John Hopoate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 16 January 1974 | |
| Place of birth | Nuku'alofa, Tonga | |
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (182 cm) | |
| Nickname | Hoppa | |
| Position | Wing | |
| Professional clubs* | ||
| 1993 - 2005 | Wests/Manly | 56 (33) |
| National team | ||
| 1995 | Australia | 4 (3) |
|
* Professional club appearances and (tries) |
||
John Hopoate (born 16 January 1974 in Nuku'alofa, Tonga) was a rugby league player for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, Wests Tigers and the Northern Eagles in the National Rugby League competition, he has also played for the Australian national team as well as the New South Wales State of Origin side. His position of choice for the vast majority of his career was at wing.
He was originally born in Tonga, but along with his family moved to Australia while he was still young where he originally took up the game of rugby league. Hopoate began his professional career with the Manly-Warringah side while he was only nineteen years of age but did not play as a regular first grade player until two years later in 1995 where Hopoate showed his freakish ability to score a try crossing the line a total of twenty-one times finishing second in the top try scoring table to team-mate Steve Menzies. A long and promising career looked to be on the books for John but after many controversies on the playing field his reputation became greatly tarnished and his career continued on a down hill slide seeing him become the "most suspended player of the modern era". A final dissension in 2005 led to him being sacked and forced to retire from playing any longer; he has now become a professional boxer.
Contents |
[edit] Childhood and early career
After moving with his family to Australia early on in his life he originally lived and grew up in the Manly area before moving to the western suburbs as a teenager. Former Australian international Bob Fulton recruited Hopoate to his former club at Manly after remembering his skill and power while witnessing him play as a junior for his Manly Cove side before then going on to represent the under nineteen New South Wales side.
[edit] Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (1995-1999)
Hopoate signed for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles club in 1993 making his first grade debut against the Canberra Raiders at Brookvale Oval June 6 the same year, however he was in and out of the first grade side on a regular basis during the next two years, not holding down a regular position until 1995. His early season form in 1995 was sublime as he went on to score eleven tries from his first eleven first grade appearances and subsequently lead the try scoring table. Over the remaining rounds of the 1995 regular rugby league season John went on to score a total of twenty-one tries and became instrumental in Manly's good form leading into the finals series with the club but his raw talent was not enough to help the Manly side to a grand final victory as they eventually lost to Canterbury.
His fourth season at the club was one where Hopoate was again instrumental in his teams fortunes, while he began the season slowly in comparison to his previous year with only five tries over the first twenty rounds of the season his defence had improved immensely; helping his side to concede less tries down his side of the field. He went on to score another six tries for the season including a haul of four in one game against the South Sydney Rabbitohs and ultimately help his Manly side to their first premiership in over eight years.
In the 1997 season he again started the season off slowly on the try scoring front with only another two tries in twelve appearances for the club before turning his fortunes around in round twelve match against the St. George Dragons where he scored three tries before continuing his form from then on bagging eight in his next six games and a total of fifteen for the season. After making his third grand final appearance for the club in as many years Hopoate started off well by scoring the opening try of the match before continuing to bait Newcastle fullback Robbie O'Davis by repeatedly patting him on the head. However his antics would prove to backfire after a fired up O'Davis helped his Newcastle side to their first premiership after scoring two tries and earning man of the match honours.
The following two years began a downward spiral for John after an average season in 1998 finishing with his lowest tally of tries ever in a season he had hoped for a change of fortune in 1999 but failed to find it. After turning up intoxicated to a club training session early on in the season the club considered sacking him until opposition from his team mates pleaded with the club to heavily punish him rather than terminating his contract. He went on to make a handful of appearances for the club in 1999 before deciding to leave the club at the end of the year.
[edit] Controversy
After turning up to a team training session early in the 1999 season heavily intoxicated his coach ordered him to miss the session and his behaviour was reported to the club hierarchy. The club then strongly considered sacking him but after opposition from his team mates to this idea he was heavily fined and dropped to reserve grade for eight games and forced to undertake counselling.
[edit] Wests Tigers
Signing for the newly formed Wests Tigers in 2000 Hopoate brought not only his talent but copious amounts of experience to his new club, however his fortunes on the field didn't change and he could only find the try line a total of five times during the season. While his on the field form failed to change his bad press did the opposite as he was suspended several times during the season including being charged with 'contrary conduct' in a late season fixture against Melbourne over ten separate incidents in the one game.
2001 became the low point of Hopoate's career, he again began the season poorly scoring only one try in several appearances before causing international headlines after a regular season game against the North Queensland Cowboys where Hopoate had been inserting his fingers into the backsides of several players, allegedly in an attempt to unsettle and upset his opposition. After a long NRL judiciary case John was suspended for twelve weeks and then mutually agreed to part ways with the Tigers club.
