Remember the ballboy who was famously kicked Eden Hazard, kicked by former Chelsea player Eden Hazard, is now in a surprising new job role.
Charlie Morgan made headlines around the world as a Swansea City ballboy after he received a foot to his body by the now Real Madrid player Eden Hazard, something which happened eight years ago.
At the time of the incident, which occurred during Swansea’s League Cup semi-final second-leg win over the the Premier League outfit in 2013, the ballboy was 17 year old.
The Swans were 2-0 from the first leg at Stamford Bridge, and it only made Chelsea were pushing harder to get into the game.
Hazard tried to get the ball on the 80th minute mark for a goal kick, only for Morgan to fall on the ball.
The Belgian international then forcefully kicked the then-teenager, earning himself a red card and handing Swansea a place in the League Cup final.
Writing after the incident on social media, he said: “Crazy 24 hours. Spoke to Hazard and I will not be pressing charges. Be in touch.”
The ballboy became an overnight celebrity, picking up 100,000 followers on Twitter, though he’s now gone on to be a successful businessman.
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As the son of one of Swansea’s biggest shareholders, Martin Morgan, he was already pursuing a career in business – taking his A levels at the time of the cup clash.
He and a friend have since set up an ultra-premium vodka brand after noticing a gap in the market for a new brand of the alcoholic drink.
They told WalesOnline: “We were 18, 19, 20 at the time and every one of our friends for their birthday would always get a bottle of the same old vodkas.
“We just felt it was a bit boring. We just felt we could do it a little bit better.”
They produced 2,000 bottles and launched them all around Swansea, using an eye-catching gold bottle to name their brand Au Vodka.
The brand became known for it’s good reputation, getting eventually picked up DJ and TV presenter Charlie Sloth who was so impressed that he invested in the duo.
This saw them launch a Black Grape flavour in 2019, using endorsements from British rappers and celebrities to sell 10,000 bottles in 2019.
This then dramatic went to 1.7m during the pandemic last year, leading Morgan and Quinn to own the biggest user premium vodka brand in the UK for sales, with the exception of Smirnoff.
A big part of their growth has been Instagram, where Au Vodka has a total of 104,000 followers – and that was with the help of of multi-millionaire athlete Floyd Mayweather.
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Morgan said: “We got a contact for Floyd – through a mutual friend of Frost the music producer – and we were told that Floyd absolutely loves the brand and loved the black grape flavour. We were asked whether he could have few bottles before he goes home.
“We said yeah, OK sure, and Floyd said he would post a photo on Instagram as long as we included him when we do something big in America.
“Back years ago we were asking ourselves, who would be the best ambassador we could have holding the bottle and I think our answer was Floyd, so it’s amazing how it’s manifested itself. Seeing the brand in the hands of someone you admire is crazy.”
While Morgan has hit the heights of business since the incident with Hazard eight years ago, the footballer has since struggled during his spell with Real Madrid.
It’s great to see that the ballboy who was famously kicked by Eden Hazard in in a surprising new job role and making a success of it.
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