He was betraying the sports . I want to be part of the best team possible. [citation needed], Demetriou is best known for his position as CEO of the Australian Football League. Chief Andrew Demetriou and wife Symone arrive at the David Jones Summer 2006 Collections Launch on August 17, 2006 in Melbourne, Australia. 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. 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 also claimed that the Swans would not win a premiership with the way they were playing, and this statement was underlined when the team suffered a 43-point defeat to St Kilda in Round 10. There will be a bit of talk about the next season. "In many ways, they didn't expect anything from us. "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. The game is certainly more dominant and far wealthier than when he took over and, according to his chairman, he has given the game a conscience. That's not to say he's not respected. But no, it didn't.". Chief executive Andrew Demetriou is kissed by his wife Symone during an AFL press conference at AFL House on March 3, 2014 in Melbourne, Australia.. "Not many people get away with calling Andrew, Andy. "Can you imagine?". 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". "I thought, 'Bloody hell, what have I walked into here? No one barracks for the AFL, put it that way. About expanding into new territories. So, these clubs are great survivors. 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. "I've said continuously that it's not going to be easy," says Demetriou calmly. "No disrespect to Andrew, but I don't think that's really his area of expertise," she laughs. ", "Hmmm. But his mother went only once, to the MCG for a final against Hawthorn in 1982. But then, you know, by just a miracle in many ways, I met my current wife, and it really was like the darkness lifted.". Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images Demetriou has a regular spot with Red Symons on Melbourne radio station ABC 774. [17], Demetriou has interests in factories in Brazil and India which manufacture dental products and exports them to 70 markets, including Australia. I remember that really clearly, and a great photograph of (coach) John Kennedy hugging Schimmer who was spent, just spent. He's not intimidated by power, perhaps because he enjoys it too much, perhaps he knows the truth about bullies. 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. I wasn't that gifted; I made the most of the ability I had. Jennifer husband is now married to news anchor Amy Robach and is co-parenting Robach two daughter together. Demetriou played 103 games for the North Melbourne Football Club between 1981 and 1987, finishing his playing career with a three-game stint for Hawthorn in 1988. We take these people and put them into a club environment and we expect them all to behave exactly the same. "Of that opening remark, Lindsay recalls: "It was a throwaway line, really. "That was hard. His early days are well recorded: he and older brothers James, George and Phivos with his parents Tony and Chrysi all sharing two bedrooms, the boys often minded in the shop and then pitching in as they grew older. 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. That deal is up for renegotiation, and he's expected by many to winkle more than $1 billion out of broadcasters this time around. Demetriou remains a shareholder and board member. There'd be trees to sit under, and coffee to drink, and papers to read. I invest heavily in my family, and in friends and colleagues. To do what? "I did have those conversations. "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. Demetriou's first wife died in 1999. "In year 12 he had major issues with a couple of teachers who took exception to his brashness and his confidence and the way he excelled. He has wide interests outside the AFL. Director, Commercial. The Demetriou boys regularly drop by and the commitment to family and to one another remains strong. Business was booming, but romance, he told friends, was over. "I don't know about a fortune," he responds. The pairing - cheeky young footy player, independent older woman - seemed unlikely, but their friends remember them as a wonderful couple. It hurts people. It never affected me.". Demetriou is not one of them. Her son was knocked out by Leigh Matthews and carried off. , money, salary, income, and assets. His parents, Tony and Chrysi, met in the early 1950s, married and opened Tony's Fish and Chip . "Andrew Demetriou was born, the youngest of four boys, in Melbourne to Greek Cypriot parents in 1961. That would leave a massive hole at the competitions governing body and the game at the crossroads. "Andrew is a vigorous defender of his organisation's objectives," is how Buckley diplomatically puts it. He is not dating anyone. And we adopted an attitude of making the most of every day and every hour. It's not worth 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. You go through very, very dark periods, and I just threw myself into work. 'I'm just ringing to say your brother has died.' "I remember Andrew speaking at an AFL conference a couple of years ago," recalls Swans CEO Andrew Ireland. "When I played football," recalls James, "it was brutal, really brutal. It was the first public example of his negotiating skill. 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. Even his generally unemotional chairman Mike Fitzpatrick wiped away something resembling a tear at that point. Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. He suffered heartbreak a decade ago when his first wife, the academic and historian Jan Bassett, died of cancer, but today Andrew Demetriou's life seems very much on an even keel. Folau was paid a reported $3 million for three years; Hunt was persuaded to switch to AFL by Demetriou himself. Suddenly, he was switching teams.The irony was hardly lost on his new colleagues. Of course, the less you appear to care, the more you are likely to care. Please try again later. Tania Hird, the wife of the suspended Essendon coach, has repeated the controversial claim that AFL boss Andrew Demetriou tipped off the club. The AFL is debt-free and soon will have "squirrelled away" a $50-million contingency.Overall, the league is unrecognisable as the once-bereft and bankrupt Victorian competition of 1985, the year the 12 original clubs handed control to an independent commission. He was educated at La Trobe University, where he completed a Bachelor of Arts in 1983 and a Diploma of Education in 1984. (Photo by Kristian Dowling/Getty Images). Demetriou was made CEO of the AFL in 2003, replacing Wayne Jackson. Not even the global economic crisis could cool Demetriou's hot gospel on why expansion should not be stalled. ", "What is out there is our bread and butter. I just know it won't be politics." More importantly, they're great institutions for the community and economy in this state.". "It's either that or Andy," says Symone. The deal included unprecedented live TV coverage of the AFL competition in all states of Australia through free-to-air, subscription and IP television. So he was really pointing out missed opportunities. According to our Database, He has no children. Demetriou, in fact, was better at most things than most people. He'd had one great relationship in his life; that was all anyone could expect. The entire Demetriou family lived in the two-bedroom flat attached to the shop. I wanted to see what his reaction would be. "He was amazing during her illness," says Unglik. Demetriou currently leads a great life - great job, great family, great health etc. "Oh, hairpiece," says Walsh. North Melbourne rejected that offer and, in January 2008, the AFL chairman, Mike Fitzpatrick and Demetriou announced that the Gold Coast Football Club would enter the AFL in 2011. "About time! Symone and Andrew Demetriou, expecting their fourth child and partners in a babywear business. I get home and see the children, help with the bath, reading books, getting to bed. Free market forces might not deem Demetriou's playing career worthy of football's pantheon - a 1985 Scanlen's card of the moustachioed player was selling for $1.99 on eBay last month - though anyone who gets to pull the boots on for more than 100 matches can't be too shabby, a record that would mark a Demetriou boy a potential father-son recruit. ". You've got to invest in the things you care about.". 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. She died in 2004. But should his long-serving deputy, who knocked back the NRL job in early 2013, fail to succeed him then McLachlan too would leave. At this point in time, no one knows if Andrew Demetriou can make the AFL expansion work. "If you've done all the prep, you can't do more than that, so I never think about it. Does he ever have time on his own? "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. [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. She would have been 14 at the time of his most cherished football moment, but by then had jumped onto the bandwagon of the team that would go back-to-back that year, Essendon. 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. The family was close, and Demetriou grew up conscious of his parents' love, sacrifice and work ethic. "Along with my wife, we used to go away as a foursome on holidays," recalls Unglik. Along the way, he also chaired Baxter, a waste management company that was eventually sold to a bigger outfit. "You've got to give it to her, she's a consistent performer. Not that it seems to bother him. This is no doubt true - but not the whole truth. She was his tutor, several years older than him and a noted academic. "We have an agenda and someone takes the minutes and Mirabai and Sanjay are pretty much out the door by 11 o'clock," adds Symone, who met her husband while working in the AFL's commercial department and keeps her hand in by helping Purebaby with marketing. "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. But football was never the main game. Andrew finished his tenure with the AFL in June. But Toorak, Melbourne's most prestigious suburb, can seem a long way from Coburg. "Well, nobody said anything about my mother, thank God. He met his second wife, Symone, then a corporate sales executive at the AFL in 2001 and they married a few years later. I've said to my staff and to myself that everyone's got to modify their lifestyle. 2023 Getty Images. "Andrew's not frightened (to take heat) and he encourages us to think long term and make decisions in the long-term interests of the game and not be worried about short term criticisms there's no doubt he came under personal pressure from the Federal Government at that time. Industrial harmony has been a cornerstone of the AFL's recent success, though there are always issues brewing. "The Sydney Swans went there in 1981. About colours. At a time when, north of the border, the aftermath of the 1995-97 Super League war was still fracturing relationships in rugby league, "Andrew understood that the key to any successful deal is to create value for all parties," says Brendon Gale. The game will need all the money it can get. [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. His 103 North games resulted in 54 wins. People think he's a bit of a dealmaker, but he's massively respected in terms of making money for the game.". "Our numbers are very impressive in western Sydney," he says, when he says anything at all. Andrew Demetriou has a distinctive walk. "I try to get out the door of the office by five. 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. "But that boyfriend Scott. Then there's Purebaby, to add a bit of fun. Organise, control, distribute, and measure all of your digital content. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. In 2009, Demetriou earned $1.8 million for his role at the AFL. 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. Papers to read get out the door of the best team possible andrew demetriou first wife and coffee to,... To read Purebaby, to add a bit of talk about the next season think that 's not intimidated power... Has died. attached to the MCG for a final against Hawthorn in 1982 want to be easy, recalls! 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