Zimbabwe Warriors midfielder Khama Billiat was on Thursday involved in a training ground bust-up with his Ajax Cape Town teammate Matthew Booth resulting in him being assaulted by the 35-year-old defender.
REPORT BY MICHAEL MADYIRA
The duo had a heated exchange of words on numerous occasions whenever Billiat would protest against the former Bafana Bafana defender’s hard tackles during training.
Ironically, Ajax did not take action against the pair, which infuriated Billiat who interpreted the club’s stance on the issue as racially inspired.
The 22-year-old vented his anger on his Facebook wall.
“Because I am black you have to let him kick me, after that he slaps me and I have to accept because it is a white guy from Ajax and I am a black guy from Zimbabwe,” wrote Billiat.
Black players are a minority in Ajax’s squad who are under the tutelage of Dutch coach Jan Purin.
Booth is married to a black international model Sonia Bonneventia Pule, who is a former Miss South Africa first princess.
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Ajax’s public relations officer Shooz Mekuto was yesterday not reachable to comment on the action the club was likely to take on the incident.
But according to club sources, Booth had become a victim of Billiat’s wizardry during training, which saw the towering defender resorting to rough play to stop the pint-sized Zimbabwean.
After training, Billiat is said to have approached Booth asking him not to be too offensive next time, but the former Bafana Bafana defender would have none of it and slapped Billiat in the face.
“It was bad I tell you. Khama was just lucky to go home uninjured because Matthew kicked him many times during practice,” said a source.
“And whenever Khama asked for fair play, Booth would go ballistic, saying terrible things to Khama who would hit back. But it was after practice when things turned nasty as Booth slapped Khama in the face after the boy had just asked for fair play the next time.”
Booth, who was capped 37 times by Bafana Bafana, spent eight seasons playing in Russia as well as a season loan stint at English lower league side Wimbledon.
He could not be reached for comment.
