Either way, Purebaby seems the perfect antidote to Demetriou's pressure-cooker life running the national league, perhaps the most heavily scrutinised public role in this town and state alongside that of Premier. "It doesn't make this better," he said at the time, "but it has helped me through a very difficult period. And we watch a bit of junk on television. But now, a sudden round of interviews granted by Demetriou poses the question of whether the corporate journeyman, who has previously headed up companies making false teeth and managing waste, might be positioning himself for life after football. "Just the way he's championed the cause of women in general and other initiatives here. "I thought, 'Bloody hell, what have I walked into here? Just quietly: Andrew Demetriou has lost another gig. Meanwhile, in February, the code announced its highest-ever revenue, for last year's season: $335.8 million; its biggest operating surplus, $23 million; and record club membership of more than 614,000. "His father, nearly 80, still lives in Coburg but these days spends the winters back in Cyprus. Demetriou announced on 3 March 2014 that he would step down from the role as AFL CEO after eleven years, at the conclusion of the 2014 AFL season. As head of the AFL Players' Association, the footballers' union, Demetriou had played hard ball on the way to achieving his coup de grace - the first collective agreement (involving him) for the competition's 600-plus professional players, which gave them a massive pay rise, justly recognising them as the real stars of the show. ANDREW Demetriou leaves the AFL wounded by events in recent years, but they will not define him. They now have four children, Alexandra, Francesca, Mattea and Sacha and they were at the media conference with Symone as well as other family members. We don't have much information about He's past relationship and any previous engaged. It hurts people. Tania Hird, the wife of the suspended Essendon coach, has repeated the controversial claim that AFL boss Andrew Demetriou tipped off the club. Andrew Demetriou was born on 14 April, 1961 in Australian, is an Australian rules footballer, born 1961. "Every time we expand, we grow," says Demetriou. In 2002 he married his current wife Symone, and they have three daughters and a son. is 182cm (6ft 0in) and Weight 80kg (176lb). "About time! It was all give, it was incredible giving. In 2009, Demetriou earned $1.8 million for his role at the AFL. There's been speculation before, most famously when the now-defunct Bulletin magazine declared in late 2007 that he was about to pull the pin to spend more time with his family, even retreat to a holiday home on Italy's Lake Como. "But what I do know is that in greater western Sydney, there are 220 different ethnic groups, 220 languages spoken and 180,000 indigenous people. He had moved from the AFLPA to the AFL Commission in 2000 as general manager of football operations. "We've been around for 150 years, and we understand that for a lot of our supporters, their club is in their DNA, their bloodlines. ", Demetriou had spent his years with Bassett teaching and developing his business interests, primarily in a company manufacturing acrylic teeth, called Ruthinium. I'm very outspoken. In 2005 he was instrumental in securing a record breaking A$780 million TV rights deal. We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 14 April. "He was absolutely a source of help and advice.". "His favourite holiday destination was St Moritz, and 'classical' was his favourite music," Buckley laughs. No, declared Demetriou, because Ill tell you what I didnt do - I never injected anyone. ", "Andrew Demetriou," wrote Bassett, "has taught me much about life.". Andrew Demetriou, the million-dollar boss of Australia's dominant sports code, joins his fellow board members around the table once a month. "We've got players telling our doctors 'thank God, you saved me'. It's a ridiculous expectation. Demetriou found himself playing alongside some of North's greats - Keith Greig, Wayne Schimmelbusch, Ross Glendinning, the Krakouer brothers and Malcolm Blight to name a few - but by the time he was in his prime in the mid-'80s that premiership era had passed. What followed next was his second marriage in 2002 with Symone, who is currently his wife. Andrew Demetriou (born 14 April 1961) is an Australian businessman, sports administrator, and former Australian rules football player who was chief executive officer (CEO) of the Australian Football League (AFL) up to June 2014. Millions of high-quality images, video, and music options await you. In his role as head of the AFL Commission, he was responsible for a number of changes, including the expansion of the league from 16 to 18 teams, the restructuring of the tribunal system, and the brokering of two new television rights deals. This is what we do. Ex-AFL boss Andrew Demetriou makes humiliating exit from Crown board along with the CEO as James Packer's embattled gaming empire makes desperate bid to reverse ban on opening its new Sydney. [1], Before becoming a VFL player, he worked in the dental import industry. When he told his children on Sunday night he was stepping down their first question was whether they could still go to the football. He respected me as somebody in an organisation. People think he's a bit of a dealmaker, but he's massively respected in terms of making money for the game.". "It's an amazing game," he says, smiling. "Castle Hill, Baulkham Hills, Pennant Hills: it's an upper-middle-class socio-economic group they want. He still has this quality of que sera sera effortlessness, say those close to him. About expanding into new territories. He lacks fanaticism. We've carefully put building blocks along the way to target a time, and the time is right now because if it's not now when (the league) is in a strong position, then when? "But had he been misunderstood? Demetriou, a straight talker who supporters and critics alike recognise for his negotiating steel as much as they do for his decisiveness on policy issues, has used his CEO tenure to build on the league's expanding reputation as a force for cultural and social change, championing racial equality, cancer awareness and respect for women while putting player welfare at the forefront of league policies on pay and illicit drug use. I wish more powerful people had his attitude.". If you're going to have relationships, they've got to be meaningful. Boards are the best place to save images and video clips. ""When (players) leave the game they're infinitely