 2002, he moved to Russia to represent both

Rostov Rostov ( rus, Росто́в, p=rɐˈstof) is a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, one of the oldest in the country and a tourist center of the Golden Ring. It is located on the shores of Lake Nero, northeast of Moscow. Population: While ...

and later Krylia Sovetov, playing with and against players such as Branislav Ivanović, Vágner Love and

Jan Koller Jan Koller (; born 30 March 1973) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was noted for his height, strong physique, and heading ability. He began his career at Sparta Prague, then moved to Belgium, where he becam ...

. Booth retired from professional football on 19 June 2014, even though he was given an option to renew his playing contract.

International

Booth made his debut for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

on 20 February 1999, against

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...

at the Cosafa Castle Cup. He made thirty-seven appearances for the national side, scoring one goal. Booth missed out on the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

due to a knee injury, but was a member of the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

team (that qualified as hosts of the competition), despite remaining an unused substitute for all three group stage matches. He also captained the under-23 side at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

. Due to his height, Booth is considered one of the most important players when meeting opponents with tall players.

Personal life

Booth is married to Sonia Bonneventia, a businesswoman and former model. The couple have two children together. In 2014, Booth saved a woman from being beaten on Cape Town's nightclub strip on Long Street early on a Saturday morning. Booth had been playing for Wits in an Absa Premiership game against Ajax Cape Town, which they lost 1–0, hosted at Cape Town Stadium on the previous Friday night. After using an ATM and walking back to his friends, he saw a man assaulting the woman and rushed to her assistance. The attacker shoved Booth, who toppled onto a store's window ledge which had spikes to prevent people sitting on the ledge. Members of the Central City Improvement District took the attacker away. Booth returned to his hotel where the team doctor attended to his injuries. Booth owns junior coaching clinics at multiple public schools. He has also done some television work for the

South African Broadcasting Corporation The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations ( AM/ FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's state ...

as an analyst and some writing for ''

The Sowetan ''The Sowetan'' is an English-language South African daily newspaper that started in 1981 as a liberation struggle newspaper and was freely distributed to households in the then apartheid-segregated township of Soweto, Johannesburg, Gauteng ...

''. Booth has also registered to do a

BA degree Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

through the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA), known colloquially as Unisa, is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, U ...

. In early November 2022, Matthew’s wife Sonia Booth exposed him on instagram regarding infidelity.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list South Africa's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Booth goal.''

Honours

Cape Town Spurs * Bob Save Super Bowl: 1994 Mamelodi Sundowns *

Premier Soccer League Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

: 1998–99, 1999–2000 * Rothmans Cup: 1999 * Charity Spectacular: 2000 * Bob Save Super Bowl: 1998 Individual *

Player of the Season: 2013

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Matthew 1977 births Living people People from Fish Hoek White South African people South African people of British descent South African soccer players Association football defenders South Africa international soccer players Olympic soccer players of South Africa Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics 2002 African Cup of Nations players 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2010 FIFA World Cup players Cape Town Spurs F.C. players Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. players Wimbledon F.C. players Russian Premier League players FC Rostov players PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara players Bidvest Wits F.C. players South African expatriate soccer players South African expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England South African expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate footballers in Russia Soccer players from the Western Cape University of South Africa alumni