Josh Cavallo turns 27 on November 13, and there is a particularly lovely way to revisit the footballer’s story: start with the first date.
Most of us might suggest a drink. Josh and Leighton Morrell went to Bali for ten days.
A modest little getting-to-know-you exercise, obviously.
The holiday that became a relationship
Speaking on It Started With A Kiss earlier this year, Josh shared the story behind their unusual beginning.
As Scene’s account of the interview explains, the pair had spent about a month FaceTiming from opposite ends of Australia before meeting at the airport for the trip.
By the final day, Josh asked Leighton to be his boyfriend.
The podcast’s own episode description adds another comic detail: Leighton had initially blocked Josh because he thought he was a catfish.
Thankfully, the footballer turned out to be quite real.
A different question on the pitch
In March 2024, Josh proposed to Leighton on the pitch at Coopers Stadium, Adelaide United’s home ground.
ABC’s reporting at the time documented the engagement announcement and photographs of Josh down on one knee.
It was an intimate milestone shared in the setting where much of the public knew him: a football ground.
In an interview reported in July 2026, Josh told Attitude that the couple were looking toward a wedding in 2027 and had been planning it for some time.
That is the plan he shared then; no exact wedding date was publicly disclosed in the interview.
Five years of being visible
Josh came out publicly in October 2021 while playing professional football in Australia, becoming one of the sport’s most visible gay men.
He has since described a quieter consequence of that visibility: players contacting him privately about their own sexuality.
In Attitude’s coverage of his podcast appearance, Josh explained that those messages included teammates and opposition players. He also acknowledged that people have different timelines, including choosing not to come out publicly.
Their privacy matters as much as his visibility.
For this birthday, though, the focus can be something joyfully personal: the man he met for an unusually ambitious first date, the proposal they shared and the future they have talked about building.
Happy birthday, Josh. Ten days in Bali was quite an opening move.
📷 @joshua.cavallo