![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Josh-Cavallo-696x392.jpg\" "\\"Josh")
<\/div>\nThese past few months have been an extraordinary time for Josh Cavallo.<\/p>\n
Last year, the 22-year-old Adelaide United footballer posted a video online and made an announcement that changed his life: \u201cI\u2019m a footballer and I\u2019m gay.\u201d<\/p>\n
He became the only current top-flight male professional footballer in the world to come out as gay.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was raw emotion, I wanted people to see how I felt\u201d, he tells me when we meet in Adelaide.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI never thought\u2026 there would be a day that came and I said, \u2018I\u2019m Josh Cavallo, a footballer and I\u2019m gay.’\u201d<\/p>\n
Nowadays, he looks like a very different person from the one in the video. He is beaming.<\/p>\n
One of the very first things he mentions is how happy he was about inspiring Jake Daniels, the 17-year-old Blackpool footballer, to come out.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo know that I\u2019ve influenced someone in such a small space of time, it\u2019s phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last week, Jake Daniels became the first British professional male footballer to come out in more than 30 years. He said that Josh was his inspiration. Nowadays, the two speak frequently.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy main advice to him is to embrace who you are, and just enjoy it. Mate, you\u2019ve opened a new chapter, this is your new life, so go out there and live it. I\u2019m very excited for the both of us. We\u2019re only at the start of our career.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a work in progress and it\u2019s not always going to be happy days. There are going to be days that are quite gloomy as well. But he\u2019s prepared for that,\u201d Josh says.<\/p>\n
The turning point that made Josh want to speak out was after he won Young Player of the Year in his first season with Adelaide United. He tells me something wasn\u2019t right.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I received that award, I was emotionally quite sad, but on the outside I looked happy. And I wanted to change that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went through all my youth career and started my professional career in the closet. And that\u2019s acting 24\/7. It\u2019s constant lies and the pressure of also being professional football on top of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says he was overwhelmed by the reaction to his coming out.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo see the tweets from Lil Nas X or Ellen DeGeneres or all the big Premier League clubs\u2026 [Liverpool manager] Jurgen Klopp was talking about it as well. It\u2019s really nice to see,\u201d he tells me, smiling.<\/p>\n
He was particularly touched when he received messages from people around the world telling him how he\u2019s helped them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I open my phone now, I\u2019ll see in my message requests of mums, of dads, of boys, of girls, of grandparents. People that have said: \u2018You helped my uncle\u2026 or you\u2019ve helped my daughter come out\u2026 now they\u2019re so much happier\u2019,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n
The Adelaide fans have embraced him. Since coming out, he tells me he\u2019s become more confident on the pitch.<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly felt like there was a ton of bricks that just came off my shoulders. And it was just an amazing feeling,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
But it has not always been easy. Josh tells me he still has to deal with negative comments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are games where I have been booed before, I have heard something that\u2019s quite homophobic and it does hurt me. Not everyone\u2019s going to love you for who you are, I take it in my stride,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Josh says he\u2019s been approached by many athletes around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom water polo to track and field sports, to football to AFL in Australia, a lot of athletes have reached out to me\u2026 Some people are ready to come out and some people just want to ask questions,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Few male football players have come out as gay during their careers. This makes both Josh Cavallo\u2019s and Jake Daniels\u2019 announcements hugely significant.<\/p>\n
\u201cI struggled to find someone to look up to\u2026 [and say]: \u2018Oh, he\u2019s successful, and he\u2019s gay, and he plays football.\u2019 That\u2019s something I didn\u2019t have growing up,\u201d Josh says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want the kids that are growing up now and identifying themselves as gay not to turn away from the sport. Because I would hate to hear that the next Messi or Ronaldo is gay, and turns away from football,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n
Josh tells me he hopes that in a few years, footballers like him and Jake Daniels coming out as gay during their career won\u2019t be so unusual. But he also acknowledges what a pivotal moment this is.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just really proud of myself and that I can help people change their lives for the better.\u201d<\/p>\n
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