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 its m ...

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 112 ...

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 predomi ...

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 Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

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 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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Athletics

He joined the Athletics Fiji team in 1954 to take part in the Australian Athletics Championships. 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 1 ...

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 th ...

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 Orisi may be: * an alternative spelling of Orissi, an adjective form of "Orissa", a state in India * a misspelling of Orici, a fictional character of the ''Stargate'' TV series * a Fijian name ** Orisi Cavuilati, rugby player ** Orisi Rabukawaqa ...

, and later joined by Fijians Voate Drui and Laitia Ravouvou. Levula transferred to

in 1964. He was inducted into the

Fiji Sports Hall of Fame The Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee (FASANOC) was founded on 25 March 1949 and achieved International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognition on 20 September 1955. It is responsible for entering Fiji's representatives in ...

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