Words: Tommy Potter // @TommyTayHo
When one thinks of Javier Zanetti, it’s primarily his on field exploits that spring to mind. This was a player who’s illustrious, trophy-laden career with Inter Milan spanned nearly 2 decades and well and truly saw him enter the pantheon of great footballers. Take a look at his honours list for Inter, and it’s not difficult to see why he is so revered: 5 Scudettos, 4 Coppa Italias, 4 Supercoppa Italias, along with Champions League, UEFA Cup, and Club World Cup titles. His individual honours are too numerous list, but he has been inducted into both the Inter and Italian Halls of fame. Inter even retired his legendary number 4 shirt such was his contribution to the club’s successes. In short, Zanetti is footballing royalty.
Born in 1973 in the working-class Dock Sud area of Buenos Aires to a family of Italian ancestry. His father was a bricklayer and his mother a cleaner. The young Zanetti showed early signs of footballing talent, and tried out for local side Independiente as a teenager. Unfortunately for Zanetti, the Independiente coaches were too narrow-minded to see past his small physique, and rejected him. It’s a story all too familiar in football; boy gets rejected for being too small, boy then proceeds to have an incredible career.
Luckily for Zanetti, and football in general, Second Division side Talleres decided to take a punt on the young full-back, signing him in 1992. After a single season with Talleres, Zanetti made the move to Banfield in the First Division. It was here that Zanetti began to excel, and his performances began to attract admiring glances from Argentina’s giants, Boca Juniors and River Plate. Rather than making another move within his home country, Zanetti decided to give Banfield one more season before making the move to Europe with Inter Milan. And, well, the rest is history.
Javier Zanetti (right) poses for a photo after joining Banfield in 1993, age 20.
Photo Credit: 90s Football
In 1994, an event thousands of miles away from either Buenos Aires or Milan would shape one of the most interesting moments of Zanetti’s career. In Mexico, the southern state of Chiapas was experiencing what was known as the Zapatista uprising. A group of ill-equipped but determined revolutionaries clashed with the Mexican government over indigenous rights, land autonomy, and control of natural resources.
The Chiapas region was one of the poorest in Mexico, often neglected and failed by the Mexican government. In 1983 the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) was formed, taking their name from the leader of the Mexican Revolution, Emiliano Zapata. The group was made up mostly of people from the rural indigenous Mayan community, alongside other leftists and rebels. They have often been assigned political labels associated with the far-left such as libertarian socialist, anarchist, or Marxist, however the EZLN themselves rejected those classifications.
One incident in particular started the 1994 Zapatista uprising. Mexico’s participation in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would see indigenous land ‘redistributed’ (a diplomatic way of saying ‘stolen’) away from the collective farm ownership model used by local communities known as ejido, and become open to privatisation, despite their land rights being guaranteed by the Mexican constitution. With the implementation of NAFTA set for New Year’s Day in January 1994, the Zapatistas felt that their only recourse was armed struggle.
On the day of the uprising, 3,000 Zapatista rebels attacked and seized civic centres across several towns in Chiapas. The Mexican Army quickly countered, and although the Zapatistas were initially successful, they were just as quickly forced to retreat. The uprising would only last 12 days and a ceasefire was brokered between the rebels and the government with the help of the Catholic diocese in San Cristóbal de las Casas.
The Zapatista’s may have been swiftly defeated from a military point of view, but their movement and aims did not disappear. Instead, they pivoted away from armed struggle, opting to utilise a different tactic to highlight and garner support for their plight: the media.
Zapatista players who would often turn out to play matches for the benefit of the EZLN.
Photo Credit: Bola Parada
Despite the Zapatistas rallying against the effects of globalisation in Chiapas, it was the globalised media networks that allowed them to reach a new audience across the world. Under the leadership of the charismatic and savvy Subcomandante Marcos, this is exactly what they did.
Subcomandante Marcos himself is an interesting figure. Despite leading a group fighting to preserve indigenous rights and lands, made up primarily of Mayans, he is a ‘Mestizo’, someone of mixed heritage. After studying at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), he started teaching at the Autonomous Metropolitan University (UAM). It was during this time that Marcos became involved with the National Liberation Forces (FLN) another guerilla group, before quitting his teaching career in 1984 and moving to Chiapas. His overall was to organise the indigenous community to prepare them for revolt against the Mexican government.
In the years succeeding the Zapatista uprising, Subcomandante Marcos became the EZLN’s de facto leader and spokesperson for the Zapatista movement. As the Zapatistas’ message spread across the world, Subcomandante Marcos, with his rebel stylings – a ski mask always covered his face and he constantly smoked a pipe -, natural charisma and willingness to engage the media, became something of a leftist icon. And it was during this time in 2004 that the Zapatista movement caught the attention of Javier Zanetti.
It’s unclear why the Zapatistas’ struggle in particular pricked the Argentinian's consciousness, but Zanetti had a history of supporting charities in his home country where he and his wife set up Fundacion PUPI in the wake of Argentina’s 2001 economic crisis. The foundation's aim was to integrate impoverished children into mainstream society through educational opportunities. Another reason for Zanetti’s support for the Zapatistas’ cause could stem from his own background. Zanetti may have grown up in a highly urbanised area of Buenos Aires, an environment a million miles away from the agrarian Chiapas region, however poverty, inequality, and disenfranchisement were rife in both and never far from the footballer’s doorstep.
Zanetti poses with Zapatista fighters and his Inter Milan jersey.
Photo Credit: Inter Milan
The relationship between Zanetti and the Zapatistas became public when Zanetti persuaded the Inter hierarchy to donate €5,000 to fund health, water, and sports projects in Zapatistas communities. Football equipment, including a shirt bearing Zanetti’s name and number, were also contributed as a gesture of solidarity. In a note accompanying the first instalment of the donation , Zanetti outlined his support for the Zapatistas:
"We believe in a better world, in an un-globalised world, enriched by the cultural differences and customs of all the people. This is why we want to support you in this struggle to maintain your roots and fight for your ideals".
In response, the Zapatistas expressed their gratitude for the support, simply replying:
"We know that we are not alone on the path of this struggle".
Of course, this show of support by a famous, world class footballer for a relatively unknown political movement,attracted attention and headlines. However, it was the next chapter of the Zanetti-Zapatista love affair that really made people sit up and take notice.
Seizing on the public attention already banked from the Zanetti-led Inter donation, Subcomandante Marcos then reached out to the Italian club, offering to set up a friendly between Inter and a team made up of ELZN members. Whether the proposal was serious or not, it certainly had the desired effect in terms of gaining column inches and headlines. And understandably so! What football fan, especially ones with left-wing political leanings, wouldn’t want to see that?
For his part, Zanetti indulged the friendly proposal and threw his support behind it, telling the Italian media:
“It is not a problem for me to accept the challenge, I’d be willing to go”.
Chldren from Zapatista communities train in camps funded by Inter Milan, showing the impact of Zanetti’s involvmenet.
Photo Credit: Inter Milan