IT WAS a football breakfast, without any footballs. But interim North Melbourne chief executive Cam Vale wouldn't have had in any other way.
North Melbourne withdrew the Sherrin footballs — which were supposed to be gifts for guests at today's $350 a head grand final breakfast — after The Age revealed India's poorest children were making the footballs for just 12 cents each.
Vale said it was a ''heartbreaking story'' and after a few ''tough conversations'' with Sherrin, the Kangaroos found they only had one option — axe the balls.
''It's a really tough issue and clearly the footies just couldn't be in the room today,'' Vale said.
''As much as we are a business and this is such a big event for us and not having footies here is not ideal for the event... there was no other way.
''It's not appropriate and we really need to work with Sherrin to see what they are doing and how they are going to address it going forward.''
Kangaroos chairman James Brayshaw said Sherrin had waived the $20,000 payment for the specially made breakfast balls, which the company still has in its possession.
Instead, the club will donate the fee to World Vision's Child Rescue, which aims to quash child labour, and will work with Sherrin to redistribute the balls in an ''appropriate manner''.
Vale said the club would also donate an undisclosed sum on top of the $20,000, which it would finalise next week.
''A small amount of money $25,000, $30,000 is not going to solve any issues tomorrow but we really hope it helps and hopefully it's a bit of a statement for others as well when you are in these situations,'' Vale said.
In an open letter published in The Age, Sherrin managing director Chris Lambert said his company had been ''kicked around and rightly so''.
''We have discovered that our manufacturing standards in India had been breached, and in every instance, we acted responsibly and immediately to rectify those issues,'' Lambert said, but not before firing a parting shot at Fairfax, owner of The Age.
''Given that a Fairfax reporter has apparently been undertaking his investigation for 12 months, it is disappointing that we were only made aware of it two weeks before the grand final, as we could have brought to a halt the previously unknown practices in India much earlier.''
Lambert said the children and their families previously employed by Sherrin's Indian subcontractor had not been abandoned. He said 90 per cent of the subcontractor's adult workers had been employed by Sherrin to make child labour-free footballs, with the remaining 10 per cent declining the offer ''of their own choice''.
