I went to my first ever Newcastle match when I was 12. I was given my season ticket as my 13th birthday present, for purely selfless reasons I’m sure as it meant my Dad was going to have to go to St James’ every other week as a gesture of fatherly love (for the avoidance of doubt, my Dad was a huge Newcastle fan so you can imagine the dread this filled him with).
I still remember that first match. We were up in the Gods right at the back of the Milburn stand, the tallest part of the stadium. The players were dots but you could still make out the familiar outlines of Shearer, Given, Jenas, Dyer, Bellamy, Speed … Plus the legend that is Wor Bobby in the managers dug out. It was against Manchester United so obviously we lost, but it was incredible. I was just happy to be in St James for the first time knowing I had the whole season to look forward to. I knew I’d see a win eventually and a drubbing to Man United is kind of part of the course when you’re a Newcastle fan.
It was a time when Newcastle were riding high. Champions League every season, decent finishes in the table, two Newcastle and England legends at the helm. Sure people thought we were a bit arrogant and the likes of Bellamy and Dyer became seen to be the personification of the stereotypical playboy footballer but overall it wasn’t too bad. It was the early 2000s – racism was clearly a thing of the past, women and girls were attending games quite freely, families were an increasing presence on the terrace. Footballers and fans were still acting like idiots at times, but in a comparatively minor way when compared to the past. Violence and drunkenness in stadiums was far rarer and bananas being thrown and monkey noises being made were a thing of the past.
Now, I tell this story for two reasons. One, to make it evidently clear that I am a Newcastle fan so when I move on later in this piece to the recent events across the Tyne at Sunderland people know where I stand. Two, to show the power football and sport in general has for instituting change. Had it been the 1970s or 80s my Dad would probably have never dreamt of buying his daughter a season ticket, but it was different by 2002 and perfectly safe to take a child to a match. Yet we have let our guards down since the 2000s and were naive in believing certain battles to have been won. Recent events have shown that although we’ve come a long way in combating racism, there’s still a ways to go.
So to events across the river. The recent appointment of Paolo di Canio as manager of Sunderland Football Club shows football’s worst face once again. His stated admiration for Mussolini is, well, scary and should have stopped him from ever being offered such a position.
If he had said that he could understand why Italians found Mussolini appealing as a leader at such a time in their history, it would be an opinion on history. A tough one for all to hear but an opinion on the past nonetheless. But his comments were about Mussolini’s beliefs – an admiration of his politics. It is simply unacceptable that a person who has DVX (the Latin phrase used to allude to Mussolini) tattooed on his body and has displayed the fascist salute during matches is able to become manager of a club such as Sunderland. It becomes even more gaulling when a man like Martin O’Neill has been sacrificed in the process.
Not only does it make intolerance look like a mere inconvenience rather than a serious problem, it shows an incredible lack of respect to the players di Canio is meant to be leading. As a manger, your players are meant to look up to you, to follow you, but how on earth can Sunderland players who aren’t white feel comfortable around di Canio?
Fascism was meant to be a part of history which was consigned to text books. Something children now learnt about in school and not from everyday life. Although I think the pressure placed on footballers and people in the public eye in general to be role models can be a little extreme at times, there are occasions when it is simply unacceptable to allow their opinions or actions to slide.
One thing that has been great to see though is the opposition from Sunderland fans to the appointment. People from the north east are well known for their pride and nowhere is the north eastern pride displayed better than when it comes to football. Chairmen from outside the region – and indeed the country – can perhaps underestimate this. It does feel at times that football has been taken over by people who have really no clue what the sport can give and Short seems no exception to this.
As a fan, the manager and players represent you on match day. Yes it sounds a tad ridiculous, you’re not the one going on the pitch that day, but it’s true. Pardew, Cabaye, Taylor and Cisse represent ‘me’ on the pitch and the same goes for Sunderland fans with di Canio, Mignolet, Rose and Johnson. That’s why supporters are incredibly loyal but also incredibly demanding – we want to be proud to support who we do. It is also one of the reasons Sunderland fans have reacted this way. Do you really want a person with such views representing you on match day? Representing the club you put a lot of time and money into supporting. Too many decisions by chairman recently have felt like a kick in the teeth be it Wonga or di Canio and the decision to not hold a press conference today seems to recognise that this is another hard decision for the board to explain.
Plus, let’s face it, when even Seb Blatter thinks you should be banned from football, it’s probably a sign.
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Interesting if flawed article, Hannah. First, lets be clear about this, there is no evidence, not a shred, that Di Canio has ever behaved in a racist way towards anyone. Whilst many Italian Nationalists may be racist, that doesn’t mean they all are. His Roman background and having been brought up as a Lazio supporter no doubt inflamed his passions when he briefly played for Lazio at the back end of his career, and where the infamous Roman salute took place. Describing myself as a left-of-centre British liberal, I find the concepts of Fascism unpalatable; however, I do understand that, from the Italian Nationalist perspective, fascism is a pretty routine viewpoint. I suspect many of them confuse national pride with the more extreme Fascist political dogma. So, you do make the basic error of assuming fascism = racism. If you Hannah, or anyone else, wants to get a more balanced view of Di Canio rather than the sensationalist and error-strewn regurgitation of old news, have a read of this article in the Independent from Dec 2011:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/paolo-di-canio-my-life-speaks-for-me-6273526.html
Secondly, your grasp of geography is clearly lacking. Sunderland is not “across the Tyne” or “across the river” from Newcastle. It is 12 miles away straddling the River Wear. But then again, I suspect you knew that.
