Di Canio: I do not support fascism

Paolo Di Canio responded to fresh criticism over his appointment as Sunderland manager by insisting he is not a racist and “does not support the ideology of fascism”.

The Dean of Durham has become the latest public figure to voice disquiet over Di Canio’s appointment in his letter below.

The club responded by issuing a statement from Di Canio which stated: “I have clearly stated that I do not wish to speak about matters other than football, however, I have been deeply hurt by the attacks on the football club.

“This is a historic, proud and ethical club and to read and hear some of the vicious and personal accusations is painful. I am an honest man, my values and principles come from my family and my upbringing.

“I feel that I should not have to continually justify myself to people who do not understand this, however I will say one thing only – I am not the man that some people like to portray.

“I am not political, I do not affiliate myself to any organisation, I am not a racist and I do not support the ideology of fascism. I respect everyone.

“I am a football man and this and my family are my focus. Now I will speak only of football.”

The open letter to Paolo Di Canio from the Dean of Durham.

Dear Paolo di Canio

We have never met, and I am the first to admit that I don’t know very much about football. You do, and I respect that. However, I hope you will allow me to say something about your appointment as manager at Sunderland FC as personally as I can.

My relationship with the Black Cats goes back a long way. I married into a family of fervent lifelong Sunderland supporters. My wife and I got engaged on Cup Final Day 1973, figuring that if Sunderland won her father would say yes to anything and if they lost, he would be past caring.

All these years we have wanted SAFC to do well. We have been glad when it did, and sad when it didn’t. We know how much its football success has meant for the people of Sunderland and the North East who are rightly proud of your new Club.

But today I am wondering what to do. Your appointment raises very difficult questions. You see, I am the child of a Jewish war refugee who got out of Germany and came to Britain just in time.

Some of her family and friends perished in the Nazi death camps. So I find your self-confessed fascism deeply troubling. Fascism was nearly the undoing of the world. It cost millions of innocent lives. Mussolini, who you say has been deeply misunderstood, openly colluded with it. You are said to wear a tattoo DUX which speaks for itself. This all adds up to what I find baffling.

You say that you are not a racist, but it needs great sophistication to understand how fascism and racism are ultimately different. I can promise you that this distinction will be lost on the people of the North East where the British National Party is finding fertile ground in which to sow the seeds of its pernicious and poisonous doctrine. You did not necessarily know this before you came.

But I believe that unless you clearly renounce fascism in all its manifestations, you will be associated with these toxic far-right tendencies we have seen too much of in this region.

At your press conference today, you had the chance to do this, to say in so many words that you have been misunderstood (just as you say Mussolini was).

You were asked where you stood on fascism, but declined to give an unambiguous response. One sentence is all that it would have taken. I’m genuinely perplexed as to why you didn’t take the opportunity that was handed to you. Maybe your minders told you to stay on-message. But don’t you see that it is no answer to plead that this press call was about football, not politics. Where a Premier League club is concerned, you can’t ever separate the two. Politics and high-profile sport, like religion, are about the whole of life. Football is deeply political. To say otherwise may be convenient, but it’s naïve.

Premier League players and managers are big role-models for the young. Is fascism what you or Sunderland FC want our children and teenagers to admire and emulate? And if this doesn’t trouble you personally, should it not trouble those who appointed you? The Club now stands to suffer loss of support as well as see its standing and respect damaged not just in this part of the world but internationally. Its reputation has been hard won. I am just one of thousands who would be sad to see it squandered.

So there it is. Please tell me how to go on supporting the Black Cats with a good conscience, even from the sofa, because believe me, I want to. Please tell me that I have misunderstood, or missed some fundamental issue here. I am simply telling you with a heavy heart that it feels hard at the moment to stay loyal.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Sadgrove