IT is hardly a ground-breaking claim to suggest that, in at least some respects, football is behind the times.

In a sport in which thousands upon thousands of men play professionally, it was certainly an anomaly that not a single one was publicly out as gay.

Last week, however, the statistic changed. Josh Cavallo, a midfielder with Australian top-league side, Adelaide United, released a post on social media publicly coming out as gay.

The 21-year-old wrote on Twitter: “I am proud to publicly announce that I am gay. It’s been a journey to get to this point in my life, but I couldn’t be happier with my decision to come out. I have been fighting my sexuality for over six years now, and I’m glad I can put that to rest.”

He went on to add that he had felt the need to hide his sexuality out of shame and a fear that he would not be able “to play football and be treated equally”.

“Growing up being gay and playing football were just two worlds that hadn’t crossed paths before,” he continued. “I’ve lived my life assuming that this was a topic never to be spoken about.

“All I want to do is play football and be treated equally. I’m tired. Trying to perform at the best of your ability and to live this double life, it’s exhausting. It’s something that I don’t want anyone to experience.”

There have been a few male footballers who have walked a similar path to Cavallo; famously, in 1990, Justin Fashanu became the first professional male footballer to publicly come out while over the past decade, USA internationalist, Robbie Rogers and former Bayern Munich and Aston Villa player, Thomas Hitzlsperger came out following their retirement, although Rogers returned to the game, and Cavallo’s compatriot, Andy Brennan also came out in 2019.

However, Brennan’s move away from the pro game last year meant the status quo was restored; men’s professional football did not have a single publicly gay player in their ranks.

Cavallo’s announcement has been met with overwhelming support; from clubs themselves – Liverpool tweeted “proud of you for your strength and bravery”, Juventus tweeted “proud of you, Josh”, Bayern Munich tweeted “we admire your courage and strength” – as well as individual footballers joining in, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic commenting “you are a champion, big respect”, Marcus Rashford tweeting “the entire football community stands with you, much respect”, and David de Gea tweeting “brave and inspiring, always be yourself”.

Notably, in sending his own support, Spanish internationalist Gerard Pique said: “I want to thank you for this step. The world of football is far behind you and you are helping us move forward.”

The overwhelming support was heartening but it was Pique’s comment that was particularly striking. There can often be an insistence from those within the bubble that a particular issue is not, in fact, an issue at all. So for Pique to so blatantly point out the problem men’s football retains is notable.

The distinction that it is solely men’s football that has this issue to deal with is clear; in the women’s game, in Scotland, England and across the globe, numerous high-profile players, including possibly the most famous of them all, Megan Rapinoe, are openly gay.

So why does men’s football continue to lag quite so far behind?

The reasons remain unclear. The public reaction from every footballer and club who commented was overwhelmingly positive. Similarly, the response from the wider footballing community was extremely positive.

But there is clearly something holding gay players back from going public with their truth.

There remains a small but not insignificant minority in the stands who use homophobic slurs towards players, while there has been several reports of homophobic abuse being used on training grounds.

Yes, these cases are, these days at least, relatively few and far between, but they are far from eliminated entirely, and the damage caused by each incident, however isolated, cannot be underestimated.

And the scrutiny of top-flight footballers, particularly in the UK, makes it understandable why any gay players considering coming out shy away from the attention a public announcement would attract.

Cavallo, in the course of his announcement, mentioned that he “knows there are other players living in silence”, and that he hopes he can show that coming out is a feasible, and relatively smooth path.

Countless players, in lending their support to the 21-year-old, mentioned they believe his actions will inspire others.

Of course, this is the hope.

Few would deny that it is far from an ideal world when men have to choose between publicly being themselves and the sport they love.

But I’m not sure there’s grounds for overwhelming optimism quite yet. Men’s football remains an outlier, particularly in the UK, in terms of the blindingly bright spotlight that is shone upon it.

Cavallo may be leading the way, which, of course, is huge, but that does not eliminate all, or even most, of the perceived risk for others.

Fashanu’s coming out was the perfect example; he certainly did not open the floodgates.

Progress is likely to be in tiny, incremental steps. We potentially may not see another active men’s professional player come out for many years.

But we have to celebrate each and every step forward, and Cavallo certainly took a significant one last week.