The Rugby Players Association (RPA) is delighted to announce Beno Obano of Bath Rugby as the worthy recipient of this season’s second 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.

In the last few years, Obano has become heavily involved in film and documentary making, launching his own production company, ‘Sinnybaby Media’. He has gone on to create two documentaries, ‘Everybody’s Game’ in November 2020, and ‘Prep To Win’ in April 2022. Both have been acquired by Amazon Prime and streamed on the platform to huge success.

On winning the award, Obano said: “It feels great to be recognised for this award. You don’t really do these types of things to be rewarded for it, so it’s always nice when you do get that recognition, it’s brilliant, so thank you!”

Obano’s RPA Development Manager, Matt Garvey, said: “Beno has epitomised how you can use an injury to your advantage. He created his own media production company and created two hugely successful rugby documentaries that Amazon Prime streamed. Not only has he brought awareness to minority groups within rugby, but more recently he has provided a behind the scenes glimpse of what professional rugby is all about.

Beno is leading the way by showing other players how they can use time away from the game to set themselves up for life after rugby. The fact that Amazon Prime secured the rights to these programs is vindication enough of not only the content within these films, but also of the amount of hard work and dedication that Beno applied.”

Andrew Stevens, Commercial Director, Business at Vodafone Business, said: “We are so pleased to hear that Beno has been awarded with the RPA Vodafone Business Gain Line Award. It is inspiring to see how Beno has turned time out from rugby due to injury into a positive venture. We are looking forward to seeing his production company go from strength to strength.”

For more information about the Gain Line programme, please visit the RPA website: https://www.therpa.co.uk.

READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH BENO HERE...

-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 Men’s and Women’s Team and performs the following duties on behalf of Team England: Negotiation of the Elite Players Squad Contract, England 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