Adelaide United midfielder Josh Cavallo is confident A-Leagues players will embrace and support a league-wide pride round despite "disappointing" issues with a minority of players in other codes.
United and Melbourne Victory's Pride Cup men's and women's double header at AAMI Park on February 26 is expected to lead into a league-wide pride round that weekend.
Similar games and rainbow jersey initiatives in other codes have not been universally received.
NBL outfit Cairns Taipans chose not to wear their pride jersey, while NRL side Manly had seven players sit out of a game last year because of their opposition to the concept.
But Cavallo, the ALM's first openly gay active player, was confident those issues were only minor hurdles and football would embrace the concept.
Asked about the Taipans' decision, Cavallo said: "Yeah, it is disappointing.
"I know and I'm prepared that we're going to come across that.
"In the A-Leagues it's phenomenal because everyone got around it and whether you're gay or straight, it was fantastic to see everyone at Adelaide United and everyone in the A-Leagues, the men's and the women's getting behind it.
"So if we do something special as we're doing in the A-League and continue to grow that, I think leagues like the basketball will see the difference and the effect it's having not only in their sporting game but around the world and around Australia."
Victory and Adelaide ALW captains Kayla Morrison and Izzy Hodgson also said the Taipans' approach was regrettable.
"It's disappointing to see anybody not standing up for what's right or turning their backs on such a big issue nowadays," Morrison told reporters.
"There's already so much hate in the world, so to continue doing that in a big open space where you are affecting kids and other people, it's really sad to see."
Hodgson relished being "at the forefront" of football's pride movement while Cavallo said he'd only received positive feedback from his fellow footballers since coming out in October 2021.
"I can't speak for everyone but based on Adelaide United and the people I've spoken to in different teams, they've said to me, 'Look, this is a fantastic initiative' and they are all in for it," he told reporters.
"To hear my fellow teammates and my fellow competitors say that, honestly it makes me so happy on the inside."
Pride Cup chief executive James Lolicato told AAP that sports needed to have long lead-in times for events like pride rounds to allow for proper engagement of players and staff.
Victory men's skipper Josh Brillante said his team had embraced an education program and relished the opportunity to wear special pride jerseys with rainbow trim.
"We have a platform to be able to be inclusive to everyone and show our support for the LGBTQ community," he said.
"It's a great way for us to show that by having this game."
