Di Canio: Has football lost its soul?

What a moral lesson for our children! ‘In the end it’s all about winning. It doesn’t matter how, it doesn’t matter who you’re led by. If you win, you're hero, if you lose you're condemned.’

These were the overriding messages that seemed to come from the football experts and most fans in regards to the controversial appointment of self proclaimed fascist Paolo Di Canio as Sunderland manager.

The great moral bastion of our times, John Terry tweeted that Di Canio was ‘a nice guy’, because as a young player Di Canio gave him some good advice. Di Canio, delighted by such high praise, sought out Terry before yesterday’s kick-off to hug him as if they were long-lost brothers.

I guess we expect no more from Terry, but what should we expect from high profile former Black players? Arsenal legend Ian Wright said on his Absolute Radio programme:

He’s here now, get over it. It’s all about whether he can get them winning".

Then there was Manchester United’s hero Dion Dublin seemed almost embarrassed to be asked a question about Di Cano’s political views, suggesting too that fans would only be concerned about whether or not he can keep them up. It was left to former England goalkeeper David James to add caution:

I am very surprised that Sunderland gave him the job in the first place. I can't argue with Paolo's management skills… But an important aspect of any appointment is what the fans' response will be and the Sunderland board should have seen this furor coming. Did they not do their research?"

But by early Sunday evening after the game against Chelsea, all the talk, despite Sunderland losing, was how Di Canio got the team working better. The moral question redundant, superseded by the financial imperative - ‘Can he keep the team in the lucrative premiership’?

Maybe the Sunderland’s shirt sponsors, the independent company promoting inward African investment -‘Invest in Africa’, will take a different view. They are reviewing their ties with the club. And as well they might!. Di Canio’s hero Benito Mussolini bombed Haile Selassie’s Ethiopia into submission killing thousands, and adding to its already forced colonies of Eritrea, Somalia, and Libya.

With the specter of 'Il Duce' with the clubs slogan -‘Invest in Africa’, it almost seems like one of those sick jokes.

Given that football is our national game, surely we cannot teach our children that it’s only about winning. If the Sunderland bosses were hell bent on appointing Di Canio, they should have demanded a statement that renounced Fascism and the shocking acts of Mussolini, particularly his intervention in Africa.

For myself, I don’t care how good a football player or manager is, if they support fascism, and its murderous leaders I’ve no time for them.

Simon Woolley