Chosen Few: Belles of the Ball

In the courtyard of the former Johannesburg Women's Gaol, the girls slip into their long socks and studs. This is their improvised changing room -- a few plastic chairs dragged from a nearby office and a locker crudely sprayed in red and grey, matching the bricks and corrugated iron blocks of the former prison. Once booted up, the squad jogs down Constitution Hill to a piece of wasteland between the BP petrol station on Empire Road and a car park. In the middle of this metropolis of eight million people they begin their training.

There are a dozen of them -- husky, many with shaved heads. The patchwork of their miscellaneous clothes brightens against the red soil. Pinky Zulu, the captain, is sandwiched between "Feminist leader" and "Fighting against patriarchy and homophobia". These slogans printed on their shirts offer clues to spectators.

These are the members of the Chosen Few. They are women from Alex, Hillbrow, Soweto, Katlehong and other townships; butch, dyke, femme -- they are lesbians and footballers, one and all.

To be chosen for the Chosen Few candidates must "be out", have passed the physical aptitude trials and be committed to defending homosexual and women's rights.

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