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Revision as of 18:18, 20 December 2005 by Attilios (talk | contribs) (About fascist gesture)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Paolo di Canio (born July 9, 1968 in Rome) is an Italian football player who currently plays for the Italian Serie A club Lazio.
Career
He signed for Lazio in 1985, where he remained until 1990, moving to one of the Italian giants Juventus. He stayed there until 1993 and successive seasons saw him join first Napoli and then A.C. Milan. In 1996 he joined Celtic in Scotland, and his successful season in Glasgow (scoring 15 goals in 37 appearances) saw him make a move to the Premiership as he joined Sheffield Wednesday.
In the United Kingdom, di Canio is famous for an incident on the pitch in 1998 where he pushed referee Paul Alcock to the ground after being sent off while playing for Sheffield Wednesday against Arsenal. In January 1999, di Canio signed for West Ham United and helped them to achieve a high league position (5th) and qualify for the UEFA cup. He scored the BBC Goal of the Season in 2000 with a magnificent volley against Wimbledon, which is still considered among the best goals in Premiership history. In this season he was also voted Hammer of the Year by the club's fans.
In 2001, he won the FIFA Fair Play award. The previous December, in a match against Everton, in an impressive display of sportsmanship, di Canio shunned a goal scoring opportunity and caught the ball while the Everton goalkeeper Paul Gerrard was lying injured on the ground. FIFA described the act as "a special act of good sportsmanship." It is uncertain if FIFA would reconsider the award in light of di Canio's recent obsession with fascist symbolism. He remained at West Ham until 2003 when, following West Ham's relegation, he signed for Charlton Athletic. In August 2004 he moved back to his home team of Lazio where he scored again in the Rome derby just as he'd done fifteen years prior.
Controversies
Paolo has had a chequered career, in which time he has won many honours and been selected for his national team, but also been the centre of much controversy, such as assaulting a referee during a game and has recently been accused of making Fascist gestures to celebrate his team winning last Rome derby against arch-rivals Roma. As he repeated the gestured in the matches against Livorno (whose supporters are markedly left-wing) and Juventus in December 2005, he was suspended for one game by the Italian Football Federation and fined 10,000 Euros. He is known to be outspoken and passionate, and is famous for his on- and off-field flair. Also he is known to have been part of the ultras fan group (Lazio's Irriducibili) in his youth, which is quite uncommon between professional football players.
After criticism from most politicians for his fascist gestures, he stated: "I will always salute as I did yesterday because it gives me a sense of belonging to my people." Di Canio also has a tattoo on his arm which reads "DVX", which is the latin appellative used for Mussolini (equivalent to the German Führer) . Lazio has deep-rooted historic ties with fascism and Irriducibili have allegedly a ultra-right wing connotation. His own team, Lazio, attempted to distance themselves from his actions, claiming that they rejected any "politicisation" of football. Di Canio refused to apologize for his actions and claimed that he did not intend to make a political statement. He insists that he is free to communicate with his fans in the manner of his choosing: however, this probably does not take account of Italian Republican law, which considers Fascism's propaganda a crime.
| Preceded byPaul Gascoigne | Scottish PFA Players' Player of the Year 1997 |
Succeeded byJackie McNamara |