Iva Ropati
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Otahuhu College
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Iva Lewis Ropati | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 18 July 1968 Auckland, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Centre | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Education | Lynfield College Otahuhu College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relatives | Joe Ropati (brother) Peter Ropati (brother) Romi Ropati (brother) Tea Ropati (brother) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Iva Lewis Ropati[3] is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, and high school principal. He played at representative level for New Zealand, Auckland and Taranaki, and at club level for the Otahuhu Leopards, the Te Atatu Roosters, the Mangere East Hawks, the Sheffield Eagles, Featherstone Rovers, Oldham, the Parramatta Eels, the Auckland Warriors and the Manurewa Marlins, as a centre.
Ropati attended Lynfield College in Auckland.[4]
Playing career
Early years
He grew up playing for the Otahuhu Leopards before moving to the Te Atatu Roosters where he won a Fox Memorial premiership. He later played for the Mangere East Hawks before moving to England. During the 1991 season Iva was able to twice line up alongside four of his brothers for Mangere East in the Auckland Rugby League competition.[5] Iva played alongside Joe, John, Peter, and Tea.[citation needed]
Professional career
When he moved to England, Ropati played for the Sheffield Eagles, Featherstone Rovers and Oldham. Iva Ropati played at centre and scored a try in Featherstone Rovers' 14–20 defeat by Bradford Northern in the 1989 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1989–90 season at Headingley, Leeds on Sunday 5 November 1989. He scored 30 tries for Sheffield in the 1991–92 season,[6] which remained a club record until it was broken in 2012. He spent the 1992–93 season with Oldham, but was released in August 1993 so the club could make room in their overseas quota for new signing Bob Lindner.[7] He re-joined Featherstone Rovers in November 1993.[8]
In 1994, he moved to Australia to play for the Parramatta Eels in the NSWRL premiership. Ropati played four games for Parramatta but broke his leg in round 11 of the 1994 NSWRL season against Cronulla and never played for the club again. He finished his career with the new Auckland Warriors side in 1996 and 1997. In 1998 he returned to the Auckland Rugby League competition, playing with the Manurewa Marlins.[9] As an import player, he represented Taranaki in the 1998 National Provincial Competition.[10]
Representative career
In 1993 Ropati was selected for the New Zealand national rugby league team, playing in four Test matches during the 1993 Kiwis tour.