Football team fined over fans subjecting Josh Cavallo to homophobic abuse
The Melbourne Victory football club has been fined over the death threats and abuse Josh Cavallo received from their fans at a recent game.
On 8 January, Adelaide United played an away game against the team. During the match’s second half, spectators spewed homophobic remarks at Cavallo – with some being removed and the team promising to “ban any individuals identified as having engaged in the conduct” from future games.
Shortly after the game, the 22-year-old condemned the abuse in a lengthy post on Instagram. “I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t see or hear the homophobic abuse at the game last night,” he wrote. “There are no words to tell you how disappointed I was.” Cavallo continued: “As a society it shows we still face these problems in 2022.
This shouldn’t be acceptable and we need to do more to hold these people accountable. Hate never will win. I will never apologise for living my truth and most recently who I am outside of football. “To all the young people who have received homophobic abuse, hold your heads up high and keep chasing your dreams.
