9 January 2022
Adelaide United defender Josh Cavallo has called out homophobic abuse he says was targeted at him during Saturday night’s A-League draw with Melbourne Victory, saying he could not find the words to describe how disappointed he was.
Cavallo also criticised Instagram and Twitter for doing little to stop further “hateful and hurtful messages” he received after the match.
Josh Cavallo has hit out at homophobic abuse he says was targeted at him in person on Saturday night and on social media afterwards.
Josh Cavallo has hit out at homophobic abuse he says was targeted at him in person on Saturday night and on social media afterwards.Credit:Getty
The 22-year-old became the first active top-flight male professional footballer in the world to come out as gay in October.
Little more than two months later, he is suffering from the sort of homophobic slurs he said he knew would inevitably be used against him after his historic announcement, which triggered a global outpouring of support from some of football’s biggest clubs and personalities.
Cavallo played 36 minutes off the bench in Adelaide’s dramatic 1-1 draw against Victory at Melbourne’s AAMI Park, but came off during injury time with a suspected concussion after an accidental elbow to the head from Lleyton Brooks.
Club sources indicate Cavallo also complained of similar homophobic abuse during United’s FFA Cup quarter-final loss to Victory on Wednesday night, which was played at Coopers Stadium in Adelaide.
Both clubs have condemned Saturday night’s events, which are now the subject of an investigation by the Australian Professional Leagues, with any perpetrators to be banned from attending matches.
“I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t see or hear the homophobic abuse at the game last night. There are no words to tell you how disappointed I was,” Cavallo wrote on Instagram.
“As a society this it shows we still face these problems in 2022. This shouldn’t be acceptable and we need to do more to hold this people accountable. Hate never will win. I will never apologise for living my truth and most recently who I am outside of football.
“To all the young people who have received homophobic abuse, hold your heads up high and keep chasing your dreams. Know that there is no place in the game for this. Football is a game for everyone no matter of who you are, what colour your skin is or where you come from.
“To @instagram I don’t want any child or adult to have to receive the hateful and hurtful messages that I’ve received. I knew truely being who I am that I was going to come across this. It’s a sad reality that your platforms are not doing enough to stop these messages.”
Cavallo finished his post by thanking those who had sent him messages of love and support, saying they outweighed the negativity, and praised people who “reached out after making a stand at the game. I commend you. Thank you to those fans, you had me emotional. Love will always win.”
Melbourne Victory said in a statement that the club was working with Adelaide, the APL and AAMI Park to identify those responsible.
“The club is committed to celebrating diversity in football, and strongly condemns this behaviour which has no place at our club or in our game,” the statement read. “Melbourne Victory sees football as a platform to unite fans no matter what background.
Spectators found to have breached these standards will be banned from future matches.”
APL chief executive Danny Townsend said: “Our players, staff and fans have the right to feel safe on and off the pitch. There is no place for bullying, harassment or abuse in Australian football and we have zero tolerance for this harmful behaviour.
“We are working with both clubs to investigate the incident and will issue sanctions to any people found to be involved. We fully support Josh Cavallo and want to ensure he can focus on his football performance, rather than on vile abuse. We will continue to concentrate our efforts on creating safe and welcoming A-Leagues for all.”
Adelaide United CEO Nathan Kosmina said the club was “appalled” by the abuse Cavallo received.
“Adelaide United is proud to be an inclusive and diverse football club, and to see one of our players subjected to homophobic abuse is disappointing and upsetting,” he said. “Josh continues to show immense courage and we join him in calling out abuse, which has no place in society, and it will not be tolerated by our club.”
Beau Busch and Kate Gill, the joint chief executives of Professional Footballers Australia, said Cavallo’s abusers had “illustrated their cowardice.”
“There is no place in our game, our society, for those who seek to direct abhorrent abuse at others,” they said in a statement. “Josh will continue to have the full support of the PFA and his peers and we will work with the APL, and the authorities, to ensure that those who sought to subject Josh to vile abuse are dealt with and that as a game we live up to our zero tolerance commitment.”
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