[edit] Controversy
During a 2001 clash with the North Queensland Cowboys, Hopoate in an attempt to unsettle several of his opponents attempted to insert his fingers in three players anuses, the first occurring during the seventh minute of play. At the conclusion of the match the matter was immediately referred to the rugby league judiciary where a case was put forward from both sides on Wednesday March 28.
Hopoate claimed in front of the panel of judges that he was simply attempting to give all three players "a wedgie" with his fingers, denying he had done anything wrong and that he was "a great believer in what happens on the field should stay there".
The three victims in the case, Cowboys players Glenn Morrison, Peter Jones and Paul Bowman all disagreed with the reasoning put forward by Hopoate and his team with Jones stating "It wasn't a wedgie. That's when your pants are pulled up your arse. I think I know the difference between a wedgie and someone sticking their finger up my bum" and Bowman saying that he was "disgusted" and "couldn't believe it".
With video footage and all three men testifying against Hopoate, the panel handed him a twelve week ban with judiciary commissioner Jim Hall adding that in his forty-five years he had "never come across a more disgusting allegation than I've had to deal with now".
[edit] Northern Eagles
After publicly humiliating both himself and his former club most thought his career would be over until his former employers in the Manly reserve grade side signed him onto their books for the remainder of the season where his good form earned him a late call up to the Northern Eagles first grade side late in the season.
The following year his form finally began to pick up as he went on to score ten tries for the Eagles before the club disbanded in 2003.
[edit] Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (2003-2005)
With the reinstating of the Sea Eagles for the beginning of the 2003 season Hopoate was signed on to the club where he originally made his debut for ten years earlier. He began the season well for his old club with several impressive performances but again his on field indiscretions were the only headlines he was achieving.
The following two seasons were poor for John with several on field and off field incidents earning him both fines and suspensions. His final foul-up occurred during a match in the 2005 season against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Hopoate attempted a reckless "shoulder charge" making contact to the head of forward Keith Galloway with his elbow. This was seen as the last straw for John by both his Manly club and the National Rugby League and his career was effectively over. He made a final statement on the Sea Eagles website thanking his fans and supporters and apologising to his wife Brenda and eight children.
[edit] Controversy
In the 2003 season Hopoate breached the terms of his playing contract by playing in a fifth-grade rugby union match in the Sydney competition on June 9 under a false name in an attempt to not get caught. After his Manly club found out and confronted John he admitted that he had breached his contract and was then fined $5000 Australian dollars.
During the 2004 club season Hopoate become involved in more controversy. While leaving the field at the conclusion of a match Hopoate became started a heated argument with a linesman in which he verbally abused the official. As punishment was given a lengthy suspension by the NRL.
In the round one clash with the New Zealand Warriors, Hopoate attracted more trouble for himself after he verbally abused 14 year old rugby league ball boy Jamel Thompson after Thompson had placed the ball on the sideline of the field rather than throwing it infield to the Manly player. The incident was placed under review with the National Rugby League finding that ball boy Thompson had acted in the guidelines set out and Hopoate was in the wrong over his verbal assault. Hopoate then apologised to the young boy claiming that "he was not aware of the proper interpretation of the rule" and was in the wrong.
On March 19, 2005 Hopoate was again in trouble with the NRL, this time in a match against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. During the 30th minute of the game he made a charge at Cronulla forward Keith Galloway with his elbow in a cocked position jumping and striking Galloway in the head immediately knocking him unconscious, leaving him on the field with a laceration to and bleeding from his ear. After immediate review from the third official Hopoate was sent from the field for the remainder of the match while Galloway was stretchered from the field in a neck brace and took no further part in the game. This tackle called a shooter whereby the tackler streaks out of the defensive line on the second tackle to hit the ballrunner early and by surprise ended Hopoates career.
At the conclusion of the match against the Cronulla based club the NRL match review committee immediately referred Hopoate's case straight to the rugby league judiciary. On Tuesday March 22 Hopoate had his case called up to the judiciary, his lawyer and coach attempted to argue that he was doing nothing more than "trying to go for a shoulder charge" and that his raised arm was just an attempt to protect his ribs. His contrition carried little weight with the panel and ultimately his defence failed to convince anyone that he had done nothing wrong being and he was given a seventeen game suspension. With his season over his loyal club that had stood by him through many of his career indiscretions decided they had no other choice than to terminate his contract with immediate effect on March 23, 2005.
[edit] Representative career
[edit] New South Wales
After his spectacular form and try scoring feats during the 1995 season Hopoate was called up to his first senior representative match for New South Wales in game one of the 1995 State of Origin series. After a decent performance from Hopoate he was retained for the second game but then subsequently dropped from the third game.
