10 things you didn’t know about Matthew Booth.
1. Booth was born in Fish Hoek to Paul and Anthea Booth.
2. His father Paul was an engineer at the Cape Town city council, a semi-professional footballer and administrator for Fish Hoek AFC, while his mother Anthea was a legal secretary.
3. Booth started playing soccer for Fish Hoek AFC in 1982 at the age of five.
4. In 1993, he played in the Bayhill U19 tournament for Fish Hoek, where he was spotted by Cape Town Spurs 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.
5. 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.
6. He worked at a sports shop in
Woodstock and would travel by train to
Parow after work to train with the team at
CR Vasco da Gama fields at the time, then travelled back to Fish Hoekb after training.
7. Booth started playing professionally in 1996, alongside experienced players like
Shaun Bartlett and Craig Rosslee. Cape Town Spurs and Seven Stars were merged in 1999 to form Ajax Cape Town.
8. Booth made his debut for South Africa on 20 February 1999, against Botswana at the
Cosafa Castle Cup.
9. Since 2006, Booth has been married to Sonia Bonneventia Pule, former Miss South Africa first princess and international model whom he met in 2002 They have two sons, Nathan Katlego, and Noah Neo.
10. Booth owns junior coaching clinics at multiple public schools.
By Jimmy Modise.
