Matthew Booth

thumb|Boothzaf 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. Quotes My experience tells me that especially at junior level, football is multiracial. Yes. Well, I certainly hope so, but what I have found is that it's very much a class issue where your middle-class to upper-class kids, no matter what colour they are, tend to fall by the wayside when they get to 16, 17 years old. And we're losing a lot of kids that way, of all different hues. A lot of scouts who look for talent, won't bother going to the suburbs. I think in 1972 they attempted the first multiracial professional league. So, the football industry has always been quite progressive. The happy ever after-life of Matthew Booth, the former Bafana Bafana tall guy,14 Dec 2018,BizNews by Alec Hogg Determination, courage, intelligence and a need to get out of one’s comfort zone… Too many local players are happy with R30-40k pm and the latest BMW in their garage! Europe offers so much more and not just material things but elements which will add positively to your character. The biggest problem is a lack of development locally, especially at grassroots level. Steven, May, Benni (all our success stories) went overseas at a young age. A year in football is a long time They both have their pros and cons but the main difference is that Russian clubs have made an imprint on Europe and SA clubs haven’t done the same on the African continent. Financially and populace wise we really should be dominating internationally and at club level. I think he is purely because we should be giving coaches at least 2 years to make an impact on a team. We are traditionally too impatient with coaches. Having said that I think other coaches in our local league should have been given their chance ahead of Pitso. Cut out politics (yeah right!), introduce football to all schools, structure and organise our amateur football a lot better and create provincial schools of excellence under the auspices of SAFA Exclusive Interview: Bafana Star Matthew Booth,December 2, 2011,AllthingJabu byJabu External Links Category:Living people Category:1977 births Category:Soccer players from South Africa