According to reports the Irish Prison Service spent a whopping €130,000 replacing footballs in Irish jails over the past three years.
We really couldn’t believe it when we heard that nearly €130,000 was spent in Irish prisons on cheap footballs over the past three years. A report form the Irish Examiner states that according to a prison service spokesperson, the vast majority of footballs bought over the three years cost as little as two euro each.
So it’s not as if they were using €20 match replica balls – we’re talking the cheap orange plastic ones here…
Furthermore, if nearly €130,000 was spent on cheap €2 balls over a three year period, then around 51,600 balls would have been purchased by Irish prisons. So how in the name of God is so much being wasted on footballs? Well, it is prison we’re talking about.
Most exercise yards found in Irish prisons are surrounded by razor wire and the cheap plastic balls are easily punctured if they’re kicked too high. Like we said, this is prison, so the lads inside probably don’t care too much if they burst a ball or two – no pun intended.
A Prison Service spokesman told the Irish Examiner: “The costs… seem high, but a number of factors have to be borne in mind. The footballs used in prisons are made of light plastic to minimise the potential for injuries to staff and prisoners, which makes them more susceptible to damage.
“Netting underneath razor wire is not feasible to install from a security or safety point of view.”
