Italy's Fascist soccer player

[Felix the Cat]

Soccer / Saluting soccer star facing sanctions (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/657018.html)

Lazio's Paolo Di Canio is facing sanctions from the disciplinary board of the Italian Football League, and an Italian Jewish community leader is threatening legal action after the player made a fascist salute at the end of his team's 2-1 loss to Serie A rivals Livorno over the weekend.

The incident happened as the 37-year-old striker walked out under the Lazio supporters section.

He made the same gesture at the end of Lazio's victory over city rivals AS Roma in January this year, and on that occasion the Football League fined him 10,000 euros.

Livorno is well-known in Italy for the hard left-wing politics of its supporters, while Lazio's ultras are aligned with the far right. Lazio supporters waved swastika flags, while Livorno fans had red Communist flags.

"Politics must remain out of soccer stadiums," the Italian soccer federation's deputy president, Giancarlo Abete, was quoted yesterday by the ANSA news agency. But Di Canio was defiant. "I will always salute as I did yesterday because it gives me a sense of belonging to my people," Di Canio was quoted by ANSA.

Meanwhile, Vittorio Pavoncello, president of the Italy Maccabi Federation, said yesterday he would be asking the Jewish Community of Rome to consider supporting legal recourse against Di Canio.

"If the community decides not to accept the proposal, I could [sue] as a personal initiative, or as president of the Italia Maccabi Federation," Pavoncello said.

Pavoncello said he was concerned that Di Canio was becoming a "sort-of hero" for young people.

"The fact that he has been chosen as one of the torch bearers for the flame of the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics [which begin in February] brings shame to the city of Rome," he said.

Di Canio, whose career has seen him play for Juventus, AC Milan and Napoli in Italy, for Celtic in Scotland and at English teams West Ham, Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton, is no stranger to controversy. In his autobiography, the footballer wrote of his admiration for Italian Fascist dictator Mussolini. The salute has been banned in Italy since World War II.

Despite the wide spread calls for action against Di Canio, the condemnation was not wall to wall.

"I can't understand certain controversies," said lawmaker Nino Strano of the National Alliance, a member of Premier Silvio Berlusconi's coalition government. "If the footballer Paolo Di Canio wants to make the Roman salute, he is completely free to do so," he said.

"Let everybody salute as they like," added Strano's colleague Ignazio La Russa. "It doesn't seem to me a violent gesture. There's nothing dramatic about it."

[Jimbo Gomez]

I'm a great fan of Di Canio. The man stands up for his beliefs.

[Ambrosio Spinola]

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2005/01/25/paolodicanio_wideweb__430x318.jpg

Good man! :D

[raven]

What the heck is wrong with a good old fashioned Roman salute? The Italian Jewish community can stuff it. Where has Di Canio ever said he supported Mussolini? That gesture has been around since the Roman Empire.

[Jimbo Gomez]

He has said he has fascist sympathies repeatedly. That's un-PC there as well, but it's not social suicide as it would be in the rest of Europe.

[raven]

He has said he has fascist sympathies repeatedly. That's un-PC there as well, but it's not social suicide as it would be in the rest of Europe.
He has? As an individual who can't stand fascism (Salazar ruined my parents' country for one) I still respect him for standing for his beliefs.

[Felix the Cat]

Footballer not a fascist - Berlusconi (http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=27&si=1531094&issue_id=13448)

ITALY'S prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has made light of the controversy over Paolo Di Canio's use of the fascist salute at a football match at the weekend.

Mr Berlusconi said the Lazio striker was simply an incorrigible exhibitionist.

Leaping to the embattled soccer star's defence after his flashing of the straight-armed, flat-handed Roman salute earned him a €10,000 fine and a single-match ban, on Monday, Mr Berlusconi said yesterday that Di Canio is "a respectable boy, not a fascist. He just does it for the fans, not out of malice. He's a good boy, just a bit of a show-off."

"Fascism is finished, communism continues," he snorted. Mussolini's era hadn't been so bad, he added, saying that fascist racial laws against Jews were only introduced to help the Axis war effort.

"There were the racial laws, horrible, but because one wanted to win the war with Hitler," he said.

Mr Berlusconi's comments came as his 95-year-old mother gripped the nation by disclosing how her son sold refrigerators as a schoolboy and waxed parquet floors for pocket money.

"I Pray for Silvio that God protect his health because he never stops for a moment," Rosa Berlusconi told a magazine.

"I pray that the Lord give him the strength to face up to all the malicious things people who don't know him say about him."

[raven]

I must admit, Berlusconi is one corrupt dude but I like his style. Forza Italia won't be re-elected though... which means that Italy will be swamped with more immigration whereas berlusconi actually wants to restrict immigration and preserve the Italian identity.

[Jimbo Gomez]

I kinda like that Italian styled corruption. It's a fine Roman tradition and I prefer it over big business campaign funding.

[raven]

I kinda like that Italian styled corruption. It's a fine Roman tradition and I prefer it over big business campaign funding.
:D I remember seeing a section in SF about "people in defense of the west" and they had Berlusconi in one of the sections. I would take it that he's popular with their crowd? I would have thought he would have been too PC for them. Either way I do feel that deep down he does care about the Italian identity. And even with the smaller numbers of immigrants that Berlusconi and previous governemnts did bring in, lots of Italians have noted that they were a problem.

[Jimbo Gomez]

He's in favour of turkey's entry in the union...

