Cllr. Michael Long handed over footballs to Dungoyne Boys team whilst the Chair of the Steering Group, Gillian Graham gave a further consignment to Ridgeway Rovers as part of the campaign. The footballs were kindly donated by the Co-op. In recent weeks a petition supporting the campaign to make Dundonald a Fairtrade Village has also been circulated whilst Ms. Graham has also visited local schools to tell children about the issue.
Cllr. Long said, “Many people only associate Fairtrade with tea and coffee and so we thought that this would be a useful way to highlight the wide range of Fairtrade products as footballs were the first manufactured product to be awarded the Fairtrade mark after food.
Ms. Graham added, “It was great to get a chance to tell the boys about Fairtrade footballs especially as some of them eat, breathe and live football but are not aware of where they come from. It is a step forward in our local campaign to make Dundonald Northern Ireland’s first Fairtrade village.”
“Most of the world’s footballs are made in Pakistan in an industry where wages are well below the national poverty line. However those made under Fairtrade conditions mean that workers are paid a fair wage, have certain health and safety standards in the factories and there is no child labour involved in their production. Part of their cost also goes toward a social premium which will be an investment in their community like helping to build a school or getting a safe water supply.”
ENDS