Hockey players give SBW stick over new girlfriend

Sonny Bill Williams. File photo / Getty Images

Friends and teammates of the Black Sticks development player dumped by Sonny Bill Williams' new love interest have taken to Twitter to vent their disapproval.

Sources have told the Herald that Williams, 26, is dating 18-year-old Jaime Ridge, an Auckland student, model and social-page regular.

Ridge reportedly dumped Black Sticks Development Squad member Dwayne Rowsell to take up with the superstar All Black.

That has upset Black Sticks hockey players, who voiced their support for Rowsell - and their low opinion of Williams - on Twitter today.

Veteran player Phil Burrows got the ball rolling with the tweet: "@SonnyBWilliams #stolemybrosgirl #cold".

He then replied to teammate Simon Child's tweet about bad traffic by saying: "hahaha at least @SonnyBWilliams didnt steal ur mrs".

Child replied "Yeah that's s***s sad man."

Black Sticks striker Hugo Inglis retweeted Burrows' original tweet and told someone who asked him about it that Williams' had stolen his friend's girlfriend.

Williams has had a more high-profile love life than his younger new girlfriend. In September he was linked to a fellow athlete, 21-year-old Cantabrian Aleisha Berryman.

The pair were snapped by a woman's magazine grabbing a Chinese takeaway meal together, dressed down in trackpants and casual jumpers.

Williams is scheduled to fight Clarence Tillman III for the New Zealand Professional Boxing Association heavyweight title in Hamilton on February 8.

He began training with his new Super Rugby team, the Chiefs, in Hamilton this month.

- HERALD ONLINE