The Other Side Of World Cup Footballs
Printer-friendly version Date of publication: July 1, 2010
Source: IPS News
Author: Zofeen Ebrahim
England coach Fabio Capello has bemoaned the unpredictable trajectory of the Jabulani World Cup ball, calling it "the worst ball"in the history of the tournament. But labour rights groups have a greater complaint.
The workers producing the footballs are seeing little improvement in their lives, say labour rights groups, who decry that only a small fraction of the profits trickle down to those toiling away in factories, stitching centres and homes.
Up till the late 1990s, Pakistan was commanding as much as 85 percent of the world’s market in football production, employing a workforce of 85,000 to produce 60 million balls per year worth 210 million U.S. dollars, said a report in English-language daily ‘Express Tribune’...