[raven]

He's in favour of turkey's entry in the union...
He is? What the heck? He does know that the turks would swamp Italy and the rest of the EU right? (Especially Germany which already has lots of turks)

[Gleb]

What the heck is wrong with a good old fashioned Roman salute? The Italian Jewish community can stuff it. Where has Di Canio ever said he supported Mussolini? That gesture has been around since the Roman Empire.

This gesture is much older than Roman Empire. It is simply natural to greet someone like this who is far away from you, think about it how do you say hi to a person who wouldn't be able to hear your greeting? That's right you raise your arm and show him your palm. I used to do it all my life without ever thinking that it might have some Nazi correlation.

[raven]

There is more to this story. Some piece of shit playing in a former club of Di Canio's has something to say. :rolleyes:

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/west_ham_utd/4550506.stm

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41147000/jpg/_41147344_hislop203.jpg

Hislop unable to forgive Di Canio

Shaka Hislop has hit out at his former team-mate Paolo di Canio after the Italian was fined for showing a fascist salute while playing for Lazio.

Hislop said their friendship was over after Di Canio made the gesture in a game at Livorno and has not apologised.

Hislop said: "Paolo never impressed me as that kind of person when he was here at West Ham.

"When it is someone you thought was a friend it has a longer-lasting effect. I am very disappointed by it."

Di Canio was suspended for one match and fined for aiming the salute at supporters, which he insists has "nothing to do with political ideologies."

"I will always salute that way because it gives me a sense of belonging to my people," he said recently.

But Hislop is disgusted by Di Canio's explanation for his straight-armed salute.

He said: "He got on well with my wife and my kids and to see him making headlines for his actions disappoints me greatly because of what those gestures mean and the wider effect of it.

"Paolo was certainly someone I considered a friend who I liked a lot, so I am very disappointed."

Di Canio was backed by Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who believes the 37-year-old striker is simply misunderstood.

He said: "Di Canio is an exhibitionist. His salute didn't have any significance. He's a good lad."

Does this piece of shit think he's special or something? Just take your damn inflated pay cheque, buy some fried chicken and watermelon and shut the fuck up you stupid monkey. If you don't like it, go back to Africa where the white man can't hold you down.

[Lenny]

There is more to this story. Some piece of shit playing in a former club of Di Canio's has something to say. :rolleyes:

Does this piece of shit think he's special or something? Just take your damn inflated pay cheque, buy some fried chicken and watermelon and shut the fuck up you stupid monkey. If you don't like it, go back to Africa where the white man can't hold you down.Oh my. :nono: :o

Well "Shaka Hislop" is most likely a decent person. He simply said what was expected of him when asked to comment on it, as most people would. Also: those non-American blacks like him are a whole lot better than the good old "African-Americans"

[Blaphbee]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Lenny again.
:(

[Felix the Cat]

Also: those non-American blacks like him are a whole lot better than the good old "African-Americans"
Lower crime and welfare rates? Interesting.

[Lenny]

Lower crime and welfare rates? Interesting.Based on my own experience blacks from africa or the caribbean are a lot better, more pleasant, more well-behaved, more friendly, you name it, than African-Americans, I've heard other people express the same opinion. I dont know if crime statistics exist that differentiate between native blacks and foreign blacks in the US, but I would bet money that foreign blacks' crime rates are much lower than those of native-born blacks whose families have been here for generations
.

[raven]

Based on my own experience blacks from africa or the caribbean are a lot better, more pleasant, more well-behaved, more friendly, you name it, than African-Americans, I've heard other people express the same opinion. I dont know if crime statistics exist that differentiate between native blacks and foreign blacks in the US, but I would bet money that foreign blacks' crime rates are much lower than those of native-born blacks whose families have been here for generations
.
Haven't you read about the shootings in Toronto? Go down to Jane-Finch and see how lovely those Jamaicans are. Better yet head down to New York City. Don't they have an area called Jamaica Queens? A New Yorker can better educate you on the subject.

[Lenny]

Haven't you read about the shootings in Toronto?Yeah, but I'm talking about my own personal experience here, I find other blacks to be much better than African-Americans

Anyway events like the December 26th Toronto shooting happen a few times every week in Washington DC and the heavily black areas of Maryland adjacent to DC.

[raven]

Yeah, but I'm talking about my own personal experience here, I find other blacks to be much better than African-Americans

Anyway events like the December 26th Toronto shooting happen a few times every week in Washington DC and the heavily black areas of Maryland adjacent to DC.
Well isnt DC majority black? :rofl: I feel sorry for anyone here who lives there, Detroit, NOLA, etc. :D

[Lenny]

Well isnt DC majority black? :rofl: I feel sorry for anyone here who lives there, Detroit, NOLA, etc. :DThe district of columbia itself is two-thirds black but the Washington DC metropolitan area as a whole is majority white, in the metro-area there are: 3 million whites, 1.3 million blacks, 400,000 hispanics, 300,000 Other, 5 million total.

[DeathtoPrejudice]

Wow, some soccer player gave a "fascist" salute, quick to the lawyers! We have to sue him and have him thrown in jail!!

Childish, who cares if he gave a fascist salute, Jesus christ people are just stupid.

[Nemo]

Haven't you read about the shootings in Toronto? Go down to Jane-Finch and see how lovely those Jamaicans are. Better yet head down to New York City. Don't they have an area called Jamaica Queens? A New Yorker can better educate you on the subject.

I'm from NYC, AND the proto Lenny don't know what he is talking about, Jamacians, Haitians do their share of committing crime here in NYC.

Lenny the Proto hates Catholics but loves his jigaboos and his jewish brothers. :rolleyes: