Jim Christou (born 24 December 1952) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played with Fitzroy in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL). Christou was born in

Florina Florina (, ''Flórina''; known also by some alternative names) is a town and municipality in the mountainous northwestern Macedonia, Greece. Its motto is, 'Where Greece begins'. The town of Florina is the capital of the Florina regional uni ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, and migrated to Australia shortly after his birth. While playing for

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

, won the Diamond Valley Football League's

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

award in 1971. A rover, he started his Fitzroy career in the 1972 VFL season and in 1975 was joined in the team by his younger brother

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

. His nine games in 1975 were the most that he would play in a single season. He played thirty senior games for Fitzroy over 4½ years. During the 1976 season, Christou believed he wasn't being afforded a fair opportunity for regular selection at Fitzroy, and he sought a clearance to . When Fitzroy rejected his clearance, he transferred at midseason without a clearance to

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of the Melbourne central business district, located within the Cities of City of Melbourne, Melbourne and City of Port Phillip, Port Phillip Local government ...

in the

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(the VFA and VFL did not have a reciprocal permit agreement in place). He became a regular player on the half-forward line for Port Melbourne over the next 2½ seasons, and was a member of their premiership teams in 1976 and 1977. He transferred to

Yarrawonga Yarrawonga is a town in the Shire of Moira Local government in Australia, local government area in the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. In the 2021 Australian census, 2021 census, Yarrawonga had a population of 8,661 people. ...

in the

Ovens & Murray Football League The Ovens and Murray Football Netball League (OMFNL or O&MFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing ten clubs based in north-eastern Victoria, Australia, Victoria, the southern Riverina region of New South Wales ...

in 1979, but disliked travelling to the country each weekend and returned to Port Melbourne in 1980. He played in another two premierships with Port Melbourne in 1980 and 1981, and played a total of 90 games for the club. Christou switched clubs in 1982, joining Northcote, and he captained the club to its 1982 second division grand final win over Caulfield. Christou's brother John Christou was also a footballer, the pair playing together for much of their careers at Fitzroy, Port Melbourne and Northcote. Christou also played district cricket for Northcote as an all-rounder, playing 104 first XI games across a twelve-year career. He was a member of Northcote's 1973/74 First XI premiership.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christou, Jim 1952 births Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Fitzroy Football Club players Heidelberg Football Club players Port Melbourne Football Club players Northcote Football Club players Yarrawonga Football Club players Living people 20th-century Australian sportsmen