better people, more rounded, because they've been educated, involved in a club, they've got experts talking to them. It is well known, of course, that in a country already saturated by four national football competitions, giving people options in a new place means taking them from an old one. And I read the form guide, which I love. Demetriou's tastes are eclectic if nothing else. She and Andrew married soon afterwards (friends recall him saying he wished he'd done it earlier), and Bassett fought the illness for three years. [6], In 2011, Demetriou was involved in securing a record breaking A$1.25 billion TV rights deal for the period of 20122016. "I think - and I'm sure Andrew knows this - that GWS is the biggest challenge by far that the AFL has ever bitten off. First Name Andrew. Were working to restore it. The couple tied the wedding knot in November 2021, a year after their engagement. [11] This proved to be the turning point in the Swans' season, as they lost only two further home-and-away games for the season, both by single-figure margins,[12] and eventually won the premiership. Ben Buckley, his teammate at North Melbourne, later his No. ", "But it's completely unacceptable today. Suddenly, he was switching teams.The irony was hardly lost on his new colleagues. Andrew Demetriou's AFL career was shaped by family and tragedy, Andrew Demetriou will stand down as AFL CEO at the end of 2014 AFL to begin 2-3 month search for a replacement Deputy CEO Gillon McLachlan among leading candidates for top job Demetriou denies AFL could have done more to prevent Essendon supplements crisis. ", Finally - and perhaps most importantly - he believes (or persuades others he believes) that no deal is worth dying for. Of course, the less you appear to care, the more you are likely to care. I was lucky to have someone who understood," he recalls. What we've said all along is that we're just offering another option for young children to take up the game. Demetriou's lasting impression was of his parents' deep commitment and love for their family, but also the pain for them of distance and separation. I always put the players first: Andrew Demetriou. "Andrew is a vigorous defender of his organisation's objectives," is how Buckley diplomatically puts it. "I went to uni, did arts and a dip ed, majored in legal studies and politics, and got a job teaching year 12 politics. "We used to have games of the wogs against the Aussies, and we'd have Australian kids who wanted to be on the wogs' team. Exports to about 70 countries. 2 at the AFL, and now CEO of Football Federation Australia (formerly Soccer Australia), remembers Demetriou's player profile at North Melbourne. At AFL House, there's also a sense of higher purpose: a desire for expansion to carry the torch of Aussie rules enlightenment into the darkness of heathen league, union and soccer lands. If you'd said I was going to be working in football 20 years later, I'd have thought you were mad.". And they are relishing the prospect of a fourth child, due in November. James Hird's wife Tania says Andrew Demetriou knew about payments to suspended coach UPDATE: James Hird says he will fight to protect his right to his $1 million salary while serving his 12-month suspension. In the spirit of reconciliation the AFL acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. And the caption said something like: 'That's what it takes'. Demetriou has been a remarkable leader of Australias greatest and most successful football code. In the business-class lounge at 6.30am, top button undone and pale blue tie looped around his neck, the most powerful man in Australian football scours the newspapers for news. When the AFL season begins on Thursday, it will include a new team, the Gold Coast Suns, and in 2012, the Suns will be joined by the Greater Western Sydney Giants (GWS); then, for the first time in its 115-year history, the VFL/AFL will have 18 teams in its top competition. Andrew Demetriou speaks to the media during the official opening of the Learning Life Centre at Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre on February 18,. "Don't quote me on this, I could get it wrong. "Those who work closely with him reckon Demetriou has achieved all of that. Demetriou is best known for his position as CEO of the Australian Football League. [citation needed], He had a brief move to Hawthorn in 1988, but played only three games and kicked one goal. The new general manager of football operations was stunned, to say the least. People credit Bassett and her circle with helping form Demetriou culturally: there's a famous story, told by several people, of a memorable day when he astounded everyone by leaving an AFL game early to attend an Andrea Bocelli concert. "My wife and I talk about it now, about how we try to find a balance for our children. Andrew finished his tenure with the AFL in June. His 103 North games resulted in 54 wins. As the only indigenous code in the country, it regards itself as the one true national code, and since 1982 it has put six teams into states outside Victoria, two of them - the Sydney Swans and the Brisbane Lions (formerly the Brisbane Bears) - far beyond its traditional boundaries. He lives in a $7-million Toorak mansion, has a family house in Cyprus, and holidays at Lake Como in Italy. Demetriou, who has sat on Crown's board since 2015, told the inquiry that the company's risk management processes were good but that important information was not escalated to the board. We spent a hell of a lot of time travelling in the last two or three years, we did some really wonderful things together, and in some ways, she changed quite a bit as a person in that time, too. Now, as the AFL's chief, with salary and bonus exceeding $1.5 million last year, he is the driver of the AFL Commission's greater ambition for 17th and 18th teams - for the Gold Coast (from 2011) and Sydney's sprawling west (a year later). He was at his best when he was under the most stress and duress.". [21], Demetriou's first wife died in 1999. "We've got a little board," explains Demetriou, chuffed. Of a fourth child, due in November 2021, a year after their engagement TV rights deal his 's! Tied the wedding knot in November 2021, a year after their engagement his position as CEO the... Board members around the table once a month vigorous defender of his organisation 's,... Tv rights deal is that we 're just offering another option for young children to up... Breaking a $ 7-million Toorak mansion, has a family house in.! 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