Sherrin will recall all affected Auskick balls from 2011 and 2012
Sherrin has kept the AFL informed about its response to the serious issues about their footballs and we support their decision to recall all affected balls.
If you have concerns, please contact Sherrin directly at recall@russellcorp.com.au.
Statement from Sherrin
Yesterday afternoon, a consumer contacted The Age newspaper that they were in possession of a 2011 Auskick ball with a needle in it, but that they had sustained no serious injuries from this.
Sherrin was alerted to this fact by The Age late yesterday afternoon. This follows the Fairfax report published in The Age on 22 September that one of Sherrin’s subcontractors had used underage workers to stitch a small quantity of its footballs.
“We take issues of consumer safety extremely seriously. In light of this information, effective immediately we are recalling all 2011 and 2012 Auskick balls,” states Chris Lambert, Managing Director of Sherrin.
“We believe that this fault is linked to the subcontractor recently discovered to be in breach of our manufacturing standards when they outsourced, unauthorised, the stitching of balls to families within the Jalandahar region.”
“We are also recalling all balls sent to this subcontractor for stitching this year (approximately 9,000 balls) so we can be absolutely confident that there is no risk that any Auskick balls produced in the last two years have been made using child labour and/or are subject to this product fault.”
“All of our balls are put through rigorous quality control, including being subjected to metal detectors, and our subcontractors are also exposed to a stringent auditing process. In this instance, however, the process has clearly let us down. To be safe and as a matter of extreme caution, we have decided to recall all the Auskick balls that have been produced in 2011 and 2012, and to ensure that no other balls stitched by this subcontractor will end up in the hands of consumers.”
Consumers with a 2011 or 2012 Auskick ball should contact recall@russellcorp.com.au in order to arrange a replacement football.
If consumers have any queries, they can also call the Sherrin customer service hotline 03 9765 5956.
Consumers should note that it is only Auskick 2011 and 2012 balls that are being recalled in this instance.
