JAKARTA - Adelaide United left-back Josh Cavallo has expressed his disappointment after he received homophobic abuse from the crowd. The incident occurred in the A-League match between his team against Melbourne Victory on Saturday.
Cavallo, who came on as a substitute in the 54th minute, admitted to being gay in October last year. He became the first professional gay footballer in a major football caste in the world.
The 22-year-old has the backing of several football stars, including Gerard Pique, Raphael Varane, Marcus Rashford, Gary Lineker, Robin van Persie and Joey Barton, plus the backing of clubs such as Liverpool and Juventus. However, he is now receiving abuse.
"I'm not going to pretend that I didn't see or hear homophobic abuse at last night's game," Cavallo wrote on his Instagram, referring to Adelaide United's Melbourne Victory game.
"There are no words to express how disappointed I am. As a society, this shows that we are still facing this problem in 2022.
"This should be unacceptable and we need to do more to hold these people accountable. Hate will never win. I will never apologize for living my truth and most recently who I am outside of football."
Cavallo said he was also the target of harassment on social media after the game. To that end, she used her post to call for changes to the way Instagram deals with homophobic harassment.
"For Instagram, I don't want children or adults to receive the hateful and hurtful messages I receive," Cavallo added.
"I really know who I am that I will find this out. It is a sad reality that your platform is not enough to stop these messages."
Meanwhile, the Australian Professional League (APL) stated that they are working hard with both clubs to investigate the incident and have confirmed to punish anyone involved.
"Our players, staff and fans have the right to feel safe on and off the pitch," said APL CEO Danny Townsend.
"There is no place for intimidation, harassment or abuse in Australian football and we do not tolerate this dangerous behavior.
"We fully support Josh Cavallo and want to ensure he can focus on his football performances, not on heinous abuse. We will continue to focus our efforts on creating a safe and friendly A-Leagues for all."
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