By 
āGET OUT!ā Josh Cavallo exclaims in disbelief. His surprise is prompted by my pointing out that he looks like a total natural in front of the cameraāheās just appeared in a campaign for new Australian brand Unison, and his blue steel is Tyson Beckford-levels of good.
āI do not think that at all,ā laughs the Adelaide United midfielder. āI have no experience in modelling, so when Iām on the set of a photo shoot Iām always like, āwhereās the soccer ball? Where are my soccer boots? I have no idea what to do!ā
Youād never know it. Next to a cast of personalities accustomed to being on film, model-turned-actor Josh Heuston and actress Madison Brown among them, Cavallo holds his own. It feels like a sign of how comfortable the soccer star is in his own skin; how happy he is to be out and proud.
āI go to sleep at the end of the day and I feel really comfortable with who I am,ā he tells me. āI donāt really care about what someone on Instagram is going to say about the way I dress, or how I do my hairā¦ Iām really proud of who I am.ā
Two years ago, though, it was a totally different story. Rather than feeling safe to flaunt his personal style, Cavallo was hiding itāalong with anything else about himself that might suggest he was ādifferentā.
āI didn’t want to give out any hints that I was gay,ā he says. āSo I was always thinking about what the others were thinking. I had scenarios in my head 24/7, because when weād have a drink break or after training in the dressing rooms, the boys would ask me stuff like, āwhoās your girlfriend? What’s this? What’s that?ā
āIt was similar if you dressed a certain way. You would get asked questions about what you were wearing,ā he continues.
“Unfortunately, being the first in the world in football that is gay, I’m gonna have a target on my back.”
Since Cavallo posted the video in which he came out as gayāa video which now has over two million views on Instagramāhe says the culture at his soccer club has softened. Especially as it pertains to fashion. āSome of the players walk in with Crocs,ā he says with a laugh. āItās really nice to see the individuality of everyone. It actually improves us on the field, too, because weāre closer together and more comfortable as a group.ā
Unfortunately, the safe space at Adelaide United isnāt a microcosm of soccer more broadly. The sport is famously known as āthe world gameā, but there are parts of the world where homophobia continues to thrive, and, in the case of the 2022 World Cup host country, where being gay is an imprisonable offence. Cavallo came out close to two years ago, and still, heās the only openly gay professional top flight menās footballer in the world. He receives thousands of messages each day, and while most of them are positive, a decent amount are far from it.
āSoon after I came out I [received] homophobic abuse and it was really, really poor. It hurt. Unfortunately, being the first in the world in football that is gay, I’m gonna have a target on my back,ā he says. āIs it okay? No it’s not. But we are paving the way for the next generations to make it easier for the next person and then the next and then the next.ā
To say the culture of menās footballāand menās sport more generallyāis a far cry from that of its female counterparts is, perhaps, the grossest understatement of all time. The FIFA Womenās World Cup wrapped weeks ago, yet still, Australia is high on the fumes of spectating a sport where the sexuality of players, coaches and fans is irrelevant to the game itself. Why is an environment like this so difficult for menās sport to embrace?
Cavallo says heās been asking himself this question since before he realised he was gay.
āI played with a lot of the Matildas girls when I was younger, and I saw in their teams that they had so many LGBTQIA+ players and they just didn’t care. And that was when I was likeā¦ āhang on a minute, why can’t we do this in the men’s game? Whatās the difference?ā
When I bounce the question back off Cavallo, he pulls that face people make when asked a question that has no simple answer. āMenās sportā¦ and football in particularā¦ the masculinity is very toxic,ā he offers. “And even when it came to the men’s [2022] World CupāI wouldn’t be able to live in the country that hosted it; I would be criminalised and possibly killed for being who I am. So that’s how far off we are from the men’s to the women’s game.
“But that’s kind of what pushed me over to saying, āI don’t care what people think, I’m gonna be myself ācause I wanna make the menās game like the women’s game.ā
While, when it comes to inclusivity, the menās game is still light years behind the womenās, Cavallo is convinced itās making positive strides forward. Earlier this year, the A-League introduced its first-ever Pride Round, and Cavallo is passionate about involving himself in causes beyond the pitch that shift the stigma around who a professional male athlete should and shouldnāt be, and what they should and shouldnāt do.
Such as signing up to guest judge RuPaulās Drag Race Down Under.
āI was starstruckāand I donāt get starstruck very often,ā Cavallo gushes. āRuPaul is one of my role models, because I saw what she was able to do in her industryāhow she came out and became an icon in the space of the drag queens. And that’s something that I only dream and wish to be in the sport of football.ā
The episode he guest judged comes out on September 8, so he canāt say too much about it just yet. āAll of the queens smashed it. It was really hard to critique them because they all did such a good job,ā he offers.
Cavalloās charisma doesnāt just show on Drag Race, in the campaign for Unisonāa brand he resonates with not only because its clothes match his own personal style, but because of its inclusive valuesāor on the soccer pitch. He carries himself with the natural grace of a role model no matter where he is, and although soccer is his first love, itās not difficult to see that helping other people feel safe and valued is a pretty close second.
āAt the end of the day, lookā¦ Iām only 23, so Iām still young,ā says Cavallo when I ask about his future. āI just want to leave a pathway for people so they donāt feel like they have to announce who they are, or they donāt feel like they have to dress or act differently when they go to training.ā
Speaking of training, heās working hard at it. The 2023/2024 A-League season kicks off in October, and after losing the semifinals twice, Cavallo says his team is hungry for revenge. āMelbourne City is going to be the team to beat,ā he says with a smile. āBut weāre not intimidated. We can beat anyone on our day. Iām sure weāll come home with the championship this year.ā
Related:
Why is homophobia in male sports still an issue?
The Matildas burned bright. But what happens next for womenās football?
