In India, the job of hand stitching sports balls is one many children are paid just 10c an hour to do, 12 hours a day. Though your eyes may be bleary from long nights spent watching the World Cup, take a minute for this account that captures child labour in action.

World Vision Australia's Campaign Leader on Don't Trade Lives, Susan Mizrahi, travelled to India in early 2010. This is an account of some of the child labour practices she witnessed first hand on her trip.

On the eve of the soccer World Cup in 1998, revelations about the use of Indian children's labour to stitch match-grade soccer balls caused a furore. Leading sports brands like Adidas and Umbro asked major manufacturing companies for assurances that they weren't connected with unsavoury work practices in their supply chains. It led to an independent report which uncovered the presence of about 10,000 children below 14 years of age stitching footballs in the Jalandhar district of India. Around 1,350 children reportedly stitched full time, while the rest worked part time.

With the 2010 World Cup finals ahead of us, I thought I'd see for myself what impact this increased scrutiny has had on Jalandhar's workers. Are children from poor families still staying home, missing out on school, and possibly compromising their health to stitch full time?

Arriving in India, I headed to the main soccer ball sewing areas in the north. Meerut in Uttah Pradesh caters for the domestic market, while Jalandhar in the Punjab region sends sports balls overseas.

It wasn't hard to find people stitching sports balls for export in Jalandhar. They sit on rooftops, in laneways or modest courtyards, stitching away. They collect materials from a local sub-contractor who pays them to stitch the ball. Often, however, the sub-contractor pays the stitcher far less than they are due.

In Jalandhar, I met a lady who is paid 15 rupees (or 35 cents) per ball that she stitches. She is meant to receive at least double that amount. She won't protest, for fear of losing work - and her only available source of income - from the sub-contractor.

In a different and more affluent household, however, I was told that the family received 27 rupees for each ball they sewed. This family suggested I try stitching a ball. I sat in a crouched position, holding the patches of fabric tight between my knee-caps. The thread was tough and not easily pulled, unlike cotton or wool. Sewing a ball occasionally wouldn't be too difficult. But to work like this for hours, especially for a child, would be a very unpleasant experience.

Children risk poor eyesight, chronic back and neck pains, cuts that may turn septic and even deformed fingers when hand-stitching for long periods of time.

It confirmed in part what my research back in Australia had highlighted: soccer ball stitching, while not among the worst forms of child labour, is still hazardous. Children often suffer severe septic cuts on their fingers, as well as chronic back, leg and neck pain from sitting for hours in a hunched position. But the children of this particular family in Jalandhar told me that they didn't mind the work. They claimed that it did hurt their hands, but that they stitched balls only when they wanted extra pocket money.

My visit to Jalandhar showed that close monitoring of the industry over the past 10 plus years, as a result of international media and consumer pressure, has had positive results. During my visit, I saw improvements, such as families stitching balls around school commitments, so that the need to earn an income didn't affect a child's education. But the pay inequities and sense of powerlessness (mostly among the female workers) to speak up about them, is perhaps another reason that we need to keep our eye on the ball.

In Jalandhar, conditions seem to be much better, largely due to international consumer action and international scrutiny. Let's hope that a possible increased demand for soccer balls, in the lead up to this month's World Cup, doesn't undo the ultimately good work of the past decade or so. For the sake of the children and families of Jalandhar.

To read more about Child labour in India and what Susan saw on her trip, visit her blog. Find out more about Don't Trade Lives here.

This article first appeared in the June 2010 edition of Action News Online.