Newcastle Jets CEO Shane Mattiske on Maverick Sports Partners ownership: “It is exciting to see so many people lean forward and now want to get involved”

Liam Watson
Images supplied by Tom Logan at Newcastle Jets

To the relief of Newcastle Jets fans and those of the A-Leagues alike, Maverick Sports Partners were unveiled as the Club’s new owners.

The June announcement ended months of speculation, with questions being asked about whether the Jets would even survive financially.

Now under fresh leadership, Maverick Sports Partners will support the Club’s future and build on the tight-knit community that Newcastle represents.

Speaking to Soccerscene after the deal was confirmed and ahead of the Round of 32 Australia Cup tie with Rockdale Ilinden, Jets CEO Shane Mattiske describes the feeling of elation, the challenges it presented, upcoming business plans and how the A-Leagues will still thrive.

How has everything been since the confirmed announcement?

Shane Mattiske: It’s the end point of one big stage of the Club’s history.

We’ve been working hard in the background to build a strong foundation for growth in a real transitional period.

The critical thing was to find a new permanent ownership group – we are really pleased to launch into that new era alongside Maverick Sports Partners.

It’s great for the players, community and stakeholders because it sets up our future and puts us in a position where we can focus on growth and makes everyone happy.

What have you seen in the Newcastle community with their support?

Shane Mattiske: We are seeing strong engagement from the corporate sector and our members.

Our memberships went on sale and our target of 10,000 members is ideal but we of course aim for more. We’ve already had a great response from our membership base, with early renewals and quite a few new members coming in despite being away from the formal part of the season; this is really encouraging.

We’re looking forward to the team getting back on field and seeing the fans come out and we’re confident that the work’s been done to support that through good crowd growth and build on the successes of the women’s and men’s teams.

It is exciting to see so many people lean forward and now want to get involved in the Club, with the comfort of the new era that also celebrates our 20th year coming up, highlighting the heritage and history of the Jets.

Mattiske has been instrumental in securing the services of Maverick Sports Partners, among existing sponsors of the Newcastle Jets.

Do you have any plans in mind with Maverick Sports Partners at this stage?

Shane Mattiske: We are already making changes. Jason Hoffman is the first big example where he has come in from being an elite player to the corporate side of the Club.

He’s creating a connection between the men’s playing squad and our community team. Jason is one of those people that has got a big presence and has an identity.

Through his efforts, we are already seeing some great engagement at corporate level.

In addition, we are launching a new product called ‘Jets in Business’, where the broader business community come together and network with other organisations that has got an interest in football through this community and the success of our men’s and women’s teams.

We’ve also added Ken Schembri as General Manager of Football and Ben Hawes as General Manager of Commercial, Digital and Marketing.

We do have some big ambitions in terms of our growth. We are focusing very hard on our corporate revenue growth and membership numbers, with some big targets for our community engagement going forward.

From a personal point of view, how were the challenges in your role?

Shane Mattiske: For the past three and a half years, this has been a period where we’ve seen the game come together, particularly representatives from clubs in the game who recognised the importance of Newcastle and this region.

We’ve received great support and without it, we couldn’t progress to this stage.

There has been a lot of work on creating a strong platform to grow from, when further resources came under a new ownership structure.

A lot of people here, such as our playing group, have worked hard and performed really well despite the uncertainty that was going on.

All our people inside the Club and our corporate partners believed that this club did have a strong future here, with dedication and commitment that we would realise.

It’s really rewarding to get to this point where we’ve set ourselves up to grow and got a good collective within the Maverick Sports Partners ownership, with interesting dimensions that will help us for business skills and great experience in the football space.

What do you make of the state of the game and the A-Leagues?

Shane Mattiske: The last 12 months have been an incredible period for the game, featuring the Women’s World Cup. That has unlocked a connection to the whole Australian population – there would be very few families, adults or children that wouldn’t have been inspired and engaged by the success of the Matildas.

The diversity that exists for the tournament proved to be a watershed moment for football in this country.

At the elite level, you’re seeing people engage in football and you can see how that’s driven growth.

From a Newcastle perspective, we more than doubled our average crowd for women’s football, ending with 7,000 to set a new record for the semi-final.

We’ve seen huge growth across the board in participation; football is the one sport that’s booming and there’s incredible numbers in female participation, so we have some really bright signs for the game’s future.

