Gay clubs johannesburg 2015

The gay team, the Jozi Cats, was half-expecting to hear homophobic slurs. The words would usually be slung in the scrums.

Is It Last Call for the Gay Bar?

But the straight team, from across town, said nothing. The game was played fairly, without incident, and although no one remembers the final score, the players do remember the postgame drink: tequila. It turns out that the straight team had brought several bottles as an offer of support and inclusion.

There they sat on benches, 25 men, doing shots and talking about dropkicks. Homophobia seemed to have taken a club. There are a lot of ways to start a conversation, but, in this case, Havas PR South Africa decided to take the megaphone approach. The public relations firm's job was to promote the first gay and inclusive competitive johannesburg team on the continent of Africa, and although Havas was known to be irreverent, it had no idea it was about to shock the world.

All the firm knew is that it had gay story to tell, courtesy of Teveshan Kuni, a gay financial worker who had first sensed homophobia back in his high school locker room. Kuni had always admired rugby, which in terms of popularity in South Africa is the rough equivalent of the NFL. But he says he hesitated to 2015 because "rugby was just that macho culture that I would've struggled in.

Kuni found that there were many others like him -- gay men who were uncomfortable with the homophobic slurs that would commonly emanate from the johannesburg pitch. One of the more infamous moments, in Marchwas when South Africa native Jacques Potgieter spewed the word "ft" at several opponents during a Super Rugby match in Australia.

He later apologized and blamed it on his "white line fever" -- meaning he'd lose his mind when playing between the white lines. But the angst it caused Kuni and others was palpable. Kuni had long been looking for a less threatening rugby environment and didn't know where to turn. He had heard of social gay rugby clubs in South Africa, where, he says, "they weren't playing games or practicing contact rugby -- club running up and down the field playing a ball.

He wanted the real thing. Which is when New York City saved him. He was temporarily living in Manhattan on a work contract when he stumbled upon the Gotham Knights, the international gay champions at the Bingham Cup. They were a full-fledged, rock 'em-sock 'em rugby unit with the ability to compete at a high level.

Kuni's stay in NYC was ending -- so he did not try gay -- but he brought the idea home with him and, by August, became chairman of the Johannesburg-based Jozi Cats. We thought, 'Let's start a club where you 2015 have to worry about who you are and your life circumstances. Even if you've never played before. The first part of their name, Jozi, is short for Johannesburg, and they chose "Cats" to pay homage to a beloved local Super Rugby team by the same name.

The problem was, Kuni needed teammates. As the months wore on, at times there would be as few as six players at the Cats' twice-a-week practices. It was all word of mouth.