We spoil them from time to time, but we also want them to want. "And some day he'll move on. "Castle Hill, Baulkham Hills, Pennant Hills: it's an upper-middle-class socio-economic group they want. Demetriou has a regular spot with Red Symons on Melbourne radio station ABC 774. Historically, in fact, it's tried to go even further. In April 2014, it was announced that Gillon McLachlan, Demetriou's then deputy, would be his successor. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images "I remember Andrew speaking at an AFL conference a couple of years ago," recalls Swans CEO Andrew Ireland. he says. If you see what he's done it becomes clear he must be ambitious, and possess a certain amount of drive. 2 at the AFL, and now CEO of Football Federation Australia (formerly Soccer Australia), remembers Demetriou's player profile at North Melbourne. We've got a factory in Brazil, one in India now. He took his first job back in football in 1997, partly so he could be at home with Bassett during her illness. It's been a real joy to be a part of. As the AFL's most visible symbol, it can also be convenient to hate Andrew Demetriou. ", Demetriou had spent his years with Bassett teaching and developing his business interests, primarily in a company manufacturing acrylic teeth, called Ruthinium. Thirty-one years!" I've said it 3000 times. They'll share a couple of pizzas, maybe have a glass of wine. I'm the little chairman. ', and she said, 'Well, he's very good. First Name Andrew. "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. I'm very outspoken. "The scene is not played out in the sleek and softly lit inner sanctum of the league's Docklands headquarters, with its polished hardwood table, swivel chairs and portraits of football's long lineage of powerbrokers, but one that normally takes place in the kitchen of the Demetriou family home in Toorak. "He's comfortable in any environment," says author and commentator Don Watson, who's known him since 1995. But money isn't the whole story. Or, as he would put it, giving people options. "Oh, hairpiece," says Walsh. To many league supporters, it was the defection of top players Israel Folau and Karmichael Hunt - both State of Origin and international stars - that made what had been a largely theoretical idea of an 18-team AFL suddenly intensely personal. Symone will have brought home Who or New Weekly and the next thing I'm reading about who Lindsay Lohan's slept with and whatever. 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. ANDREW DEMETRIOU | CHAIRMAN Former Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Football League (AFL), Andrew has been a CEO across a number of business sectors. ""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. "What people don't realise is that it hasn't been easy for him," says James. David. A fourth daughter would be fantastic. "Except, perhaps, the meta-narcissism of some of the best political leaders. His self-assessment went like this: "I am impatient when I see injustice, I am not happy with mediocrity, I have no place for lack of integrity, lack of honesty, lack of respect for others. Her sense of humanity, and my father's too, they were very generous and were always looking for the good in people. He speaks with his chin down, dark eyes watchful behind his rimless glasses. He seems to be content with running a very large, fractious, tending-to-testosterone-soaked organisation in a civilised and imaginative way and looking after his family.". His best memory was the elation of a come-from-behind triumph over Carlton in the elimination final of 1985. Demetriou kicked two goals. [citation needed] During the 2013 Finals Series he also co-hosted Talking Footy for the Seven Network. Were working to restore it. "I got a kick, which helps," he laughs. And that was okay; I didn't think there was anything wrong with that. Ryan Edwards and his wife, Mackenzie, have officially called it quits amid their ongoing legal issues. ", "He's exceptionally adept with figures," adds James Demetriou. "I don't stress about these things," says Demetriou. I'm very optimistic about what's going to happen in greater western Sydney, very optimistic. That deal is up for renegotiation, and he's expected by many to winkle more than $1 billion out of broadcasters this time around. "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 is also the highest-paid executive in any code: last year he earned $2.2 million. he exclaims.Unquestionably, says the Swans' Richard Collis, expansion will be remembered "as a part of the Demetriou era".How long an era? Wife Symone and their four children, whom he described as his greatest achievement and who all attended his farewell press conference, he said were his sunshine. "You could see, even at that young age, that he was very erudite, well-read, interested in travel.". Andrew Demetriou speaks to the media during the official opening of the Learning Life Centre at Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre on February 18,. Andrew finished his tenure with the AFL in June. Yes," says his head of communications, Brian Walsh, grinning. Access the best of Getty Images with our simple subscription plan. Andrew is currently non Executive Director of Crown Resorts, Chairman of Capital Health Group and Cox Architects and sits on the Australian Reconciliation Council. 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. 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. I want the best for those who work with me. Symone and Andrew Demetriou, expecting their fourth child and partners in a babywear business. Crown director Andrew Demetriou becomes the third board member to resign from the gaming giant but claims the NSW gaming authority's comments about him are "unfair and unjust". "There is tremendous power vested in Andrew's position," says Brendon Gale, former head of the AFL Players Association (AFLPA) and CEO of Richmond Football Club. In 2009, Demetriou earned $1.8 million for his role at the AFL. "Demetriou can absorb a punch or two, clearly. "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. 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. "Yep, she let her guard down there!" ("Bizarre, I know," he told one reporter. 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. And they are relishing the prospect of a fourth child, due in November. Recruited from Pascoe Vale, Demetriou played for the North Melbourne Football Club as a winger between 1981 and 1987, playing 103 games and kicking 47 goals. The advice of former AFL chairman the late Ron Evans rings true for him, daily.Evans took Demetriou aside on the day he was appointed, telling him straight: "I want you to remember one thing: you, me, everyone who works in football at our level gets to borrow the game. He is presiding over an enterprise whose growth in recent years has been little short of exponential, with rising memberships, ballooning revenues and top ratings underscoring the might of the indigenous code in an era of unprecedented competition, in particular from the round ball behemoth that is The World Game. He was at his best when he was under the most stress and duress.". Demetriou has been a remarkable leader of Australias greatest and most successful football code. I just know it won't be politics." "Andrew Demetriou was born, the youngest of four boys, in Melbourne to Greek Cypriot parents in 1961. Demetriou is the youngest son of Greek Cypriot immigrants. She died in 2004. 1988: Played three games for Hawthorn before retiring. Having been directed by the commission to groom a successor, Demetriou has achieved that in his deputy Gillon McLachlan, who impressed the AFL board when he took over the reins during Demetrious long service leave of 2012. He was awarded the University's Distinguished Alumni Award in 2009 and a Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) in 2015 in recognition of his outstanding contributions to sport management and to Australian society through his leadership and support of important social issues, and currently serves as an Adjunct Professor. Of course, the less you appear to care, the more you are likely to care. Andrew Demetriou has a distinctive walk. Then there's a long silence, during which he appears to be considering weighty matters of national significance. [1], Before becoming a VFL player, he worked in the dental import industry. This is true for the AFL Commission as a whole, and for Demetriou personally. It was that meeting that convinced Karmichael that he should move to AFL.". Also learn how He earned most of networth at the age of 59 years old? "In many ways, they didn't expect anything from us. I was lucky to have someone who understood," he recalls. It's not worth it." He lacks fanaticism. "He'll get massive kudos, or massive condemnation out of it," says Richard Hinds. "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. With his second wife, Symone, Demetriou raised twin daughters, as well as an additional daughter and a son. "I don't know about a fortune," he responds. Just quietly: Andrew Demetriou has lost another gig. 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). No one knows what Demetriou will do next, least of all Demetriou. 2023 Getty Images. Industrial harmony has been a cornerstone of the AFL's recent success, though there are always issues brewing. 1983 "But I really can't fault him. ", "What is out there is our bread and butter. At 61 years old, Andrew Demetriou height 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. Aghast, she never went back. "What we've got is five years of data (that) shows we're doing nearly triple the number of tests, and the percentage (of those caught) is dropping. [2], Recruited from Pascoe Vale, Demetriou played for the North Melbourne Football Club as a winger between 1981 and 1987, playing 103 games and kicking 47 goals. So they never saw their mothers again. During the 2013 Finals Series he also co-hosted Talking Footy for the Seven Network. Join 1.7 Million Subscribers [13], Seven years later, Demetriou praised the Swans for their new attacking style of play under second-year coach John Longmire and rated them as serious contenders for the premiership. 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. Have views on everything. And some suggested a life in politics back in 2005, when he openly questioned whether Australia had become mean-spirited compared to the optimistic country that welcomed his parents in the 1950s, challenging directly the Howard Government's tough asylum-seeker laws in the wake of the Tampa incident. "Our role is minimal. "Footy wasn't a career path for me," Demetriou acknowledges. [7], Demetriou has been highly influential in the AFL Commission's desire for a team to be based on the Gold Coast. 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. 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. I just never envisaged that I could meet anybody else. McLachlan also played the pivotal role in negotiations which saw the redevelopment of Adelaide Oval as an AFL venue - an achievement which will see the season launched there on Wednesday and which Demetriou described as his greatest professional effort given the degree of difficulty involving the South Australian football body, the cricket association and the state government. "It's either that or Andy," says Symone. Andrew Demetriou was born, the youngest of four boys, in Melbourne to Greek Cypriot parents in 1961. He may even, say several of his friends, end up at Lake Como. Demetriou is the youngest son of Greek Cypriot immigrants. I want to be challenged by that team. "I don't think the AFL has the slightest interest in the community of western Sydney," says Roy Masters. There are 70+ professionals named "Andrew Demetriou", who use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities. Bit like Lindsay Lohan.". Andrew Demetriou.Credit:Sebastian Costanzo, "Kim Kardashian," he says suddenly. "I'm not a reader of books, which is a disgrace when it's all said and done, but I'm a prolific reader of newspapers, back to front," he says. He was no Trojan horse on behalf of the players, but nor did he give up