Fascist Italian soccer coach stirs controversy in England

Soccer coach Paolo Di Canio's appointment as the new manager of the English Premier League football team Sunderland FC has provoked outrage because the Italian is a self-declared fascist. David Miliband, a former UK foreign secretary, resigned from the board of the Premier League soccer club at the weekend after Di Canio's appointment as manager. "In the light of the new manager's past political statements, I think it right to step down," said Miliband, who is the older brother of current Labor Party leader Ed Miliband and the son of Jewish immigrants persecuted by the Nazis during World War II.

In 2005, Di Canio performed the fascist salute before hardcore fans of Italy's Lazio club as he celebrated a win over rivals AS Roma. The 44-year-old has in the past praised Italy's fascist leader Benito Mussolini and has the Latin word 'Dux' - a reference to the dictator's title of 'Duce' - tattooed on his arm. He has been open about his political sympathies. In an interview with Italian news agency ANSA in 2005 he declared: "I am a fascist, not a racist."

On Tuesday Di Canio declared that he was "'not a political person" and preferred instead to focus on football.

The Italian's past was also an issue during his stint as manager of the team of Swindon Town, with the influential GMB labor union ending their sponsorship of the English Second Division club in May 2011 decrying the arrival of a "racist manager". "He has openly voiced support for Mussolini so it beggars belief that Swindon could have appointed him, especially given the multi-ethnic nature of the team and the town," a GMB spokesman said at the time.

Di Canio's appointment comes also at a time of increasing popular support for the European far right as the Euro zone economic crisis deepens with a rise in anti-Semitic and racist incidents at matches in countries with high unemployment.

Last November, the World Jewish Congress called for Lazio to be suspended from European soccer if they failed to take action against hard-core anti-Semitic supporters after Tottenham Hotspur fans were attacked. WJC President Ronald S. Lauder said Lazio should be banned from European matches in the event of further racist or anti-Semitic incidents at their ground. In February, the European soccer governing body UEFA ordered Lazio to play two Europa League matches in an empty stadium after 300 fans had given the fascist salute.

Last month, the Greek Football Federation banned 20-year-old AEK Athens midfielder Giorgos Katidis from all international teams for life after he gave the Hitler salute to fans.

Di Canio's arrival drew an immediate response from the Durham Miners Association (DMA), a powerful workers' organization, who asked for the return of a banner on permanent display at the Sunderland's Stadium of Light. The stadium is approached along Keir Hardie Way, named after the Scottish socialist and labor union leader who became the first independent Labor Party member of the UK Parliament in 1892.

"The appointment of Di Canio is a disgrace and a betrayal of all who fought and died in the fight against fascism," said DMA general secretary Dave Hopper. "Everyone must speak out and oppose this outrage..."