March 19 – Australia’s first openly gay top-flight footballer, Josh Cavallo, said he receives multiple death threats every day and would find it difficult to encourage other footballers to come out due to the sport’s “toxic” environment.
Cavallo, who plays for Adelaide United in the A-League, says the threats are still going on four years after going public about his sexuality.
Cavallo told a FIFPro Footballers Unfiltered podcast that “in a world of football, being a gay … player is a very toxic place.”
“I still think we’re a very, very long way from being accepted in this space, unfortunately.”
Cavallo, who came out in 2021, still regards it as “the best move and decision” he’s made, but warns that there are “mountains of downside.”
In the podcast, he asked rhetorically: “Why has no one ever come out to be themselves and be successful and play?”
“And I understand that now looking back – all the negativity, all the things that come your way, there’s multiple, multiple, multiple death threats that come my way daily, still, and it’s quite sad to see.”
Cavallo continues to train and play as a professional footballer every week.
“I have a very strong support network, I have my good days, I have my bad days, but I’m free,” he said. “I go to bed, I put my head on the pillow and I’m happy. I’m Josh Cavallo, I’m the footballer … the gay footballer, and I’m super proud to say that.”
He added on ABC: “What I did in 2021 was fantastic and great for myself and for the wider LGBTQ community, but … we’re four years on now and we’re still getting (homophobic abuse) on a daily basis.”
Peter Malinauskas, premier of South Australia state where Adelaide United is based, said the vitriol Cavallo has faced is “beyond awful – it’s unacceptable”.
“It speaks to a degree of cowardice that we know that exists in the community,” he said, adding that Cavallo deserved “a lot of credit for his courage”.
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