The Fair Play Files # 3

Fair play starts with the ball...

Ball sports have been played in some form for thousands of years. Civilisation learned very quickly that feet could be used to move things. All they needed was something that would roll and didn’t hurt when you kicked it.

Cue the ball.

One of football’s earliest known ancestors was the ancient Chinese game of cuju*, played with a leather ball stuffed with feathers, hair or straw. Its mythical origin was considerably darker: legend tells that a defeated warrior’s stomach was stuffed and turned into a ball [1]. Centuries later, modern day football famously began as an inflated pig’s bladder [2].

From ancient legend to the farmyard, it seems sacrifice was embedded in the origins of the game.

We don’t expect any living thing to make that kind of sacrifice today. But how can we be certain that nobody has suffered for the love of sport?

The hands behind the beautiful game

Sialkot in Pakistan sits at the heart of the global sports-ball industry. The region produces footballs, rugby balls, volleyballs and other inflatable balls for international brands and markets. Pakistan’s trade authority has estimated that Sialkot supplies around 70% of the world’s hand-stitched inflatable balls -approximately 40 million balls a year - with nearly 60,000 people working across the wider industry [3].

These are skilled workers. Cutting, stitching, bonding and finishing a ball requires precision, patience and experience. Yet the rewards do not always reflect the value of that skill.

An independent estimate placed the gross living wage for urban Sialkot at PKR 51,733 per month (£140) [4]. But recent reports suggest that some production workers receive around the legal minimum wage of PKR 40,000 per month (£106) [5]. That’s a gap of almost 23% between earnings and a decent standard of living.

With the current World Cup official football retailing for £130 [6], it’s tempting to ask the question...

How much of football’s success reaches the people who make the game possible? 

A ball that is all about reward

A fair trade ball is an ethical choice.

Fair trade standards cover hand-stitched, machine-stitched and thermally bonded sports balls [7]. They include requirements on wages, child labour, working conditions, health and safety, gender equality and freedom from discrimination.

They also provide a fair trade Premium - Bala pay 15% - which workers manage through a democratically elected committee. That money can support projects chosen by the workers themselves, including healthcare, clean drinking water, transport and services for their communities.

Fair trade is not charity. It is the recognition at the very heart of sport; that effort earns respect, skill deserves reward, and every life demands dignity.

Our mission

Our mission is to put fair play into every touch of the ball.

We choose fair trade balls because the joy of the game should never depend on poverty, unsafe working conditions or invisible human sacrifice.

We believe every ball should do more than perform well. It should reward the people who made it, strengthen their communities and give every player, parent, coach, school and club something they can be proud to put on the pitch.

Sustainability advocate Anna Lappé wrote...

“Every time you spend money, you're casting a vote for the kind of world you want.” [8]

One ball will not change the world by itself. But when you choose a fair trade ball for your child, school or club, you are respecting the origins of sport. You are helping turn craft into opportunity and work into genuine reward.

Because fair play doesn’t begin with the referee’s whistle.

It starts with the ball.

*By Su Hanchen - Here, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7084349

References

1. FIFA Museum, “Origins—Cuju in China.”

2. The Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum, “The World’s Oldest Football.”

3. Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, Product Report: Sports Goods, 2019.

4. Anker Research Institute, Living Wage Update Report: Urban Sialkot, Pakistan, June 2025.

5. Government of the Punjab, Labour & Human Resource Department, Minimum Wages

6. Adidas UK, “FIFA World Cup 26 Trionda Pro Ball.”

7. Fairtrade International, Fairtrade Standard for Sports Balls; Fairtrade, “Sports Balls.”

8. Quotation attributed to Anna Lappé, reportedly from O, The Oprah Magazine, June 2003.