Melbourne Victory have been fined $5000 by Australian soccer’s governing body following fans chanting homophobic slurs towards Adelaide United’s Josh Cavallo, the world’s only openly gay male top-tier footballer, during the came against Adelaide on 8 January.

Cavello, who came out publicly late last year, has been on Melbourne Victory player in the past.

The team’s leaders condemned the incident and have banned the perpetrators from future matches.

However, the FA had issued Victory with a show-cause notice and a $5000 fine, which will be used by Football Australia to further invest in LGBTQ+ awareness and education initiatives in soccer. Melbourne Victory could have suffered a much more severe punishment for its fans’ behaviour.

FA listed the reasons leading to this lenient penalty in a list:

  • Victory’s prompt public statement denouncing the incident;
  • Their continual commitment to promote LGBTQ+ awareness as well as ongoing training and educational campaigns within their club environment;
  • Their commitment to work with supporters to take additional steps to educate other fans about diversity and inclusion;
  • The actions of numerous Melbourne Victory supporters who showed their disdain for the incident and assisted to identify the group of individuals;
  • The club’s commitment to ban any individuals identified as having engaged in the conduct from attending future matches.

“We look at all incidents on a case-by-case basis and take into consideration the totality of the situation and behaviours. This is not a situation where the club has been sitting on its hands. The club provided a detailed submission, and it has taken a strong stance against anti-social behaviour – both by its actions before and after this incident,” Football Australia CEO James Johnson stated.

“We have tens of thousands of spectators attend football stadiums each week in our season. This is a case of a small number of individuals acting in a way that does not reflect the values of our sport. To be clear, the actions of the spectators responsible for using homophobic slurs against Josh Cavallo were completely unacceptable. We understand that some individuals were removed from the stadium on the night and we will continue to work with the club and the Australian Professional Leagues to ensure that they – and any other individual identified as engaging in a discriminatory act like this at a match – are banned from attending future football matches in Australia.

While we have noted and were pleased with the positive measures undertaken by Melbourne Victory, a sanction reflects the fact clubs are ultimately responsible for the actions of spectators. The club is already undertaking new initiatives to promote diversity and inclusion. We have also committed to use the fine to further support LGBTQ+ awareness and education, which we feel is a more progressive approach to this incident. Football Australia is a founding member of Pride in Sport and will continue to work with them to help support the Australia Professional Leagues and its clubs.

In issuing the sanction Football Australia is warning all participants and fans of the need to work together to ensure everyone can freely participate in our sport regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, ability or disability, cultural or religious background. We will continue to work with the A-Leagues clubs and the Australian Professional Leagues to create a safe and inclusive environment for all involved, whether on or off the field. We will not let the anti-social actions of a few individuals impact the enjoyment football brings to so many.”