That would leave a massive hole at the competitions governing body and the game at the crossroads. "I'll never forget the phone calls," he says of the jarring interruption of bad news from afar. Demetriou became emotional when he talked about those loved ones and colleagues he had lost during his time in the games administration - his first wife Jan Bassett, mother Chrysi, former AFL chairman Ron Evans, ground operations boss Jill Lindsay and Jim Stynes. he says. And because of where the new AFL teams are based, who will play in them and how the money will flow, the most serious impacts are almost certain to be felt by AFL's main competitor for fans, players and cash: the National Rugby League. [citation needed] He has an older brother Jim Demetriou who played senior football for Essendon in the mid-1970s. According to our Database, He has no children. "She said to the teacher, 'How's Andrew going? Chairing several companies after his retirement from playing, he was appointed CEO of the AFL Players Association in 1998, and was responsible for negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players. Put it this way, says footy's head honcho of his current circumstances, "I've learnt more about baby wear than I thought I ever would. 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. "He spoke about where the game had been 100 years ago. But on the advice of medical experts he incorporated a three-strikes policy that puts player welfare ahead of the urge to "name and shame" offenders, and subsequently got belted by political leaders who reckoned it was lax.He doesn't care. I've always done that from the day they were born.". 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. But his mother went only once, to the MCG for a final against Hawthorn in 1982. Right now, he's enjoying himself, in the job and in general. 2023 Getty Images. Even Demetrious fellow commissioners enjoyed his press conferences - despite the odd misstep - as much as anything and they would not have been disappointed by his first farewell performance on Monday morning at AFL headquarters. "We grew up in an area where you just laughed at those things," he says. Suddenly, he was switching teams.The irony was hardly lost on his new colleagues. It was while Demetriou was a student at La Trobe University in 1983 that he met his first wife, historian Jan Bassett. [16], In April 2014, it was announced that Gillon McLachlan, Demetriou's then deputy, would be his successor. "To be frank, if the clubs had had their way, there'd be no national expansion," says Gale. But money isn't the whole story. The western Sydney move is a brave one; we're all looking at that with great interest.". "It's either that or Andy," says Symone. I'll read junk, too. It's based in northern Italy. I've said it 3000 times. There has been much talk of the $200-million war chest that will fund the expansion, and those on the inside say it will take all this and more. In 2002 he married his current wife Symone, and they have three daughters and a son. "The Demetrious pay a personal trainer to help keep them in shape - "boxing and all that sort of stuff two or three times a week" - but an Achilles injury has hindered Demetriou's recent progress. 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? " Red Symons recalls. ". "The business is a good business. "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. "He's quite immune to status and reputation and the thuggery that tends to go with it. Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. ""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. Fans levelled a lot at Demetriou during his time as chief of the nation's dominant sporting code. "But that boyfriend Scott. Not even the global economic crisis could cool Demetriou's hot gospel on why expansion should not be stalled. There, above the Norm Smith medals and behind the gang of administration girls admiring a new engagement ring ("Show me that rock!" Andrew Demetriou's net worth He should not be content with just doing better than the other children.". His net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. "It doesn't make this better," he said at the time, "but it has helped me through a very difficult period. is 182cm (6ft 0in) and Weight 80kg (176lb). Andrew Demetrious income source is mostly from being a successful Player. "Expansion is going to make things much tougher for clubs in the short term," says Gale, speaking as Richmond CEO. I understand it. He seems relaxed but self-possessed, friendly but not confiding. He was a good, though never a great, player. Even as an 18-year-old, he had larger horizons. It was that meeting that convinced Karmichael that he should move to AFL.". ", "What is out there is our bread and butter. Demetriou became emotional when he talked about those loved ones and colleagues he had lost during his time in the game's administration - his first wife Jan Bassett, mother Chrysi, former AFL . Tania Hird, the wife of the suspended Essendon coach, has repeated the controversial claim that AFL boss Andrew Demetriou tipped off the club. In 2011, Demetriou was involved in securing a record breaking A$1.25 billion TV rights deal for the period of 20122016. ", "Andrew Demetriou," wrote Bassett, "has taught me much about life.". Andrew Demetriou. More than anything, at all stages of his life, football has allowed Demetriou both to stand out, and to fit in. His parents, whose fathers were both dead, had left Cyprus in 1951 and didn't return until 1983, until after their sons had completed their university studies. "Demetriou's somewhat feisty reputation preceded him when he landed Jackson's job, something he acknowledged tongue-in-cheek in a Melbourne Press Club speech just days after taking up his new role (and becoming a father). When he told his children on Sunday night he was stepping down their first question was whether they could still go to the football. So, these clubs are great survivors. Jill Lindsay, in charge of league grounds and one of the AFL's longest-serving executives, looked Demetriou square in the eye on day one and said: "So, you're the guy who stuffed the league." He was betraying the sports . I've said to my staff and to myself that everyone's got to modify their lifestyle. He is a member of famous Player with the age 61 years old group. Demetriou is best known for his position as CEO of the Australian Football League. He convinced the Players' Association to accept random testing for illicit drugs, not just performance-enhancing ones, something that is rare in sporting codes the world over, and unheard of in most professions. He still has this quality of que sera sera effortlessness, say those close to him. "I'm forever reading for work, reports and documents and whatever. You go through very, very dark periods, and I just threw myself into work. "Symone cannot recall noticing her husband on-field. 