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Where are Sliotars made ?

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You are going to find this a very very strange question last night I was watching the TV programme about Irish custums control Stop , Search , Seize and they were checking a consignment of sliotars which had arrived at Shannon Airport from Pakistan to see if they had heroin consealed in them My question is are Sliotars made in Pakistan and then imported into Ireland Redhot (Cork) - Posts: 697 - 24/07/2017 12:33:01 2022490 Link
Replying To Redhot: "You are going to find this a very very strange question last night I was watching the TV programme about Irish custums control Stop , Search , Seize and they were checking a consignment of sliotars which had arrived at Shannon Airport from Pakistan to see if they had heroin consealed in them My question is are Sliotars made in Pakistan and then imported into Ireland" ya they are you can get them for 3 euro apiece. Great balls to train with but after a few months they die. But when you can get them for < 20% of the cost of O'Neills balls then it is worth it to import them and train with them. slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6480 - 24/07/2017 12:50:04 2022509 Link
every ball is made in pakistan valley84 (Westmeath) - Posts: 1890 - 24/07/2017 13:16:58 2022539 Link
Lidl were selling sliotars with the official clg stamp recently for €3 Bon (Kildare) - Posts: 1898 - 24/07/2017 13:25:03 2022547 Link
They have stopped making them in Ireland apparently, some lad in Clare has swamped the market with "as new" sliothars which he sources from Cork it appears. timmyhogan (UK) - Posts: 290 - 24/07/2017 13:25:32 2022548 Link
Indeed. Back in the days of the An Fear Rua site, you had one fella posting regularly to market his sliotars from the subcontinent! Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 24/07/2017 14:10:59 2022591 Link
Most people unaware that one of the most famous brands gets most of its products made in India & Pakistan. That is why there is such a long lead in time after ordering. If a lot of Gaa fans were aware that very little is made here, so no jobs are created other than sales & that most are in made in sweat shops, people would be disgusted. moc.dna (Galway) - Posts: 1212 - 24/07/2017 14:12:32 2022592 Link
Sliothars come from a can, they were out there by a man in a factory downtown... Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 25/07/2017 05:50:18 2022943 Link
Replying To Killarney.87: "Sliothars come from a can, they were out there by a man in a factory downtown..." If you had your little way, you'd puck sliotars every day Breffni40 (Cavan) - Posts: 12115 - 25/07/2017 09:31:04 2022993 Link
Does foreign manufacturing of sliotars not contravene the GAA Official Guide? Though I suppose if said sliotars aren't used in competitive action, it's hard to clamp down on. Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 25/07/2017 10:00:26 2023014 Link
There are four factories in Sialkot, in the Punjab region of Pakistan who produce the sliotars, some are much better at making the smart and quick touch and others are better at making the size 4 and 5s. There are many outlets selling the same sliotar with the only difference being the stamp on the sliotar e.g. a famous Tipp corner forward sources his sliotars from Sialkot, the balls from Clare mentioned also is made there, and a KK player is now selling sliotars from the same factory. Some are cork filled as opposed to PU Core which gives them a nice feel, some use G14 artificial leather which is cheaper than the real leather. The PU Core won't soak up the rain like the cork core but th real leather cover will soak up more than the G14 leather. The O'Neill Sliotar is put together in Ireland, they don't glue the leather to the core prior to stitching this means there sliotar has to have a higher rib to sew the leather. Most of the sliotars are approved after testing at DCU (however this has ceased recently while the GAA make up their minds on the way forward. My belief is that the GAA are going to reduce the number of sellers in order to protect the profit margins of the few. We have a guy up here in North Antrim selling both sizes of the real leather sliotars with PU Core for £29.50/dozen and with G14 Artificial Leather for £23.40/dozen, he also sells the Smart and Quick touch for £23.40/dozen, thats what the sliotars cost him to bring them in from Pakistan, any one that is selling them for more than that is making a profit. Talking to the Ulster Champions who have been using them they believe theya re as good as the sliotars they were paying over twice for. Brian_Coyote (Antrim) - Posts: 346 - 25/07/2017 11:03:51 2023057 Link
Replying To Brian_Coyote: "There are four factories in Sialkot, in the Punjab region of Pakistan who produce the sliotars, some are much better at making the smart and quick touch and others are better at making the size 4 and 5s. There are many outlets selling the same sliotar with the only difference being the stamp on the sliotar e.g. a famous Tipp corner forward sources his sliotars from Sialkot, the balls from Clare mentioned also is made there, and a KK player is now selling sliotars from the same factory. Some are cork filled as opposed to PU Core which gives them a nice feel, some use G14 artificial leather which is cheaper than the real leather. The PU Core won't soak up the rain like the cork core but th real leather cover will soak up more than the G14 leather. The O'Neill Sliotar is put together in Ireland, they don't glue the leather to the core prior to stitching this means there sliotar has to have a higher rib to sew the leather. Most of the sliotars are approved after testing at DCU (however this has ceased recently while the GAA make up their minds on the way forward. My belief is that the GAA are going to reduce the number of sellers in order to protect the profit margins of the few. We have a guy up here in North Antrim selling both sizes of the real leather sliotars with PU Core for £29.50/dozen and with G14 Artificial Leather for £23.40/dozen, he also sells the Smart and Quick touch for £23.40/dozen, thats what the sliotars cost him to bring them in from Pakistan, any one that is selling them for more than that is making a profit. Talking to the Ulster Champions who have been using them they believe theya re as good as the sliotars they were paying over twice for." The big rims on the O'Neills balls aren't liked by many and it was interesting to read Brendan Cummins saying about certain keepers of his era filing down the rims to get a few extra yards onto the puck outs. Most teams are now using the Pakistani ball of various stamps instead due to being far cheaper and the quality has certainly improved since a neighbouring club to mine bought a load of them well over a dozen years ago. bricktop (Down) - Posts: 2503 - 25/07/2017 13:24:35 2023192 Link
Replying To Breffni39: "If you had your little way, you'd puck sliotars every day" I sure would :) Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 25/07/2017 16:49:43 2023353 Link