When kids playing in a park take serious objection to something that's going on in a game they can quite literally pick up their ball and go home. "I'm not having fun so there's no point playing anymore" being something that you're expected to grow out of by your teenage years, as if you try to take your ball home in an actual game the referee can just get another one. Not so for Di Canio though, who in between scoring eye-popping volleys for West Ham also took diva histrionics to an all new level for the visit of Bradford City. Twice in the first half he felt that he had been fouled when running into the box but his cries for a penalty were roundly ignored by the referee. Frustrations building, Di Canio outmanoeuvred a number of Bradford players in the second half, tricked his way into the box, attempted to dummy his way around a defender, and then crumpled under a trailing leg. Surely, he must have thought, this time he'd be awarded the decision. But no, the referee again turned away and Di Canio had had enough. He rose to his feet and marched towards the bench making the universal gesture for "take me off". Much like the referee though, his manager wasn't interested and promptly told him to get on with the game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKHvvPClH-8
WhatCulture's Managing Editor and Chief Reporter | Previously seen in Vice, Esquire, FourFourTwo, Sabotage Times, Loaded, The Set Pieces, and Mundial Magazine