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. And, of course, it was Symone. But there's something about his knees, as if he were once pigeon-toed, or injured in some way, that makes him kick out his feet as he walks. This board of directors includes Demetriou, wife Symone and couple Mirabai Winford and Sanjay Gill, who founded Purebaby, a brand for babies and toddlers that sources garments made of organic cotton in Indian factories that eschew sweatshop conditions.When the Demetrious' twin girls arrived in 2003 - two days after the businessman and former player took over the AFL's top job from departing chief executive Wayne Jackson - Symone went scouting for baby clothes and was drawn to the natural fabric and styles of the Purebaby range being sold in a Surrey Hills shop.She hit it off immediately with Winford and eventually introduced the entrepreneurial couple to her husband. It's not worth it." In fact, Demetriou's term as chief is almost certain to be judged on the success of the AFL's latest foray. "It's true," he says now. One of the more significant challenges he has faced was his first wife died of cancer in 1999. He was at his best when he was under the most stress and duress.". "I think - and I'm sure Andrew knows this - that GWS is the biggest challenge by far that the AFL has ever bitten off. I think he must have taken it in the best spirit because he still recounts that story. But are they role models? The day of our interview, he leaves work early to go to his four-year-old daughter's birthday party "at one of those Japanese restaurants where they throw things in the air". And it was as AFLPA CEO in 1998 that he secured a historic collective-bargaining agreement that delivered a significant pay rise to the competition's 600-odd players. There'd be trees to sit under, and coffee to drink, and papers to read. The deal included unprecedented live TV coverage of the AFL competition in all states of Australia through free-to-air, subscription and IP television. "Just the way he's championed the cause of women in general and other initiatives here. His best season was 1983, playing 23 of a possible 24 games, the club's campaign ending with a thumping in the preliminary final. 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). "History will tell.". But, you know, that's Andrew defending his patch. Seven years later though, Demetriou praised the Swans for their new attacking style of play under coach John Longmire and rated them as serious contenders for the premiership. Even his generally unemotional chairman Mike Fitzpatrick wiped away something resembling a tear at that point. "We are living in an age of scrutiny that we've never experienced before and it's not just football. In 2005 Demetriou criticised the Sydney Swans and then-coach Paul Roos, labelling the team's play as "unattractive" and "ugly". Beyond this foundation, the brothers' childhoods combined both genuine acceptance and deep-rooted racism. But to be truthful, I never thought I'd last long in football. "I went to uni, did arts and a dip ed, majored in legal studies and politics, and got a job teaching year 12 politics. "Although he might find himself tethered to his Blackberry, Demetriou more often than not walks through the front door at 5.30pm and rolls up the sleeves when needed. He's convinced them that a truly national competition will benefit everyone in the long term, by bringing in more fans, giving sponsors a bigger platform, and making media rights more desirable and profitable. Director, Commercial. "The Sydney Swans went there in 1981. "Normally, Jan's acknowledgments were succinct, formal and scrupulously alphabetical," explained her friend Peter Rose, "but this time there was a new note - a kind of relaxation - and a deliberate tribute to her second husband. "Demetriou's values were sewn into his very fabric by his humble upbringing, by the work ethic and sacrifice of parents hell-bent on building a life for their children in a new land. . "There's a bit of the ancestry there - a bit of the old Cypriot sitting under the tree having a glass of whatever they drink over there, watching the world go by. He took his first job back in football in 1997, partly so he could be at home with Bassett during her illness. Likewise, his partner, Emma, wore a white strapless mermaid wedding gown. "Every dollar that goes to the GWS, that's a dollar less to the existing clubs or players.". I remember that really clearly, and a great photograph of (coach) John Kennedy hugging Schimmer who was spent, just spent. He respected me as somebody in an organisation. "Along with my wife, we used to go away as a foursome on holidays," recalls Unglik. Demetriou's first wife died in 1999. "We've got a little board," explains Demetriou, chuffed. He may even, say several of his friends, end up at Lake Como. "That was hard. "I think the task is absolutely massive," says Ireland. He later would be involved in another business, the Baxter Group, which he took from a market capitalisation of $40 million in 2003 to a sale in 2006 for $260 million. ", Demetriou had spent his years with Bassett teaching and developing his business interests, primarily in a company manufacturing acrylic teeth, called Ruthinium. Organise, control, distribute, and measure all of your digital content. Now in his sixth year at the helm, the 48-year-old youngest son of Greek Cypriot migrants who was raised in a Coburg fish-and-chip shop, appears to be at the top of his game. The new general manager of football operations was stunned, to say the least. Nor does she recall easily his number. But Toorak, Melbourne's most prestigious suburb, can seem a long way from Coburg. Demetriou was 38. ', he would say things like, 'You know, I don't know what the right way to feel is, but at the moment I don't feel comfortable doing that.' Much has been made in the past of a possible move into politics, though Demetriou has consistently denied it. 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. Aries. But McLachlans reputation was not enhanced when he was placed in charge of standing in judgment over Melbourne following the tanking investigation, nor by the messy completion of the Essendon negotiation. Chief executive Andrew Demetriou is kissed by his wife Symone as his daughters Francesca and Alexandra look on during an AFL press conference at AFL. Demetriou, of course, knows this very well. We provided a small injection of capital which gave the business the ability to borrow money and it's grown incredibly well. 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