FOOTBALL IS COMING HOME » Matthew Booth http://www.footballiscominghome.info Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:59:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 The Vuvuzela ‘Conspiracy’ http://www.footballiscominghome.info/video/the-vuvuzela-conspiracy/ http://www.footballiscominghome.info/video/the-vuvuzela-conspiracy/#comments Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:21:50 +0000 Editor http://www.footballiscominghome.net/?p=575

South African defender Matthew Booth decided to film his teammates during the recent Confederations Cup competition. (Remember him? He’s the only white guy in the team who fans greet with a loud “Boooottthhh” whenever he touches the ball and who Spanish reporters, looking for black racism decided was booed by the fans.) Booth, who maintains quite an active Youtube channel, regularly films his teammates, and in the video, above, captured them (and their Brazilian coach Joel Santana) singing on camera in the dressing room before their game against Spain in the first round. Check it out. (Here’s another example.) It also made me wonder again why South African fans don’t leave the vuvuzelas outside the stadium and do some actual singing? That would not sound only better, but would present an actual, not corporate-induced part of football culture in that country, to visiting fans.


BTW, it must have pleased the South Africans organizers that, outside the football, the most controversial topic at the recent Confederations Cup was the vuvuzelas. (If you’ve been under a rock that’s the plastic horns that South African fans blow for the full 90 minutes of any game. The tempo doesn’t change, neither does the tune). Visiting reporters barely remembered to write again about things like training facilities for teams, transport and fan safety, crucial for next year’s World Cup. (By the way, it also turns out the hooker allegations against members of the Egyptian team is now no longer credible.)

Share/Save]]> http://www.footballiscominghome.info/video/the-vuvuzela-conspiracy/feed/ 9 Boooooootttt http://www.footballiscominghome.info/the-players/booooooottt/ http://www.footballiscominghome.info/the-players/booooooottt/#comments Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:01:39 +0000 Editor http://www.footballiscominghome.net/?p=302 booth

The tall defender Matthew Booth is the only white player in South Africa’s national side. The crowds at South Africa’s matches are overwhelmingly black. Booth, who plays for local club Mamelodi Sundowns, is back in the national team after a long absence. When Booth touches the ball, you can hear sounds of “Boooooootttt.” Booth, who plays for local club Mamelodi Sundowns, is back in the national team after a long absence.

But as Mark Gleeson (probably the most knowledgeable reporter on African football) writes on the Reuters Soccer Blog, some foreign reporters (and visitors) think the crowds are booing Booth:

To the uninitiated, when Booth touches the ball, the chorus of approval sounds like a wall of derision. Given the racial history of South Africa, it could be misconstrued as negative barracking and because he is white and the majority of the crowd black, it takes on an even more negative connotation.

Booth patiently explained to confused foreign journalists at some length after the match against Iraq on Sunday about the chant. Almost all wanted to know why the crowd were on his back. Was it because he was white?

But some missed the explanation, including the Spanish daily El Pais who wrote of the “sadness” of a white player being derided by the majority black crowd. The irony is that it could not be further from the truth.

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