(MENAFN- AFP) On a poster to recruit new players to Africa's first tournament-playing gay rugby club, the team's large, bearded prop Larry Viljoen scowls menacingly at the camera, his arms crossed.
He holds a magic wand and wears two sparkling wings on his back.
"Fairy" the caption asks.
Other homophobic slurs -- "Queen", "Pansy" -- have also been used by the Johannesburg-based Jozi Cats club in an advertising campaign that tackles bigotry head-on.
The Cats embraced the startling insults "to question stereotypes that are popular -- and particularly offensive to gay people," said club member Nathi Khoza, 26.
Khoza, who works as a sports coordinator at a primary school, supervised a recent training session as the regular coach was off duty after recently adopting a young girl.
"It's been really nice to debunk certain myths about the homosexual sports person," Khosa said between two sharp bursts of the whistle.
"Talk to each other!" he shouted across to the players.
"How is the guy supposed to know you want to throw the ball Too flat... Very nice!"
On a continent where homosexuality is a crime in some countries, South Africa is a trailblazer.
Gay marriage has been legal since 2006, but daily prejudice is still prevalent.
English teacher Robert Barnard, 24, played rugby until his university years.
"My teammates and I never had issues, but somehow word spread and got out to the other teams that I was gay and they started making comments during the game."
Barnard found himself the target of on-field insults and illegal tackles, "even if I didn't have the ball... that happened quite often to me."
- New recruits -
Now with the Jozi Cats, his partner watches the team practise from the sidelines -- partly to let the rest of the team know Barnard is taken.
"That's why I bring him along, so there is no doubt of my intentions," Barnard said.
"I'm here to play rugby on a platform where I'm not being judged. Meeting new people is nice but I don't see this as a way of meeting new boys."
The reception to the ad campaign has been largely positive.
"Guys tell me, 'You've got balls to do this'," Viljoen said, after a pause as he tried to find the right phrase.
One rival team invited the Jozi Cats out for tequila drinks after a game.
"That was really encouraging," said Khoza, who added he was made to feel unwelcome by his church when he came out two years.
Among the rare insults was a barrage of comments on the Facebook page of television network Russia Today.
One comment hoped the players would all die of Aids, and Khosa says they were labelled as paedophiles.
But the campaign's aim of attracting new recruits for local tournaments was a major success.
Launched in 2015 with just a handful of players, the club now has about 35 -- all amateurs and with varying degrees of skill.
The next battle for the Cats is to recruit more black players.
"There is a stigma around homosexuality and black culture," said Khoza, himself black.
"In a Western culture, a lot of people have become open-minded and understand homosexuality is not a choice.
"But in black culture, reactions could range from the belief that you're cursed to being rejected and disowned by your family."
Rugby is still considered a white sport in South Africa, and the national team has come under fire for not including more black and mixed race players, and no-one is openly gay -- something the Cats might one day change.
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