Semi-pro and amateur soccer online broadcast site GuerrillaFootball.com is pleased to announce that it has become an affiliate of Fair Trade Sports, the countries only supplier of Fair Trade Certified and environmentally conscious sports balls.
“Part of the mission of Guerrilla Football is to make a difference in the World through the game of soccer,” said Guerrilla Football Founder Mati Bishop.
“Fair Trade Sports is dedicated to making sport a very visible proponent of fair treatment for the people who make the products we use in our day to day life. Soccer is the game of the people and people, especially children, shouldn’t suffer so that we can enjoy it,” he continued.
Learn more about the issues involved with Child and Unfair labor practices in Naomi Klein’s 2004 book No Logo.
The Fair Trade Sport soccer balls are produced by adult workers at a fair trade certified production company in
“The quality of the soccer balls is quite good,” said Bishop. “The cost is comparable to the same style made by Nike or Adidas,” he finished.
The use of child labor in sports manufacturing was brought to the American public in a 1996 issue of Life Magazine that featured a photo of a young Pakistani child working in a factory producing Nike soccer balls.
Read an American University Case Study of Nike’s Involvement with Child Labor
Since that photo Nike has become the whipping boy of the anti-child labor movement, but in an industry that subcontracts nearly all of its production to the cheapest bidder almost always in areas with little or no regulation of child labor practices, many feel that Nike is taking the brunt of the anger for what is an industry wide practice.
“Players and fans of the World’s game are some of the most socially conscious people that I run across,” Bishop said. “If there is a group who is going to stand up and say no to the exploitation that has become common practice in the production of the sporting equipment we use, I’m confident it will be soccer players and fans.”
Bishop and Fair Trade Sports founder Scott James first met in 2007 and put together a very small promotional campaign for the Sounders Legion.
“Scott found a gap in the Fair Trade line of products and filled it. He’s a visionary in that regard,” said Bishop. “Prior to Fair Trade Sports, there was no real alternative to buying a soccer ball that might have been produced in a sweat shop by a small child.”
Through the affiliate program, Fair Trade Sports contributes a percentage of all profits generated by shoppers clicking through GuerrillaFootball.com to the Fair Trade Sports online store back to supporting the semi-pro and amateur broadcasts on GuerrillaFootball.com.
“Guerrilla Football’s affiliation with Fair Trade Sports is the beginning of what I see as the future of sports sponsorship,” said Bishop. “The situation is not only a win-win for Fair Trade Sports and GuerrillaFootball.com, but also for the workers manufacturing the balls in Pakistan, the high level semi-pro and amateur players gaining exposure in the Northwest, the environment in the areas where the rubber for the balls is harvested responsibly and players with a social conscious who want their choices to make a difference when they purchase equipment,” he concludes.
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