The Rugby Players Association (RPA) is delighted to announce Jake Heenan and Luke Morahan of Bristol Bears as the worthy recipients of this season’s third RPA Vodafone Business Gain Line Award.

The RPA Vodafone Business Gain Line Award was created to support current and former players of the game in their off the field business ventures.

Heenan and Morahan launched their café shop “Burra” back in March 2021 following a conversation between the pair towards the end of 2020. It is an antipodean café, which focuses on high quality coffee and excellent customer service. It also aims to promote an ethical lifestyle through organic produce and food sourced locally. The pair teamed up with local coffee roastery Extract Coffee to ensure their had the best coffee they could.

The café has recently expanded to a second site in Bristol, with the aim of developing these two branches into high quality establishments.

On winning the award, Heenan and Morahan said: "It is so cool to be given this recognition. Thinking of all the learnings we have come through, the good and the bad - we have always tried to deliver not the best we could, but the best the business could. It is nice to get a little bit of formal recognition for it.

Starting a business is quite a daunting thing to do, especially while you are still playing, you know you don't anticipate having the time or necessarily the disposable income, so any initiative that encourages players to start a business or to start thinking about it are huge.”

Heenan and Morahan’s RPA Development Manager, Matt Leek, said: “I nominated Luke and Jake for their hard work, commitment, and dedication to their personal development overall, but also their drive to get the second café open has been nothing short of inspirational. I was personally touched by the duo’s plan and drive to inspire the local community and make some real impact on others, and I really felt that when talking to staff and customers.”

For more information about player ventures and the Gain Line programme, please visit the RPA website: https://www.therpa.co.uk. For more information on Burra Bristol, please visit: https://burrabristol.co.uk/.

-ENDS-

Penny Maltby-Payne - RPA Head of Communications pmaltbypayne@theRPA.co.uk

About The RPA

The Rugby Players Association is the representative body and collective voice of professional rugby players in England. We represent more than 800 male and female current rugby players, as well as more than 400 former players.

It is our mission to support, promote and protect the interests of our members, from the moment they sign their first professional contracts, throughout their playing careers, and beyond as they embark on the next phase of their lives.

Our members enjoy a wide range of benefits, including: independent representation; legal advice; personal and professional development; playing insurance; education; confidential counselling; transition support; and much more. Members can also access the support of our official charity, Restart, in the event of serious illness, injury or hardship.

The RPA has also acted as the exclusive commercial representative of the England Team since 2004 and performs the following duties on behalf of Team England: Negotiation of the Elite Players Squad Contract, England and Saxons match fees, England team win bonuses and Image Rights payments with the RFU.

About Vodafone UK

Vodafone UK is a technology communications company that connects people, businesses and devices to help our customers benefit from digital innovation. Our services span mobile, fixed-line connections, home and office broadband, and the Internet of Things (IoT).

We have a strong track record as a tech pioneer, making the UK’s first mobile phone call, sending the first text message, and making the UK’s first live holographic call using 5G in 2018. We were also the first to start carrying live 5G traffic from a site in Salford, Greater Manchester. As of June 2021, we have 5G in 364 locations across Europe – 124 in the UK and 240 across Germany, Spain, Italy and Ireland. Our 4G network coverage currently reaches over 99% of the UK population.

Today, Vodafone serves more than 18 million mobile and fixed-line customers in the UK. To help deliver Gigabit UK, our full-fibre broadband roll-out programme now covers 15 UK towns and cities through partnerships with CityFibre and Openreach.

Sustainability is also at the heart of what we do: as of 1 July 2021, 100% of the grid electricity we use in the UK is certified to be from renewable sources.

For more information about Vodafone UK please visit: www.vodafone.co.uk