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Tea Ropati

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Tea Ropati
Personal information
Full nameTea Faa'tea Ropati
Born (1964-09-07) 7 September 1964 (age 60)
Auckland, New Zealand
Playing information
Height183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight93 kg (14 st 9 lb)
PositionCentre, Five-eighth
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
Otahuhu Leopards 2
1988 Newcastle Knights 2 0 1 0 2
1989–94 St. Helens 127+5 56 24 2 352
1991 Mangere East Hawks
1995–98 Auckland Warriors 72 26 0 0 104
Total 208 82 25 2 458
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
Auckland
1986–97 New Zealand 9 0 0 0 0
1994–96 Western Samoa 2 0 0 0 0
Source: [1]

Tea Faa'tea Ropati[2] (born 7 September 1964) is a former professional rugby league footballer who represented New Zealand and Western Samoa.[1]

Background

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Ropati was born in Auckland, New Zealand.[3]

Ropati is a member of the large Ropati rugby league family that includes fellow league players Joe Ropati, John Ropati, Iva Ropati, union player Romi Ropati, and league commentator Peter Ropati.[4]

Early years

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Ropati played for both the Mangere East Hawks and Otahuhu Leopards in the Auckland Rugby League competition. He was a Junior Kiwi in 1983.[5]

During the 1987 season Ropati played for Auckland alongside three of his brothers; John, Joe and Peter.[6]

This feat was bettered in the 1991 season when all four of them, plus brother Iva, twice lined up for Mangere East in the Auckland Rugby League competition.[6]

Playing career

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Ropati started his professional career with the Newcastle Knights in 1988 before moving to England. Playing for St. Helens he made a name for himself as a centre/five eighth who kicked goals. He also won the 1992/3 British First Division player of the year award.

During the 1991–92 season he played in St. Helens' 24–14 victory over Rochdale Hornets in the 1991 Lancashire Cup Final at Wilderspool Stadium, Warrington, on 20 October 1991. During the 1992–93 season he played at Stand-off in the 4–5 defeat by Wigan in the 1992 Lancashire Cup Final at Knowsley Road, St. Helens, on 18 October 1992.[7]

In 1995 he returned home to join the new Auckland Warriors in the first Australian Rugby League premiership. He was the Warriors' player of the year in 1995.[8] He stayed with the Warriors for four seasons before retiring after the 1998 season.

Ropati represented the New Zealand national rugby league team between 1996 and 1997 and also played for Western Samoa at the 1995 Rugby League World Cup.[9]

Later years

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Ropati participated in the charity boxing event Fight for Life on several occasions during the early 2000s.[10]

In 2010 Ropati was the assistant coach for the Mangere East Hawks in the Auckland Rugby League competition.[11]

Rape trial

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On 21 January 2008 Ropati began a trial in Auckland after being accused of rape and unlawful sexual connection, to which he pleaded not guilty.[12] The woman stated she awoke in a car near Victoria Park. "I remember coming to. I remember an angry face over me. It was an angry, twisted face. I remember being in pain."[13] Ropati was married at the time, and although he admitted the sexual connection he stated that it was consensual.

On 31 January 2008 a jury found him not guilty on all six charges.[14] Multiple rugby league personalities defended the character of Ropati in court including the Mad Butcher Peter Leitch.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  2. ^ ROPATI, Tea Faa'tea 1986, 1989, 1992 - 93, 19 - Kiwi #596 Archived 2012-04-02 at the Wayback Machine nzleague.co.nz
  3. ^ "Tea Ropati". Rugby League in New Zealand. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  4. ^ Annie Coughlan (7 September 1995). "Youngest Ropati aims to stick with rugby". Dominion-Post. p. 21 – via EBSCOHost.
  5. ^ Richard Becht. A New Breed Rising: The Warriors Winfield Cup Challenge. Auckland, HarperCollins, 1994. ISBN 1-86950-154-3. p.183
  6. ^ a b Coffey and Wood The Kiwis: 100 Years of International Rugby League ISBN 1-86971-090-8
  7. ^ "1992–1993 Lancashire Cup Final". wigan.rlfans.com. 31 December 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  8. ^ Peter Bidwell (30 August 1995). "Ropati gets Warriors player of year award". Dominion-Post. p. 36 – via EBSCOHost.
  9. ^ Peter Bidwell (4 May 1995). "Dukes players named in big Samoan squad". Dominion-Post. p. 25 – via EBSCOHost.
  10. ^ "Hoppa to go the biff for charity". Sydney Morning Herald. 13 April 2006. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  11. ^ "What they said", Super League, Issue 1 2010. p.17
  12. ^ David Eames (21 January 2008). "League star in sex case named". The New Zealand Herald.
  13. ^ "Footballer Tea Ropati accused of rape". The Daily Telegraph. 21 January 2008.
  14. ^ Andrew Koubaridis (31 January 2008). "Ropati not guilty on all charges". The New Zealand Herald.
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