The campaign, which mobilised soccer players and consumers of soccer balls around the world, was fully implemented in December, 1997. This campaign involved motivating youth soccer leagues, city councils, and other groups with sports programmes to pass resolutions banning the use in their programmes of balls made by child labour. In addition, a monitoring system was implemented to ensure that child labour in this industry would not be permitted to continue. These initiatives included, first, encouraging manufacturers of soccer balls to move production in a new facility where work on soccer balls would be performed by workers age 15 or older; second, ensuring that children were not entering the workplace and that soccer ball panels were not leaving the factory where the risk exists that they may be stitched by children in stitching centers or in homes; and, third, support of education and/or vocational education training for children in the Sialkot region.

This effort was followed by extensive media coverage on the exploitative child labor practices in the soccer ball industry. For example, in June 1996, on the eve of the European Cup, the unions released footage showing eight-year-old children from Sialkot, Pakistan, sewing soccer balls bearing International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) and Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) logos. As a result, FIFA and the trade unions drew up a Code of Labor Practice for the production of FIFA-licensed goods to guarantee basic labour rights and bring an end to the use of child labour. Adverse publicity extended to the United States and Europe. For instance, bipartisan efforts on the part of members of the U.S. Congress and former Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich involved news conference and press releases.

Child Protection, Children, Rights.

Soccer, or "football" as it is known in most countries, is the world's most popular sport. Not surprisingly, the soccer ball industry is a multimillion-dollar industry. Most of the world's soccer balls are produced in the Sialkot region of Pakistan. Pakistan alone accounts for 75% of total world production of soccer balls. It is estimated that there are about 10,000 urban workers and 30,000 rural workers in the 1,450 villages of Sialkot involved in the production of soccer balls. Although some balls are machine-made, the best soccer balls are hand-stitched. Hand-stitching the panels of a ball together is a very labour-intensive process and is where children have been found working. In 1996, an International Labour Oganization (ILO) study in the Sialkot region estimated that more than 7,000 Pakistani children between the ages of 5 and 14 stitched balls on a regular, full-time basis; some worked as long as 10 to 11 hours a day. In addition, large numbers of children worked part-time outside of school hours. On average, these children were paid between 20 to 22 Pakistani rupees per ball, or about US$0.50 to US$0.55. The average worker can stitch two or three balls per day. Independent local activists found that many of these children were working in bondage to their employers to pay off their parents' debts.

The campaign secured the endorsement of soccer leagues, city government, and youth and children's associations. Specifically, in September, 1996, FIFA adopted a Code of Labor Practice for all manufacturers of balls carrying the FIFA label. The organisation collaborated with three trade union bodies in these efforts: the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF), and the International Federation of Commercial, Clerical, and Technical Employees (FIET) to develop a comprehensive code of labour practice to be added to the quality control criteria for all goods bearing its logo. The code not only prohibited the use of child labour, but also guaranteed workers' rights to organise and to bargain collectively for fair and safe working conditions and several other protections. This code generated considerable anxiety and animosity from the World Federation of Sporting Goods Industries (WFSGI) when it was announced, leading to the formulation of a WFSGI Code and an effort to limit damage to the industry.

In June 1997, the campaign received the "Pioneer in Global Ethics Award" from the Council on Economic Priorities, the New York-based public interest organisation. A report detailing the campaign and its results is available online: "Child Labor in the Soccer Ball Industry: A Report on Continued Use of Child Labor in the Soccer Ball Industry in Pakistan", International Labor Rights Fund; February, 1999; Highlights of the Report Foulball Report on Continued Child Labor in the Soccer Ball Industry in Pakistan.

As of this writing, the ILRF library offers the following videos: "Eye to Eye/Foul Ball", "Foul Ball" Press Conference Department of Labor (6/28/1996), and Coverage by ABC on Soccer Agreement (2/14/1997).