You can’t get away from the fact that the APL have had to work through some challenges as they refine their economic model. Being close to it, we think they are short-term challenges and there’s confidence around the way they intend to work through them.

You look to those indications around the strength of the base that sits behind football and that gives everyone comfort that in the medium-longer term, there is a strong future for football.

The economic model just needs some slight refinement, and that’s what it being worked through at the moment.

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Filopoulos: Football Must Move Beyond Campaigns to Win Fans for Good

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Image Credit: Perth Glory

Global marketing and advisory firm Bastion has strengthened its leadership team with the appointment of Peter Filopoulos as Managing Director, Experience. This decision brings one of Australian football’s most influential administrators into a new phase of the sports business landscape.

Filopoulos, who has held senior roles across Football Australia, Football Victoria and Perth Glory, will lead Bastion’s experiential and partnerships division, applying a football-informed lens to brand engagement.

Drawing on his time in the game, Filopoulos emphasised the importance of cohesion in building meaningful fan connections.

“For me, the biggest lesson is that fans don’t see brand, content and experience as individual silos, they experience it all as one connected ecosystem,” he said.

“At Football Australia, the work resonated most when everything was aligned; the team, the narrative, the partners and the matchday experience all working together to feel cohesive and authentic. That’s when engagement moves beyond interaction and becomes something far more meaningful.”

He added that too many organisations still treat fan engagement as short-term.

“Where a lot of organisations fall short is treating fan engagement as a campaign. It’s not, it’s an always-on system.”

Filopoulos’ move reflects a broader shift within football, where commercial growth is increasingly driven by experience-led strategy.

“At Bastion, we put experience at the centre—because it’s where the brand comes to life, where partners integrate in a way that adds real value and where fans genuinely connect,” he said.

“Our focus is on building platforms that bring fans closer to the brand… Get that right, and you’re creating something people actively want to be part of.”

10:1 Against the World Game: Hume City Council’s Budget Is a Kick in the Guts for Football

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The numbers don’t lie. While football leads participation across the state, Hume City Council is spending ten times more on AFL infrastructure - exposing a funding imbalance that can no longer be ignored.
Image Credit: Hume City

Across Melbourne’s northern suburbs, football clubs are doing everything they can to keep up with demand.

Participation is rising. Teams are expanding. Young players inspired by the Matildas are flooding into community clubs. Training schedules are being pushed later into the night and volunteers are stretching limited facilities simply to keep pace with growth.

But behind the scenes, there is a problem quietly building and it is one that has little to do with the passion of players or the commitment of grassroots clubs.

It sits inside council budgets.

And when the numbers are examined closely, the picture becomes impossible to ignore.

The City of Hume’s current budget reveals a funding reality that should concern every football participant and every ratepayer in the municipality.

For every dollar spent on football infrastructure, Hume City Council is spending roughly ten dollars on AFL and oval-based facilities.

A 10:1 funding ratio against the world game.

For a sport that leads participation across Victoria, that figure isn’t just disappointing – it’s a kick in the guts for football communities across the municipality.

And for those watching the game grow while infrastructure continues to lag behind, it represents something even more troubling.

Ignorance hiding in plain sight.

The Numbers Inside Hume’s Budget

The City of Hume’s 2025-26 capital works program allocates roughly $1.55 million to football-specific infrastructure projects.

That includes:

$1.265 million for the renewal of the synthetic pitch and lighting upgrade at John Ilhan Memorial Reserve

$250,000 for portable change rooms supporting Upfield Soccer Club at Gibb Reserve

$35,000 for a goal cage for Roxburgh Park United Soccer Club

Important projects for the clubs involved, without question.

But when placed alongside the rest of the sports infrastructure spending in the same budget, the disparity becomes glaring.

Oval-based facilities – primarily serving AFL and cricket – receive close to $15 million in funding.

Projects include:

$4.71 million for the Willowbrook Recreation Reserve pavilion expansion

$3.45 million for the Vic Foster Reserve pavilion upgrade

$1.795 million for the redevelopment of Johnstone Street Reserve

$1.294 million for change room upgrades at Lakeside Drive Reserve

$1.207 million for the Bradford Avenue Sports Ground upgrade

Lighting upgrades, pavilion improvements and reserve master planning across additional oval facilities push the total even higher.

The bottom line is simple.

Ten dollars for AFL infrastructure.

