Yesterday Adelaide United Football star Josh Cavallo become the first A-League Footballer to come out as gay while actively playing. It was an historic moment for the sport as Josh joins a small group of out players globally, most of whom came out only after they had retired.
Following the 21-year-olds announcement on social media, an outpouring of support from the football community has dominated both news and social media conversation.
Data from media intelligence organisation Meltwater reveals that mentions of Josh have increased by a staggering 3213650% in global news and social media in the last 24 hours. Notably, a large portion of the coverage is coming from the United Kingdom, the United States, and Spain where major clubs including FC Barcelona and Chelsea FC have openly backed the Adelaide player.
Image: Meltwater data shows the top emojis used in social media posts mentioning Josh Cavallo
Meltwater's proprietary technology has also identified international publications including BBC News, CNN and ESPN as being instrumental in boosting the story's reach to a large international readership.
On social media, messages of support from Barcelona star Gerard Pique and Manchester United defender Raphaël Varane have earned a staggering 60.8k and 46.9k engagements respectively and the hashtag #differencesmakethedifference has been steadily trending.
In Australia, Senator Penny Wong was one of those to tweet her support and one of the most popular Australian tweets by engagement numbers.
Further insights about the global pick up across media and social channels is available here (with passcode: josh ) and further details can be provided on request.
Meltwater fully supports Josh and commends his efforts in furthering visibility for LGBTQI+ people in sport.
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