Di Canio 'a fascist but not a racist' - report

Paolo Di Canio will contest a one-match ban imposed for giving a stiff-arm salute on the grounds that he admits to being fascist but denies being racist, according to Italian news reports.

The Lazio veteran, who also played for Sheffield Wednesday, West Ham, Charlton and Celtic, is facing further possible action from world governing body FIFA for using the stiff-arm salute while playing for his current club.

Di Canio is appealing against a one-match ban and a €100,000 fine imposed by Italian football chiefs after he gave the salute during Lazio’s match with Juventus.

The 37-year-old has hired a lawyer to defend him.

The ANSA news agency outlines the defence the lawyer Gabriele Bordoni is planning for his client.

The agency quotes the player as saying: “I am a fascist, not a racist.

“I made the Roman salute because it’s a salute from a comrade to his comrades and was meant for my people.

“With this stiff arm I do no want to incite violence or racial hatred.”

ANSA report that Bordoni wishes not only to win Di Canio’s appeal but to establish that the salute is legal.

The salute is associated by many with the regimes of Benito Mussolini in Italy and Adolf Hitler in Germany but its supporters claim it has its origins in the Ancient Roman Empire.