I think you’ll find Sunderland IS actually “across the tyne” from Newcastle, albeit not immediately. It’s south, over the water, AND it straddles the River Wear.
Please cast aside your geographical pedanticisms.
Also, tarnished political beliefs or not, Di Canio is still a nut-job. The perfect candidate for our mackem chums, I guess.
As a pedant yourself, you clearly have a grasp of pedanticism. On that note, its actually East by South East. And try reading the article in the link above before you insult people. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that one of our geordie brethren would come to the defence of another inaccurate geordie pretending to be clever.
Hi Paul,
Thanks for commenting. I had seen the Independent article and it certainly offers a different perspective. However, as a football fan, the fact that a man who has Mussolini’s name tattooed on him and has given a fascist salute during a game is in charge of Sunderland makes me feel incredibly uneasy. Whilst fascism and racism might not be the same thing per se, racism is a fundamental part of facisms wider believes so essentially they begin to equate to one another in my eyes.
With regards to the Tyne/Wear debate, I’m afraid that was just bias on my part! I didn’t want to complicate things by writing ‘across the Tyne and Wear’ and inevitably chose the Tyne part of that equation to be the more important! (apologise to Sunderland fans out there …)
The tattoo reads ‘DVX’ which is Latin for ‘Leader’ and was a term used by the Roman legions. Later versions include the English ‘Duke’, the French ‘Duc’ and the modern Italian ‘Duce’. The salute pre-dates fascism by some 2000 years, and again was used in the Roman legions. Those who want to put their own spin and agenda on all of this will do so, but Di Canio has denied being a racist, all of his friends and contacts in football say he is not a racist and there is not a shred of evidence to say that he is. Even learned academics cannot entirely agree on what fascism is, since it takes several forms. Italian Fascism historically refers to a romantic view of a greater Roman / Italian state as it was perhaps up to the Renaissance period, with the emphasis being on the State being greater than the Individual. This is not unlike some Brits who have a rose-tinted view of the great days of Empire – pretty harmless but not entirely politically correct these days. Di Canio has expressed a very clear opinion on Mussolini, and if you had bothered to research this you would have seen that he is critical of the man, saying he started out with good intentions but betrayed his principles and ethics and did some vile things. This fits the historical context of Mussolini’s rise to power. Mussolini was known as ‘El Duce’, so if Di Canio was such a big fan, why has he not got that tattooed on his arm?
“Think not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” The words of a Fascist? No, John F. Kennedy. Spin that!
You come across just like David Miliband another Left wing marxist hypocrite. He’s spent his life railing against anyone who’s become well off due to hard their work, thinking he has a right to tax their income and waste it on Lefty nonsense & building a client State. Yet he’s supposedly made at least a million since ‘retiring’ from front line politics and he’s now taking a lucrative sinecure heading up what’s laughingly called a charity. Can’t remember reading an article by you on the greed of the South Shields MP. Anti-democratic, financially greedy and morally corrupt. Since David Miliband was the socialists standard-bearer, his political career explains a great deal about what has gone wrong with British public life, about why politicians are no longer liked or trusted, and about how political parties have come to be viewed with contempt. Mr Miliband – he has never had even the faintest connection with the real world. From life in think tanks he became a Labour Party researcher and special adviser, before being parachuted into the north-eastern constituency of South Shields as an MP. Can’t remember reading an article by you when Miliband was appointed Vice-Charman at SAFC that he was at the heart of the Labour machine when it spewed out its now notorious falsehoods over immigration and Iraq. The House of Commons register reveals that he has earned an incredible sum – nearly £1 million – from outside interests since losing the party leadership to his brother, including £125,000 for 15 days’ work as a director of Sunderland, approximately £60,000 has come his way from the UAE, a gulf state with an unappetising human rights record, and another hefty chunk from St James’s Place, a company that advises very rich people how to invest their money.
We don’t give a toss about PDC’s beliefs because they private!
Keep your black n white nose and politics out of OUR business.
Well Terry, glad to see I’m not alone in recognising Milliband’s hypocrisy!! His Marxist father supported a dogma that resulted in some of the most vile regimes on the planet, so its a bit rich him flouncing off trying to claim the moral high ground. I suspect he is using this as an excuse to resign having taken on his new job.
Hi Terry,
I purposely didn’t enter the debate about Miliband as I felt this was an article about football as a whole and the situation in Sunderland rather than one politician. What I will say though is that whilst I admit that the timing was somewhat convenient, surely moving to New York is reason enough in itself to walk away from Sunderland if he really wanted to. Resigning over this makes his leaving political when it didn’t have to be.
Also, the International Rescue Committee is a pretty renowned charity, so there isn’t anything laughingly about it.
Guess he won’t be introducing Titus to his daughters?