“The closet is the darkest place you can live in, come out and live your life freely… With colour.” These were the words of Phuti Lekolane, the winner of Sports Volunteer of the Year at the recent South African Sports Awards.

Lekoloane, a former JRD Stars goalie in the second division of South African football and founder of the Phuti Lekoloane Foundation and the African Pride Games, which will take place from October 4 to November 2, publicly came out in 2015, when he announced he is gay.

He said the 2015 public announcement was not a confession, as he never hid his sexuality. He was raising awareness on homophobia in football. “I have never been in the closet. I think they knew about my sexuality before I joined the teams, but it might have been tough for the homophobes in the teams. I, however, stood tall because I have accepted who I am. It was not a confession, because I didn’t owe anyone an explanation.”

Read more: African Pride Games founder wins big at SA Sports Awards

Lekoloane concluded that he has been living very comfortably with the truth of his sexuality, and encourages others to do the same.

Speaking about the upcoming games, he said there have been teams across the country who have shown interest in participating. “We have learnt from the past challenges, and we will be improving on that.

There are new teams around the country who have shown interest in being part of this year’s African Pride Games, showing the growth of the games. We just hope to see more sponsors coming on board and investing in a tournament that stands for something.”

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