ABSTRACT
Facing possible sanctions from the Italian Football Federation, Di Canio said: “I will always salute as I did yesterday because it gives me a sense of belonging to my people” (The Independent 1 December 00). Di Canio received unqualified support from Ignazio La Russa, a member of the Alleanza Nazionale (AN – National Alliance), formerly the neo-fascist Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI – Italian Social Movement): “Let everybody salute as they like. It doesn’t seem to me a violent gesture. There’s nothing dramatic about it” (The Independent 21 December 2005). Daniela Fini, the wife of Gianfranco Fini (the leader of the AN), Italy’s deputy minister at the time, said Di Canio was the victim of media bias against the right and argued there was little criticism of the closed-fist communist salutes of Livorno fans. “It should be his own affair, but every time it happens it becomes a matter of state” (Yahoo Sport! UK 14 December 2005), said Fini, a Lazio supporter. The controversial Di Canio received a one match suspension from the Italian Football Federation and was fined 10,000 euros ($1,000).
