Con Constantine (born 1 July 1945) is a Cypriot Australian businessman and the former owner of the Australian

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

club Newcastle United Jets.

Biography

Early life

Con Constantine migrated to Australia with his parents and siblings from the town of Maroni, near

Larnaka Larnaca ( el, Λάρνακα ; tr, Larnaka) is a city on the south east coast of Cyprus and the capital of the district of the same name. It is the third-largest city in the country, after Nicosia and Limassol, with a metro population of 144 ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

at the age of 10. At a young age, he started working in a takeaway food store before going on to sell

houseplant A houseplant, sometimes known as a pot plant, potted plant, or an indoor plant, is an ornamental plant that is grown indoors. As such, they are found in places like residences and offices, mainly for decorative purposes. Common houseplants are us ...

s. In 1985, he built Parklea Markets (on the site of a former drive-in cinema), initially operating it as a

plant nursery A nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to a desired size. Mostly the plants concerned are for gardening, forestry or conservation biology, rather than agriculture. They include retail nurseries, which sell to the general p ...

while seeking council approval. After approval was granted, Parklea Markets quickly established itself as one of the premier retail destinations in

Western Sydney Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US * Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that i ...

. In recent years, Constantine has expanded his interests to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, 150 km north of Sydney, where he is the owner of ''The Store''. He recently purchased two Newcastle community papers, the ''Newcastle & Lake Macquarie Post'' and the ''Hunter Post'', from

Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased '' The Sydney Morning Hera ...

. Constantine is a supporter of his local

Blacktown Blacktown is a suburb in the City of Blacktown, in Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Blacktown is located west of the Sydney central business district. It is one of the most multicultural places within Gr ...

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also call ...

parish as well as many legitimate Sydney and Newcastle charities.

Newcastle United Jets

Constantine was the owner and chairman of Newcastle United Jets, an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal ...

professional

club based in

. The club competes in the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competit ...

and plays its home games at

Hunter Stadium Newcastle International Sports Centre, known as McDonald Jones Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose sports stadium located in Newcastle, Australia. The ground is home to the Newcastle Knights (National Rugby League) and Newca ...

. They were the

Champions for the 2007–08 A-League season, after defeating the

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The ...

1-0 in the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

. The club was formed in 2000 when it joined the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

as Newcastle United. Constantine replaced Jets' manager

Richard Money Richard Money (born 13 October 1955) is an English former footballer and manager who was most recently manager of National League club Hartlepool United. Before this, he managed Cambridge United, overseeing the side's return to the Football ...

with an Australian, Nick Theodorakopoulos, for the 2006/2007

season. Theodorakopoulos was sacked as manager after a lacklustre start to the season. The new coach was Gary van Egmond with support from assistant coach Mark Jones. For the 2009–10 season, former Sydney FC coach Branko Culina was appointed head coach after Gary van Egmond's shock departure. Constantine chose to bring in controversial striker

Mario Jardel is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his crea ...

to Newcastle. The Brazilian legend had a successful career, but was out of shape and out of form by the time he arrived at the Jets. Constantine has invested over $15 million into the Newcastle Jets. After an unsuccessful 2008/2009 season, a group of Newcastle supporters staged a small protest by hanging all their banners upside down. Constantine invited the leaders of the group to his corporate box and allegedly threatened them. The incident was investigated by the

Football Federation Australia Football Australia is the governing body of soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Australia in its current form was only estab ...

. On 22 September 2010, Con was stripped of his licence of the Newcastle Jets. The team was taken over on a short-term basis by local businessman Nathan Tinkler. Constantine made a tearful farewell press conference and accused the FFA of backstabbing him.http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/sport/football-soccer/lack-of-inclusion-finally-cost-con-control-of-his-beloved-football-club/1949421.aspx?storypage=0

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Constantine, Con 1945 births Living people Australian businesspeople Australian soccer chairmen and investors Newcastle Jets FC managers Australian people of Greek Cypriot descent Cypriot emigrants to Australia Australian soccer coaches