Josh Cavallo Calls Out Homophobia After Being Abused By Fans At A Melbourne Victory Game
I will never apologise for living my truth and most recently who I am outside of football.”
Adelaide United football player Josh Cavallo says he was the target of homophobic abuse from the crowd during an A-League game against Melbourne Victory over the weekend.
The 22-year-old made headlines late last year when he came out as the only openly gay, active professional top flight men’s footballer in the world. But just two months after being praised for his courage and determination to make the sport more inclusive, Cavallo has been the target of homophobic abuse.
Cavallo claims he copped abuse from the crowd at AAMI Park during the second half of the game, prompting him to call it out on social media on Sunday. He played jus 36 minutes off the bench during the second half before coming off with a suspected concussion after an unintentional elbow to the head.
“I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t see or hear the homophobic abuse at the game last night,” Cavallo wrote on Instagram. “There are no words to tell you how disappointed I was. As a society this shows we still face these problems in 2022.
“This shouldn’t be acceptable and we need to do more to hold this [sic] people accountable. Hate never will win. I will never apologise for living my truth and most recently who I am outside of football.”
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, club sources allege Cavallo noted similar behaviour during the FFA Cup quarter-final clash between the two clubs on Wednesday, however this is yet to be confirmed by Josh or the club.
In addition to receiving hate during the game, Cavallo also noted that he has been targeted on social media in a similar manner — urging Instagram to do more to protect people from hate speech.
“To Instagram I don’t want any child or adult to have to receive the hateful and hurtful messages that I’ve received,” he said. “I knew truly 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.”
A-League Will Investigate
The Australian Professional Leagues — the operating body behind the A-League — said it was “shocked and saddened” by the reports and is working with both clubs to investigate the incident and issue sanctions to any fans found to be involved in the targeted abuse.
“Our players, staff and fans have the right to feel safe on and off the pitch,” APL CEO Danny Townsend said in a statement. “There is no place for bullying, harassment or abuse in Australian football and we have zero tolerance for this harmful behaviour.
“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 was also quick to condemn the behaviour, releasing a lengthy statement in support of Cavallo on Sunday night. “We are appalled by the verbal abuse Josh received by fans at AAMI Park last night. 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.
“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…We will continue to work with the Australian Professional Leagues and Melbourne Victory to identify perpetrators and prosecute them accordingly.”
Melbourne Victory also released a statement on Sunday, noting that spectators who have been found to have breached club behavioural standards will be banned. “The Club is committed to celebrating diversity in football, and strongly condemns this behavior 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.”