Adelaide United rising star Musa Toure counselled over pride round Instagram post

The young player has now been spoken to by clubs leaders after removing his statement from social media. Read it here.

Adelaide United player Musa Toure has apologised to the club after an Instagram post where he criticised the club’s pride game this weekend against Melbourne Victory.

Toure’s now deleted post said he was “an Adelaide United player, but I’m also a Muslim before anything’’.

Musa Toure’s now deleted Instagram post.

Musa Toure of Adelaide United during warm ups last year. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

“I do not support the pride round. I love football but I have no say … the Muslims in my team all disagree about pride round, but we also have no problem with LGBTQ PEOPLE!! It’s their life.’’

In a statement, Adelaide United said it “acknowledges a social media statement made by one of our players regarding Pride Round.

“We respect individual beliefs, and we will continue to embrace diversity, and welcome individuals from all backgrounds,’’ the club said.

Toure’s manager Fahid Ben Khalfallah said the player and the club had met for two hours on Wednesday to discuss the Instagram post.

Mr Ben Khalfallah also said Toure also planned to formally apologise to team mate Josh Cavallo who generated global headlines when he came out as the world’s first professional gay footballer in 2021.

“He didn’t realise the sort of impact that the comments would have, and we just tried to explain that to him.“If someone was hurt by those comments, then he apologises to them as well.”

Toure was spoken to by chief executive Nathan Kosmina and football director Marius Zanin and the matter been dealt with internally.

Adelaide United will wear a pride shirt for Saturday night’s game against Victory, but the 18-year-old was not expected to play in the A-League this weekend, as he is returning from injury.

Tom Aldred of the Roar is tackled by Musa Toure of United. Picture: James Elsby/Getty Images

A club spokesman said he would play in the lower level National Premier League. He is the third of three brothers to play for United, following Al Hassan and Mohamed who both play in France.

Adelaide United has long been considered a leader in promoting diversity and inclusion within the game.

Apart from Cavallo, goalkeeper Grace Wilson, who plays in Adelaide’s A-League Women’s team became the first player to declare themselves as non-binary.

A spokesman for the Australian Professional Leagues said “football should be a safe and welcoming sport for everyone, particularly for members of communities where this has traditionally not always been the case’’.

Professional Footballers Australia co chief executive Beau Busch said he acknowledged “and respect that people may hold different views’’.

“Our aim is to reduce discrimination, increase education, and improve everyone’s experience when playing football,’’ he said.

Pride rounds have caused dissent in other sports. The National Rugby Leagye dropped its pride round after seven Manly players bocotted the club;s rainbow jersey. In 2019, Rugby Australian sacked star Israel Folau after a homophobic social media post.