Dylan Ferlano's football had a needle left in it. Credit:Michael Clayton-Jones It has emerged that the company, through an Indian sub-contractor, had children as young as 10 hand-stitching balls for as little as 12 cents each. While angry, Demetriou said he was thankful the company had acted swiftly to recall up to half a million Auskick footballs when it became aware of the situation. Sherrin is recalling the footballs manufactured in the past two years after revelations that a Melbourne boy had been injured by a needle found in a ball linked to an Indian subcontractor using child labour. The company has withdrawn all football manufacturing from its Indian subcontractors after The Age revealed Sherrins were being hand-stitched by children as young as 10, for as little as 12 cents a ball. The children, almost all of them girls, were being pulled out of school to stitch balls for up to 10 hours a day, seven days a week.

This morning, Sherrin - the official supplier of match day balls to the league - announced that it was recalling all 2011 and 2012 Auskick balls, after the father of a six-year-old Melbourne boy said his son had been pricked by a sewing needle found protruding from the skin of a Sherrin football. Chris Lambert, Sherrin's managing director, today said he believed the fault was linked to a subcontractor who, in breach of the Sherrin's manufacturing standards, had outsourced the stitching of balls to families within the Jalandahr region of India. He said Sherrin was recalling all balls sent to that subcontractor for stitching this year, totalling about 9000 balls. But Sherrin is also recalling an estimated 450,000 to 500,000 Auskick balls manufactured in 2011 and 2012 as a matter of "extreme caution". The recall affected all Auskick balls in those years including those handed out at clinics and sold in shops.

"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," Mr Lambert said. "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.” At a press conference at Melbourne's Grand Hyatt hotel, Mr Lambert this afternoon revealed a second incident of a needle being found in one of the company’s footballs. He said a needle had been found in an Auskick football produced in India at a factory in May, but Sherrin had not publicised it and the football had not reached the public. Mr Lambert estimated the national recall of more than 450,000 Auskick footballs would cost the company more than $1 million.

He said he was "grateful" that Fairfax journalists had alerted the company to both the child labour and needle issues. He revealed that the same sub-contractor in Jalandhar who was exposed last week as using child labour is believed to be linked to the source of the needles found in two footballs. Mr Lambert said he was "shocked and appalled" at the revelations and had ceased allowing any stitching to be done by sub-contractors. He said the needle-affected footballs comprised just two out of two million footballs produced in 12 years and the company had a rigorous auditing process, including metal detectors. In the slums of the Punjabi city of Jalandhar, The Age found Auskick balls being stitched by poor Indian children.

Sherrin has an agreement with Indian manufacturer Spartan to make its synthetic footballs. From today, all of Spartan's stitching will be performed at a new factory. Balls are stitched using two heavy needles and wax-coated string. Child stitchers end up with chronic back injuries, septic wounds in their hands, weakened eyesight, depression and other psychological disorders. It is dangerous for them - and for users. Marcus Ferlan told The Age yesterday his six-year-old son had been pricked by a sewing needle found protruding from the skin of a Sherrin football he had received as part of an Auskick promotional pack last year. "I first thought the needle must have been left on the lawn but when I sliced it open, sure enough it's the same thread that's used on the inside stitching," Mr Ferlano said.

Sherrin has withdrawn the promotional balls for the North Melbourne Football Club's grand final breakfast. The money paid for those balls will be donated to World Vision, after the club refused to pay Sherrin - which will donate profits from Auskick to Manav Sehyog Society, a charity in Jalandhar. Loading Anyone with a 2011 or 2012 Auskick ball has been asked to email a photo of their ball to recall@russellcorp.com.au or post a photo to Reply Paid #2435, Rowville 3178, along with the name of the Auskick participant and address so a replacement football can be provided. Customers can also phone a hotline: (03) 9765 5956.