AFL facing ball shortage due to Sherrin strike

The AFL is in danger of succumbing to a Sherrin shortage on the eve of finals.

The 15+ workers who manufacture the AFL’s official ball are threatening to go on strike over a pay dispute worth a total of just $45,000.

9News Melbourne can reveal staff at Sherrin’s Keysborough factory are angry with a proposed 4 percent per annum pay increase for the next two years.

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The workers, who are employed by US company Russell Athletic to hand stitch footballs, instead want a 5 percent jump in pay, which would equal 10 percent across the two-year life of the deal.

The United Workers Union has filed for a protected action ballot order with the Fair Work Commission. Once the ballot is improved, the members plan to engage in a protected industrial action unless a resolution is reached beforehand.

Every week the workers make between 200-250 Sherrins for AFL and AFLW games, and they believe even a few days off could lead to a shortage in footballs.

It’s understood they have a backlog for roughly six weeks of brand new, Kangaroo Brand Sherrins. A strike also has the potential to impact the production of sportable balls with state of the art chips, which are set to be trialled in the AFLW season.

When contacted on Thursday afternoon, Steve Howie from the United Workers Union said “Gil McLachlan’s salary last year was $33,653 per week without bonuses, so a pay rise for Sherrin workers would be equivalent to one week and two days salary of the AFL CEO.”

Sherrin has long been an official partner of the AFL. The league declined to comment on Thursday.