Paulo di Canio is our Aryan Superior.

Raskolnikov

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11895057%255E23215,00.html

Nazi-style salute of hate
By Simon Evans in Milan
January 10, 2005

LAZIO striker Paolo Di Canio has been criticised across the political spectrum in Italy after newspaper images showed him celebrating his team's derby win against AS Roma with a fascist-style salute.

At the end of Friday's heated game, won 3-1 by Lazio with Di Canio among the scorers, he ran towards the Lazio fans at the north end of the Olympic Stadium to celebrate the victory.

Photographs published in newspapers on Saturday clearly showed Di Canio displaying a stiff armed salute to the crowd, identical to the "Roman salute" used by followers of Italy's wartime fascist dictator Benito Mussolini (it is also a replica of the Nazi salute).

Alessandra Mussolini, grand-daughter of the late dictator and herself a far-right politician, praised Di Canio's actions.

"How nice was that Roman salute , it delighted me so much," she said, "I shall write him a thank you note".

Di Canio denied there was any political content to his gesture: "I am a professional footballer and my celebrations had nothing to do with political behaviour of any kind, in particular not those expressed by Mrs Floriani," he told the daily Gazzetta dello Sport using Alessandra Mussolini's married name.

But conservative Minister for EU affairs Rocco Buttiglione said the salute had real meaning.

"The Roman salute brings back painful memories for many Italians. Sport should bring people together but the symbols of that civil war can only divide. He should think about the offspring of those who were killed," he said.

Centre-left politician Enzo Foschi said he respected Di Canio the footballer but was appalled by his gesture. "The salute cannot pass without comment. It gives legitimacy to fascism, a murderous and tyrannical ideology," he said.

Di Canio, who was a hardcore Lazio "ultra" during his youth before joining the club as a player, has never made any secret of his political affiliations.

In his autobiography he said that he was "fascinated" by Benito Mussolini and said that the dictator had been "deeply misunderstood" and was "basically a very principled, ethical individual".

mike65

All hail Di Canio...strange fella. Great player and its not like he's evil I remember when at West Ham I think, he had the goal at his mercy after an incident when an opposing player was injured. He did'nt shoot and picked up the ball to stop play so medics could come on..and then we have facist salutes..

Mike.

Big Ears

A football stadium probably not the best place to show his support of Fascism , but there is nothing wrong letting a man support a terrible idea .

KdjaCL

Playing some of the best football of his career atm with Lazio.
Superb player slighly mad tho.

/was against everton irc caught football when Wright went down at edge of the box instead of heading into an empty net.



kdjac

Ronan|Raven

Very good player but what goes on in his head is anyones guess! He ran upto the north section of the ground home to the ultra radicals etc, perhaps it was a nervous reaction that caused his arm to goto such a pose

Raskolnikov

Big Ears wrote:

A football stadium probably not the best place to show his support of Fascism , but there is nothing wrong letting a man support a terrible idea .

What Big Ears said, if he wants to follow some right-wing nut jobs that's his business, he ought to keep those political views off the football pitch though.

Draupnir

id sayhe was just doing what the fans were doing back to them thats all. i wont start worrying until he starts gasing jews in his garden shed, i mean, the whole world is gone PC mad. Di Canio always seemed like a sound enough lad, they did a documentary on BBC about him and he was bang on.

Makaveli

It's not really a PC mad situation. Considering the amount of crap that goes on between Roma and Lazio, and how most of it is fascist. Especially the Lazio Ultras, they are psychos. Doing something like that in that game could spark a riot. It's taken less in the past.

jank

Storm in a tea cup really

If he wants to give the Nazi salute let him to his OWN fans let him, im sure they didnt take offense

pickarooney

He's always been a vocal fan of Mussolini, counts him as one of his two great heroes.

Dub13

pickarooney wrote:

He's always been a vocal fan of Mussolini, counts him as one of his two great heroes.

God only knows who the other "Hero" in his life is.... :eek:

therecklessone

Considering the ongoing problem with racism in Spanish football and the endemic nature of crowd trouble at Italian league matches, for any high profile footballer to make such a gesture shows extremely poor judgement. Thats IF he did as has been reported.

pickarooney

One of Di Canio's judgements:
"Remember those mobile phone advertisements where they asked people who they would most like to have a one-to-one with? …My choice would have been Mussolini. I own dozens of Mussolini biographies. I think he was a deeply misunderstood individual. He was basically a very principled, ethical individual."
Truly the brain wrong of a one-off man-mental.