British miners against fascist football manager

This 2012 video is called Di Canio Racist.

By Peter Lazenby in Britain:

Miners remove banner after di Canio pick

Monday 01 April 2013

Durham miners are to withdraw a historic pit union banner from its place of honour at Sunderland Football Club in protest at the club’s appointment of a manager with fascist sympathies.

New manager Paolo di Canio is a self-confessed fascist who claims Italy’s former dictator Mussolini is “misunderstood.”

Sunderland FC has strong links with the mining communities of the Durham coalfield.

Its stadium was built on the site of what was once Britain’s biggest coalmine, Monk Wearmouth colliery.

Outside the ground is a giant effigy of a miner’s lamp, testifying to its links with the industry.

Monk Wearmouth pit’s union banner was saved after its closure, and had been on permanent loan to the football club.

Durham Miners Association is to remove the banner from the stadium in protest at Mr di Canio’s appointment.

The association’s secretary Dave Hopper told the Morning Star: “Di Canio’s views on fascism are pretty well known.

“He admires Mussolini – he says he was ‘misunderstood.’

“We are not prepared to let the Monk Wearmouth banner remain while he is at the club.

“His appointment besmirches the memory of all those miners who died fighting fascism in the Second World War.

“We are not prepared to let it remain there while he is at the club.”

Mr Hopper said he wrote to the club secretary today to demand the banner be returned.

Mr di Canio, a former West Ham footballer, was pictured giving a raised-arm salute to right-wing fans at a football match in Italy in 2005.

He described it as a “Roman” salute but was fined £6,000 by the Italian football authorities.

He has described himself as “a fascist, but not a racist.”

In his autobiography he said: “I am fascinated by Mussolini. I think he was a deeply misunderstood person.”

Sunderland Football Club chairman and South Shields MP David Miliband resigned his chairmanship at the weekend in protest at Mr di Canio’s appointment.

Paolo di Canio refuses to deny he is a fascist: here.

Related articles

• Fascist becomes Sunderland football manager (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• David Miliband steps down from Sunderland over Paolo Di Canio appointment (newstatesman.com)