Thomas Beattie on helping Josh Cavallo to come out, and life as a gay man in football

"You won't know me, but I'm struggling and need someone to talk to."

Josh Cavallo's name didn't mean anything to Thomas Beattie when it first appeared in the ex-Hull City academy footballer's inbox - and on the face of it, there was little to link the two men together.

Cavallo was based in Australia, a young professional footballer at the very start of his career, while Beattie was living the life of an entrepreneur in Singapore after a horrific head injury forced him to step away from the game.

But the two men had one thing in common.

Both were gay - and while Beattie had decided to share his sexuality in an online article in 2020,, external Cavallo wasn't yet out to the world.

"He said he'd read a lot about my story and felt like I was him, just 10 years after," Beattie, 35, tells the BBC's LGBT Sport Podcast.

"So I responded and we ended up talking almost daily. I was excited that he'd had the courage to reach out to me, because without knowing someone, it takes a lot.

"You don't know who they are going to tell, but the fact I'd gone through that process meant he knew I understood the difficulties of it and trusted me with that secret."

In October 2021 - months after he started talking with Beattie - Cavallo created a watershed moment in the world of football when he became the first top-level male professional to come out as gay while still playing.

But without Beattie paving the way, the moment may never have happened.

The elements of Beattie's story that resonated with Cavallo will strike a chord with many other gay and bisexual men in sport.

As a young lad growing up in Yorkshire, he was spotted by a local scout who noticed his speed on the ball.

"When you're young and you're quick, you just kick it and run past nine players and you're one-on-one with the goalkeeper," Beattie laughs.

Despite his modesty, he clearly had talent, and offers to sign him came in from clubs in the region. He chose Hull City, only a short drive from his home, and was soon on their bench for academy games, weighing up the possibility of a career as a professional.

"I played because I loved football, but it went from being a game to a business," Beattie says.

"Suddenly, senior pros were in the dressing room, and it was all just a little bit overwhelming. I had everything I thought I wanted, but was just really unhappy and couldn't really pinpoint why it was."

With a year left on his contract, Beattie - with Hull City's full - was released to go and play in the United States at a collegiate level.

After finding success there, he returned to the UK to trial with Kilmarnock, where he turned down the offer of a professional contract, still unable to shake off a sense of 'otherness'.

"It was super-confusing for me," Beattie says.

"I couldn't really comprehend it, and now I look back and realise that I was scared to be under the spotlight because I was different, and I didn't know what it was."

It was only when he went to play in Asia that Beattie began to understand his feelings.

"I got to a certain age where I'd meet a lot of girls, and it just wasn't like my friends were describing it," he says.

"And it was strange for me, because I'd heard on TV that there were gay people in different industries, but I don't think I would ever allow myself to believe that I was that. It was just so far beyond what I could comprehend.

"I'd got to a point where I just buried it, threw it under a rug and tucked it deep inside me - and it was only when I was playing in Asia that I said in my mind a few times to myself: 'Oh my days, I think I might be gay.'

"And even just saying that to myself, my whole body was tingling, it was on fire, and it was almost like some chemical response to fear or something daunting of: 'Why me">