A-League player says he experienced homophobic comments

PTI, Jan 9, 2022, 1:37 PM IST

Adelaide: Adelaide United defender Josh Cavallo says he had homophobic abuse directed at him during the club’s A-League match against Melbourne, and the league says it will investigate his claims.

Cavallo, who announced he was gay ahead of the season, came on as a substitute in the 54th minute in Melbourne on Saturday and said he had “no words” to describe his disappointment at receiving abuse from the crowd and on social media.

“I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t see or hear the homophobic abuse at the game last night,” Cavallo said on Instagram on Sunday. “There are no words to tell you how disappointed I was. As a society, this shows we still face these problems in 2022.” The A-League issued a statement saying it was “shocked and saddened to hear reports of homophobic bullying . . . directed towards Josh Cavallo.

“There is no place for bullying, harassment, or abuse in Australian football and we have zero tolerance for this harmful behavior.