[edit] Australia
With Tonga looking to pick Hopoate for his nation of birth for the 1995 World Cup, Australia took no chances and instead called him up to the Australian side under the residency ruling. He was selected in the opening match of the cup yet failed to score and then made a vital mistake that turned out to be the turning point in a match that was eventually won by Australia's opponents Great Britain. Hopoate missed the next match but returned for the preliminary final against the South African's scoring three times in a crushing 86 to 6 victory.
[edit] Career playing statistics
[edit] Point scoring summary
| Games | Tries | Goals | F/G | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ? | 87 | - | - | 348 |
[edit] Matches played
| Team | Matches | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Manly Sea Eagles | ? | 1993 - 1999, 2003 - 2005 |
| Wests Tigers | - | 2000 - 2001 |
| Northern Eagles | ? | 2001 - 2002 |
| New South Wales | 1 | 1995 |
| Australia | 2 | 1995 |
[edit] Boxing
With the termination of his Sea Eagles contract effectively bringing to an end his days of playing rugby league, Hopoate announced that he would begin training in an attempt to undertake a career in professional boxing.
On May 17, 2006 he fought in his first professional boxing bout, on the undercard of the Anthony Mundine and Danny Green fight. Hopoate won his debut fight after only 47 seconds of the opening round, knockout Samoan Frank Faasolo.
After the quick victory, John challenged former rugby league player turned journalist Mark Geyer to a fight, citing his reasons as being "I know he hates being bagged, but for him to go sit behind a magazine and bag other players, I don't like that". Geyer turned down the challenge on the NRL Footy Show the following week.
Instead, he followed-up against New Zealand fighter Alex Mene on August 4, whom he defeated with a somewhat controversial fourth round technical knockout after the referee called a halt to the bout.
Hopoate's third fight was against Ipswich Brothers rugby league prop forward, Anthony “Chook” Fowler. The pair had previously fought during an under-17 representative match 15 years earlier [15], but Fowler found little opportunity to trade further blows with Hopoate as he was left motionless on the canvas after just 34 seconds of his only professional boxing appearance.
Subsequently, he defeated two more heavyweights from New Zealand during bouts in Queensland. Hopoate first put a finish to one-sided event against Oscar Talemaira with a first round technical knockout on November 17. He then knocked out Hiriwa Te Rangi on February 24, 2007 after a stiffer contest that lasted five rounds, his longest fight to date.
Most recently, Hopoate moved to a 6-0 record by dispatching the heavy-hitting Richard Tutaki with a series of second round body-blows on March 7, 2007 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, again on an Anthony Mundine undercard. The IBF junior welterweight champion who watched the bout, Lovemore Ndou, said that Hopoate is an embarrassment to the sport of boxing, and that he was disgusted with what he saw. As part of his scathing criticism of Hopoate and Willie Mason's big brother Les, Ndou said: "Footballers like them thinking they can box turns what is a scientific and artistic sport into a circus. They are making fools out of themselves and fools out of a sport I love." [16]
[edit] External links
- Soaring Sea Eagles player profile
- John Hopoate try scoring record
- State of Origin Offical website Rugby League Player Stats
- 60 Minutes Story on 2001 incident
[edit] References
- "Hoppa out: banned, sacked, retired" by Steve Mascord, Sydney Morning Herald, retrieved June 23, 2006
- "Get Hopoate out of rugby league" by Jeff Wall, Crikey, retrieved June 23, 2006
- "Dirty dozen: Hopoate out for 12" by Brad Walter, Sydney Morning Herald, retrieved June 23, 2006
- "Hopoate gets 12 weeks for unsportsmanlike interference", Sydney Morning Herald, retrieved June 23, 2006
- "The most vile act ever!", Sportal, retrieved June 23, 2006
- "The most vile act ever!", Sportal, retrieved June 23, 2006
- "Hopoate gets 12 weeks for unsportsmanlike interference", Sydney Morning Herald, retrieved June 23, 2006
- "Hopoate sends message to fans", Sydney Morning Herald, retrieved June 23, 2006
- "Sports briefs", Taipei Times, retrieved June 23, 2006
- "Hopoate says sorry to ball boy", ABC Sport, retrieved June 23, 2006
- "Manly sack Hopoate after ban", ONE Sport, retrieved June 23, 2006
- "Hopoate sacked after 17-match suspension", ABC Sport, retrieved June 23, 2006
- "Hopoate sacked after 17-match suspension", ABC Sport, retrieved June 23, 2006
- "Hopoate challenges Geyer", World of Rugby League, retrieved June 23, 2006
- "Chook takes up Hoppa's challenge", The Queensland Times, retrieved March 8, 2007
