Josefa Vuniyayawa Levula (15 June 1930 – 2 July 1989), known as "Jo" or "Joe", was a Fijian track athlete, and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

and professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

footballer. He represented the Fijian national rugby union team before turning professional with the

Rochdale Hornets The Rochdale Hornets are a professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, competing in the Championship, the second tier of European rugby league. The Rochdale Hornets are one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs ...

and

Bradford Northern The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is pre ...

in England. He primarily played on the wing. Levula earned the nickname "The Flying Fijian", which went on to become the nickname of the Fiji national rugby union team.

Career

Rugby union

Levula, who had an unorthodox high knee action and his exceptionally long strides represented Fiji in the 1960s. In 1951, over 3000 fans came to Buckhurst Park to see the final between Suva and the Northern District. Levula scored four tries to end Suva’s 10 year hold on the trophy. He was selected in the Fiji to tour New Zealand. He made his début for Fiji at fly-half and he scored a brace of tries against the

Māori All Blacks The Māori All Blacks, previously called the New Zealand Maori, New Zealand Maoris and New Zealand Natives, are a rugby union team from New Zealand. They are a representative team of the New Zealand Rugby Union, and a prerequisite for playing i ...

to beat them 21–14 for which he received a New Zealand Rugby honour of being nominated as ‘Player of the Year'. In August 1952, he was on the wing for Fiji when they created history by beating Australia.

Athletics

He joined the Athletics Fiji team in 1954 to take part in the

Australian Athletics Championships The Australian Athletics Championships or Australian Open Track and Field Championships are held annually to determine Australia's champion athletes in a range of athletics events. The championships are the primary qualification trial for athlet ...

. He finished 2nd in the

100-yard dash 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length&nb ...

behind

Hector Hogan Hector "Hec" Denis Hogan (15 July 1931, Rockhampton2 September 1960, Brisbane) was an Australian athlete who competed mainly in the 100 yards and 100 metres sprint, where he was seven-times Australian 100 yards champion. He also competed in ...

Rugby league

In 1961, he defied the FRU when he left rugby union and went to England to join the

rugby league team with fellow Fijian Orisi Dawai, and later joined by Fijians Voate Drui and

Laitia Ravouvou Laitia Moceidreke (born 9 June 2000) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a er for the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL. Background Born in Camperdown, New South Wales, Moceidreke is of Fijian descent. He is the younger ...

. Levula transferred to

in 1964. He was inducted into the Fiji Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Levula, Josefa 1930 births 1989 deaths Bradford Bulls players Expatriate rugby league players in England Fijian male sprinters Fijian rugby league players Fijian rugby union players Fiji international rugby union players Fijian expatriate sportspeople in England Fijian expatriate rugby league players I-Taukei Fijian people Sportspeople from Nadi Rochdale Hornets players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union wings