Euro 2004 - Fair Play?

If you don't like football, look away now. Better still, leave the country. Or, the continent. Football, you see, is coming home, and the journey for England starts this Sunday against France.

The European Championships will generate much hot air, several miles of column inches, and plenty of exposure for the players in this lucrative game of global marketing. The biggest brands - Beckham, Zidane, Henry, Figo et al - will flash us their Va Va Voom, and the corporate logos will be all over them like a rash.

National pride, meanwhile, will swell the hearts of those of us who've forked out to sport the official kit - and the coffers of those who sold them to us for a hefty mark-up.

But as we pull on the shirt, puff out the St George's Cross on our chest and await a summer of festivity, we should spare a thought for some of those most closely connected to the action who can only dream of exploiting the opportunities created by the beautiful game.

In Oxfams recent report Play Fair at the Olympics, both Umbro (England's long-time kit suppliers) and Adidas (who sponsor Beckham) were criticised for the way they treat their workers in places such as Bulgaria, Thailand, Indonesia, Turkey and Cambodia. Although the sportswear giants now publicly subscribe to codes of best practice, the reality on the ground, says Oxfam, can be still very different.

'The business model that drives globalisation is at the centre of the problem', says the report. 'It is based upon ruthless pressure on prices, a demand for fast and flexible delivery, and a constant shift in manufacturing locations in pursuance of ever-cheaper production costs.'

The resulting pressures are passed down the supply chain to workers, in the form of lower wages, bad conditions and the violation of their rights.

In other words, it's a stitch up. Nestling alongside the three lions and St George's Cross, the Umbro logo represents a British company whose far-east workers don't enjoy the same rights as its Western consumers.

I want to wear my country's shirt with pride, and have written to Umbro to tell them as such. Thanks to Oxfam, there'll be a few more of us keeping our eyes on the official shirt manufacturer, as well as the ball, this summer. Fair play? That would be a result, after all.

Brian Draper

Archive...