Nicholas George Politis (born 1944) is an Australian businessman and chairman of the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

(NRL) competition. Politis is also responsible for the first sponsor on a professional rugby league team's jersey.

Early life

Politis was born in

Kythira Kythira (, ; el, Κύθηρα, , also transliterated as Cythera, Kythera and Kithira) is an Greek islands, island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is traditionally listed as one of the seven main Io ...

, Greece. In the late 1940s, Politis and his family immigrated to Australia, settling in

Ipswich, Queensland Ipswich () is a city in South East Queensland, Australia. Situated on the Bremer River, it is approximately west of the Brisbane central business district. The city is renowned for its architectural, natural and cultural heritage. Ipswich pre ...

. The family moved to the town of

Blackall Blackall is a rural town and locality in the Blackall-Tambo Region, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Blackall had a population of 1,416 people. The town is the service centre for the Blackall-Tambo Region. The dominant industry ...

, living there for a number of years before returning to Ipswich. Politis attended

Ipswich Grammar School , motto_translation = Work and Honour , address = Darling Street , city = Ipswich , state = Queensland , postcode = 4305 , country = Australia , coordinates = , type = Independent, single-sex, day & b ...

for his final four years of high school, graduating in 1962. In 1964, he graduated from the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

Business interests

Politis ran and expanded WFM Motors Pty Ltd from March 1974, rebranding its marketing name as City Ford and transforming it into one of the largest

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

dealerships in Australia. The business has been sponsors of the Roosters since 1976, when the club set a new precedent of having major sponsors' names appearing on their jerseys – making Politis the first sponsor in rugby league. As controlling shareholder of Australian Health Care Ltd., he was responsible for its failed sorties into the Australian hospital market, including the celebrated LaTrobe Regional Hospital fiasco, where tens of millions were lost in disastrous contract management. In March 2014, Politis' NGP Investments (No.2) purchased Barloworld's Australian car sales business for $130 million. In 2016, Politis sold the site of his Thomson Ford business in

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

to property developer Dyldham for an estimated $70 million.

Sydney Roosters

Since 1993, Politis has been the chairman of the

. After the Roosters won the

2002 NRL Grand Final The 2002 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2002 NRL season. It took place on Sunday, 6 October 2002, at Sydney's Telstra Stadium. 80,130 people saw the Sydney Roosters beat the New Zealand Warriors 30–8. T ...

, he joined the players in getting a premiership logo tattooed on his arm. He has been described as being ranked "among the most powerful, influential and ruthless figures in rugby league since taking over as Roosters chairman". Politis is sometimes affectionately known as "The Godfather" or "Uncle Nick". Politis was responsible for getting

Sonny Bill Williams Sonny Bill Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player and as of recently is working for Stan Sports. He is only the List of dual-code rugby internationals#New ...

to return to rugby league with the Rooster after his five-year ban from the NRL, for walking-out on the Bulldogs mid-season in 2008, expired in 2013. Politis reportedly made a handshake agreement with Williams to this effect years prior. According to prominent player agent, Sam Ayoub, "there’s no doubt Sonny would not have returned to the NRL if not for Nick Politis." That year, the Roosters achieved the trifecta of winning the minor premiership, NRL premiership and

World Club Challenge The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league competition between the winners of the Australasian National Rugby League (NRL) and the European Super League, for the de facto club world championship of the sport. The first such match was pl ...

. Politis was chairman when the Roosters won back-to-back premierships in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Personal life

His father was a vet in his homeland of Greece, before moving to Australia. Politis is a member of the Greek-Australian Sports Hall of Fame. In 2014, Politis was appointed a Member of the

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(AM) for significant service to rugby league football as an administrator.

Net worth

In 2010 '' BRW'' magazine estimated Politis'

net worth Net worth is the value of all the non-financial and financial assets owned by an individual or institution minus the value of all its outstanding liabilities. Since financial assets minus outstanding liabilities equal net financial assets, net ...

at 182 million. As of 2013, it was estimated at more than 200 million, with business turn-over of 4

billion Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions: *1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is its only current meaning in English. * 1,000,000,000,000, i.e ...

annually. In 2014, ''BRW'' assessed Politis' net worth at 410 million. In 2016, Politis' net worth was listed at 594 million, ranked 86th on the ''BRW'' Rich 200. Rebranded as the ''Financial Review'' Rich List, in 2021 Politis' net worth was assessed at 2.02 billion.

References