on them when he assumed a role on the opposite side of the negotiating table. USER IS NOT PERMITTED TO DOWNLOAD OR USE IMAGE WITHOUT PRIOR APPROVAL. There will be a bit of talk about the next season. In the dedication of a final book, she made an unusual reference to her husband. In common with other older, poorer clubs, Richmond will suffer from the wealth of talented young players (usually allocated to clubs via the annual draft) and financial support being channelled into the new clubs. " Red Symons recalls. He was awarded the University's Distinguished Alumni Award in 2009 and a Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) in 2015 in recognition of his outstanding contributions to sport management and to Australian society through his leadership and support of important social issues, and currently serves as an Adjunct Professor. Development of Carriageworks' commercial and major events programs to expand our . More than anything, at all stages of his life, football has allowed Demetriou both to stand out, and to fit in. Andrew Demetriou. "Adrian Anderson, the defamation lawyer whose left-field appointment by Demetriou as football operations manager mimicked Demetriou's own path, witnessed the stand-off close up. "We're now 50-50," says Andrew Demetriou. He was betraying the sports . 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. Fans levelled a lot at Demetriou during his time as chief of the nation's dominant sporting code. He was a good, though never a great, player. This is what we do. I don't know why people are so obsessed by that." So, these clubs are great survivors. [18], Demetriou had a regular spot with Red Symons on Melbourne radio station ABC 774. Jokes about people's mothers hurt people!". "Later, Symone qualifies her husband's involvement. [citation needed], Demetriou is best known for his position as CEO of the Australian Football League. Date of Birth: 14 April 1961. . [citation needed], In 2008, Demetriou earned an annual salary of $1.4 million, making him the highest paid administrator or player then employed by the AFL. Andrew Demetriou is the quintessential boy done good. ", "But it's completely unacceptable today. ", "Hmmm. Demetriou himself rejects the idea of deliberate discrimination in his early life, but it seems more likely that, for an able and confident kid, it did exist and he simply brushed it off. By the time we've got two teams there the Swans will have been playing in Sydney for 31 years. He passes a few remarks about Peter Costello's criticism of Australian Football League players visiting schools, and reflects on the launch of rugby union's new Melbourne team. We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 14 April. is 182cm (6ft 0in) and Weight 80kg (176lb). We provided a small injection of capital which gave the business the ability to borrow money and it's grown incredibly well. "She's all right.". 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. [9], In the first half of 2005, Demetriou criticised the Sydney Swans and then-coach Paul Roos, labelling the team's play as "unattractive" and "ugly". He says the national game has a record of kicking into a stiff breeze and still scoring goals, and timing is everything: key sponsors have been bedded down until 2011, the players agreement is locked in similarly and the broadcasting rights will be re-negotiated when the country is likely pulling out of its slowdown. He's not intimidated by power, perhaps because he enjoys it too much, perhaps he knows the truth about bullies. Keep up with all the latest signings here. The defeat was the turning point in the Swans' season, with the Swans losing only two more home-and-away games for the season, both by single-figure margins and eventually winning the 2005 Premiership. The AFL are incredibly good at leveraging causes into money. In fact, it was not the first, but the first involving Mr Demetriou. [21], Demetriou's first wife died in 1999. "It's impossible for me to answer that, other than the fact that when you're dealing with terminal illness, and you've got a very limited time, you change your perspective on many things. "I'm never going into politics," he insists now, almost stamping a foot. Australian sport's reputation blackened: Abbott. His best season was 1983, playing 23 of a possible 24 games, the club's campaign ending with a thumping in the preliminary final. "He's telling the truth about that," says Don Watson. "The Sydney Swans went there in 1981. 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 respected me as somebody in an organisation. ", He probably should have got into the Victorian cricket side, too - he was playing in the Victorian and Australian under-21 sides at 16 - but in those days, as his long-time friend and AFL medical commissioner Dr Harry Unglik puts it, "who had ever heard of a Demetriou in the Australian cricket team?". This is no doubt true - but not the whole truth. The game will need all the money it can get. "Well, nobody said anything about my mother, thank God. Nor does she recall easily his number. Learn How rich is He in this year and how He spends money? In 2002 he married his current wife Symone, and they have three daughters and a son. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. She has $200 thousand as her net worth from her career as professional florist. Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Of course, despite all the tearing of hair and gnashing of teeth, the NRL and the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) have been stealing each other's players for years. I don't think there's anything wrong with giving people options.". "I'll never forget the phone calls," he says of the jarring interruption of bad news from afar. He didn't have an ounce left in him. In 2002 he married his current wife Symone, and they have three daughters and a son. Former AFL chief Andrew Demetriou is a strong family man. Demetriou is not one of them. You go through very, very dark periods, and I just threw myself into work. It's the largest multicultural area in Australia.