Adelaide United star Josh Cavallo receives homophobic abuse during Melbourne Victory match, Adelaide United engages with SA Police

SA police are investigating claims gay Adelaide United defender Josh Cavallo was hit with hateful abuse and threats – after he was targeted during a match on Saturday.

South Australia Police are investigating claims Adelaide United player Joshua Cavallo received threats and abuse regarding his sexuality in recent months.

The defender revealed he was targeted with homophobic abuse during Saturday night’s clash with Melbourne Victory.

In a statement to The Advertiser on Tuesday, SA Police said they had “no jurisdiction” to investigate any abuse that occurred during the game because it was played in Melbourne.

Adelaide United’s Josh Cavallo during the match against Melbourne Victory on Saturday in Melbourne. Picture: Graham Denholm/Getty

“However, in relation to ongoing alleged abuse and threats that the player has received, Western District Detectives have commenced an investigation and are working with the club and player involved,” a police spokesman said.

The 22-year-old defender also slammed social media platform Instagram after he received “hateful and hurtful messages” online.

An Adelaide United spokesman confirmed on Tuesday the club had engaged with SA Police to assist with investigations relating to the alleged threats.

Investigations have involved the Australian Premier League, which had examined CCTV at AAMI Park in a bid to identify potential offenders from Saturday’s game.

Cavallo received an outpouring of global support after he became the world’s first active male professional footballer to come out as gay in October.

Cavallo said he was verbally abused by fans at AAMI Park during his team’s 1-1 draw against Melbourne Victory on Saturday night.

“I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t see or hear the homophobic abuse at the game last night,” he told his 150,000 followers on Instagram on Sunday afternoon.

“There are no words to tell you how disappointed I was.

“This shouldn’t be acceptable and we need to do more to hold these people accountable.

“Football is a game for everyone no matter … who you are, what colour your skin is or where you come from.”

In a statement on Sunday afternoon, Melbourne Victory said it was “committed to celebrating diversity in football and strongly condemns this behaviour, which has no place at our club or in our game”.

“Melbourne Victory sees football as a platform to unite fans no matter what background.”

The club said fans found to have “breached these standards” would be banned from future matches.

Cavallo criticised Instagram after he received abusive messages on the social media platform.

“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.”
Cavallo thanked fans who reached out to him after “making a stand at the game”.

“Thank you to those fans, you had me emotional,” he said.

Adelaide United chief executive Nathan Kosmina said the club was “appalled” by the verbal abuse.

“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,” Kosmina said.

“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.”

Kosmina said the club would work with the A-League and Melbourne Victory to “identify perpetrators and prosecute them accordingly”.

When he announced he was gay last October, Cavallo received messages of support from some of the highest profile players in the world, including Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford and Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

In an interview with SA Weekend last November, Cavallo said he had noticed no backlash when he made his announcement and said he was not expecting to receive much abuse.

“Everyone’s pretty accepting, you don’t go down the street and see gay people get abused and stuff like that, so I think we’re ready for it as a world,” he told SA Weekend at the time.

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Originally published as Adelaide United star Josh Cavallo receives homophobic abuse during Melbourne Victory match, Adelaide United engages with SA Police