Nicholas George Politis (born 25 August 1944) is a Greek-born Australian businessman and chairman of the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

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

Early life

Politis was born in

Kythira Kythira ( ; ), also transliterated as Cythera, Kythera and Kithira, is an island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is traditionally listed as one of the seven main Ionian Islands, although it is dist ...

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

Ipswich, Queensland Ipswich () is an urban centre within the City of Ipswich in South East Queensland, Australia. Situated on the Bremer River (Queensland), Bremer River, it is approximately 40 km (25 mi) west of the Brisbane central business district. Ipswich is ...

. The family moved to the town of Blackall, living there for a number of years before returning to Ipswich. Politis attended

Ipswich Grammar School Ipswich Grammar School is a historic, independent, non-denominational, day and boarding school for boys, located in Ipswich, a local government region of Brisbane on the Bremer River in South East Queensland, Australia. The school is situate ...

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

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

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 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 (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

to property developer Dyldham for an estimated $70 million.

Sydney Roosters

Since May 30, 1993, Politis has been the chairman of the

. After the Roosters won the 2002 NRL Grand Final, 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 William Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player. He is only the second person to represent New Zealand in rugby union after first playing for the cou ...

to return to rugby league with the Roosters 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 Australian National Rugby League and the British Super League, for the de facto club world championship of the sport. Super League sides have won the c ...

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

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

and

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

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 Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

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

Net worth

Politis first appeared in the '' BRW'' magazine Rich 200 in 2010 when his

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. Financial assets minus outstanding liabilities equal net financial assets, so net w ...

was estimated at 182 million. In 2017, the list was rebranded as the ''Financial Review'' Rich List. , Politis' net worth was assessed at 2.58

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 now the most common sense of the word in all varieties of ...

References