Iva Ropati 1996 1 crop.png

Player Iva Ropati

Date of Birth
Jul 18, 1968
Birth Location
New Zealand
Nationality
  1. 🇳🇿 New Zealand
Position/s
  1. Centre
Warrior #
35
Warriors Debut Date
Apr 19, 1996
Warriors Debut Details
April 19 1996, Round 5 vs Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles at Brookvale Oval, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Warriors Years Active
  1. 1996
  2. 1997
Signed From
Parramatta Eels
Rep Honours
  1. NZ
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iva_Ropati

mt.wellington

Contributor

Iva Lewis Ropati 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.

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. Iva played alongside Joe, John, Peter, and Tea.

When he moved to England, Ropati played for the Sheffield Eagles, Featherstone Rovers and Oldham. Iva Ropati played right-centre, i.e. number 3, 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 Rugby Stadium, Leeds on Sunday 5 November 1989. He scored 30 tries for Sheffield in the 1991–92 season, which remained a club record until it was broken in 2012. In 1994 he moved to Australia to play for the Parramatta Eels in the NSWRL premiership. He finished his career with the new Auckland Warriors in 1996 and 1997. In 1998 he returned to the Auckland Rugby League competition, playing with the Manurewa Marlins. As an import player, he represented Taranaki in the 1998 National Provincial Competition.

In 1993 Ropati was selected for the New Zealand national rugby league team and played in four test matches.

Ropati was one of six New Zealanders awarded a Sir Peter Blake emerging leadership award in 2009.

In 2009 he was appointed to the new Counties Manukau Zone board after the restructuring of the New Zealand Rugby League. He was nominated to serve on the New Zealand Rugby League board in 2012 as an independent director.

In 2003, Ropati was appointed Principal of Penrose High School (now One Tree Hill College), having previously served as Deputy Principal. In 2010, Ropati joined Howick College as Principal. After spending 12 years at Howick College, in 2022 Ropati left the school to start a new position as Principal at Tauranga's Papamoa College.

His family is famous in rugby league circles and includes brothers Joe, Peter, Tea and Romi. He now has a family of 4, married to Kerrie Lee Ropati with two daughters Olivia Nancy Ropati and Georgia Lee Ropati.


Otahuhu winger/centre played in 3 Tests for NZ in 1993 before coming to P’matta. Iva Ropati, the brother of Joe and Tea Ropati, had an uneventful career with the Warriors but also played for Featherstone Rovers (1989-90 and 1993-95), Mangere East (NZ, 1990-91), Sheffield Eagles (1991-92) and Oldham (1992-93) during his career.
- ALAN WHITICKER

 

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