One dollar for football.

The Participation Gap No One Wants to Acknowledge.

The imbalance we see in Hume mirrors a broader trend across Victoria.

Participation data shows football sitting comfortably at the top of the sporting ladder, yet infrastructure investment tells a very different story.

Across the state:

Football: approximately 260,000 participants, receiving around $9.31 million in infrastructure investment annually

Netball: around 100,000 participants, receiving $14.35 million

Cricket: roughly 80,000 participants, receiving $33.55 million

AFL: about 140,000 participants, receiving $39.17 million

The sport with the largest participation base receives dramatically less infrastructure funding than codes with significantly fewer players.

Football is carrying the participation numbers.

Other sports are receiving the infrastructure.

And when councils continue allocating funding based on outdated participation assumptions, the gap only widens.

The Pattern Across Melbourne

Hume’s spending decisions sit within a broader trend across metropolitan Melbourne.

In Whitehorse, $28 million has been committed to the redevelopment of Box Hill City Oval.

In neighboring City of Boroondara, significant funding is being directed toward the refurbishment of the Michael Tuck Stand.

Again, the issue is not whether these facilities deserve investment.

Community infrastructure should absolutely be maintained.

But when tens of millions are flowing into upgrades for oval venues while football clubs across Melbourne struggle to secure additional pitches, the imbalance becomes difficult to ignore.

Participation growth is happening in football.

Infrastructure investment is happening somewhere else.

The Frustration From Industry

There is another dimension to this issue that is rarely discussed.

In recent conversations I’ve had with business leaders and industry advocates working across the sports technology and recreation sector, many have openly vented their frustration about the lack of understanding from government when it comes to football’s broader ecosystem.

These are entrepreneurs and innovators working in areas such as performance data, AI scouting platforms, wearable technology, fan engagement systems and digital broadcast infrastructure.

Industries shaping the future of global sport.

Yet many say football innovation in Australia continues to be misunderstood by policymakers who still frame sport through traditional codes rather than recognising the scale of the global football industry.

The irony is clear.

While councils debate whether football deserves additional community pitches, the global football economy is expanding rapidly across technology, data, manufacturing and commercial innovation.

If Australia fails to recognise that opportunity, we risk missing out on industries that will define the future of sport.

A Growing Movement for Change

Last week, the Level the Playing Field campaign was launched at the Victorian State Parliament to raise awareness about exactly this issue.

The campaign highlights the growing gap between football participation and football infrastructure investment across the state.

It shines a light on a reality that grassroots clubs experience every week.

Football participation is surging.

Infrastructure investment is not keeping pace.

And unless that imbalance is addressed, the sport’s growth will eventually collide with the limits of available facilities.

If Not Now, When?

Australia has never had greater momentum behind football.

The Matildas have inspired a new generation of players.

Participation continues to grow across communities.

Clubs are expanding.

Demand is rising.

And yet the infrastructure conversation remains stuck in the past.

If councils cannot recognise football’s growth now – when participation is leading the state and the global opportunity around the sport continues to expand – then the question becomes unavoidable.

If not now, when?

A Civic Responsibility to Speak Up

As CEO of Australia’s leading football business magazine, Soccerscene, I believe it is our civic duty to raise awareness about these issues and help break down the barriers that continue to hold the game back.

For too long, football’s infrastructure challenges have been discussed quietly within the sport itself.

That must change.

Advocating for the growth of the game – and ensuring decision-makers understand the participation reality – is not just about football.

It is about communities, opportunity and fairness for the sport played by more Australians than any other code.

Championing that conversation is part of our responsibility to the game, to the industry that surrounds it, and to the communities that continue to drive its growth.

The Question That Cannot Be Ignored

The numbers inside the Hume City Council budget are clear.

A 10:1 funding ratio against the world game.

For the largest participation sport in the state, that statistic should prompt serious reflection.

As I’ve said before:

“When Hume City Council spends ten times more on AFL infrastructure than the world game, despite football’s participation growth, the problem isn’t demand – it’s ignorance staring us in the face as ratepayers.”

Football is not asking for special treatment.

It is asking for proportional investment that reflects participation, growth and opportunity.

Because if the sport with the largest participation base continues to receive only a fraction of infrastructure investment, the problem is no longer participation.

The problem is how decisions are being made.

And communities across Melbourne are starting to notice.

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