page_title: History of soccer in Newcastle, New South Wales
section_title: Newcastle United Jets
hierarchical_section_title: History of soccer in Newcastle, New South Wales / Newcastle United Jets
caption_attribution_description: Newcastle Jets starting line-up against Queensland Roar for the 2008 Preliminary Final Back: Jade North, James Holland, Adam Griffiths, Tarek Elrich, Adam D'Apuzzo Front: Joel Griffiths, Stuart Musialik, Mark Bridge, Matt Thompson, Andrew Durante, Ante Covic
context_page_description: The sport of soccer has had a long history in the Newcastle, New South Wales and the wider Hunter Region. The area has had a number of teams involved in national competitions from 1978 through to the present day, being represented by the Newcastle Jets in the A-League.
  Previous NSL clubs have included Newcastle KB United, Adamstown Rosebuds and the Newcastle Breakers. In 2000 Newcastle United were formed who survived the end of the NSL in 2004 and currently play in the A-League competition.
context_section_description: Newcastle United was renamed as Newcastle United Jets when it joined the A-League in its inaugural 2005-06 season. The club was renamed to project a new image and to prevent confusion with the English club Newcastle United.
  The name "Jets" is a reference to RAAF Base Williamtown, located just 20 kilometres north of Newcastle.  The club's logo depicts three F/A-18 Hornets, which the Royal Australian Air Force has based at Williamtown.
  Following the demise of the NSL in 2003-04 the Jets underwent a major overhaul. With all player contracts null and void following the end of the NSL each club had to recruit from scratch. Newcastle assembled an impressive squad with players such as Jade North, Nick Carle and notably, former Socceroo star Ned Zelic who became the inaugural captain. Englishman Richard Money was appointed coash with Gary van Egmond (former assistant to Ian Crook) his assistant. Rumour about the appointment of former England and Australia manager Terry Venables proved unfounded.
  After the first regular season the Jets finished in 4th place and lost a two legged playoff with eventual runners up Central Coast Mariners. Following this, coach Richard Money left the club and was replaced by former NSL coach Nick Theodorakopoulos. Ned Zelic left the club but was replaced with players like Joel Griffiths, Paul Okon and Colombian Milton Rodriguez. Due to a poor start to the season Theodorakopoulos was sacked and his assistant van Egmond took over. The club saw a vast improvement over the rest of the regular season and finished third. Upon defeating Sydney FC in the minor semi-final the Jets then went on to lose the preliminary final to Adelaide United on penalties following a 1–1 draw.
  Season three saw Okon retire and Rodriguez, and Carle leave leaving the Jets with a depleted squad. Con Constantine brought in former European Golden Boot winner Mario Jardel but he was clearly well past his prime and did not last the season out. Nevertheless, with a number of young players the Jets finished 2nd on goal difference after the regular season and were eventually crowned Champions after defeating now arch rivals Central Coast Mariners 1–0 in the Grand Final. A first for a Newcastle football team. In season 2008-09 the Jets will represent the A-League in the AFC Asian Champions League.
caption: Newcastle Jets starting line-up for the 2008 Preliminary Final
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS-1D Mark III", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Microsoft Windows Photo Gallery 6.0.6001.18000", "Image DateTime": "2008:02:18 01:06:36", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "2328", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "1/96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "1/96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "6358", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2243", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/800", "EXIF FNumber": "9", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1000", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:02:16 17:01:58", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:02:16 17:01:58", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "77/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "51/8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "235", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2052", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1156", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "2400", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "1600", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "6160", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "144000/41", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "81000/23", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "ABC6B2BAB7BD4A7FBE85B0FB762130C9", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4156"}