South Australian Police are investigating homophobic abuse directed at Adelaide United star Josh Cavallo, since he revealed he was gay last October.
Cavallo, 22, was believed to be the first top-flight player to come out as gay and has had to cope with the public attention - both positive and negative - that comes along with that.
That spotlight burned too hot over the weekend, when he called out the slurs and death threats directed at him, as he was substituted off the field against Melbourne City.
"I'm not going to pretend that I didn't see or hear the homophobic abuse at the game last night," he posted on Instagram. "There are no words to tell you how disappointed I was.
"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. Know that there is no place in the game for this.
"Football is a game for everyone, no matter of who you are, what colour your skin is or where you come from."
Adelaide chief executive Natha Kosmina confirms the Australian Professional Leagues are working with AAMI Stadium security to identify the culprits through video footage, with lifetime bans a possibility.
"There's more cameras at our games than there ever have been before and the security infrastructure at AAMI Park is probably the best in the country," says Kosmina.
"We have to let it run its course, but what's as important as it is to identify the perpetrators is the messaging that that goes beyond this thing. If we don't identify who they are, then it's not the end of it.
"He's arguably the highest profile men's player in the league now, in terms of the global reach of his name and brand. With that and our sport being global means that he gets comments from all over the world - majority positive, but there’s an element that is negative and that is ongoing.
"I think where this [incident] went a little too far was the quantum of it. It wasn't an individual, it was more of a collective voice coming out of that northern stand and he said, basically, 'Enough's enough. I'm calling this out' and we say, 'We're right behind you, Josh'."
