"Oh, hairpiece," says Walsh. What's next for AFL's most powerful man Andrew Demetriou. "Andy Demetriou" redirects here. I don't begrudge that at all. He probably should have got into law school, but he missed that. We don't own this game. "About time! And that was okay; I didn't think there was anything wrong with that. Plate of heart Soccer's Jose Mourinho is The Special . But to be truthful, I never thought I'd last long in football. Michael Warner and Ashley Argoon 5 min read December 12, 2013 - 5:27PM HeraldSun Initially, Andrew Demetriou worked in the industry of dental imports It's the day before our Lindsay Lohan conversation, and he's leaning back in a dark sofa, one arm hanging over its side. We have estimated Along the way, he also chaired Baxter, a waste management company that was eventually sold to a bigger outfit. When he told his children on Sunday night he was stepping down their first question was whether they could still go to the football. Demetriou maintained his involvement in Ruthinium when he moved to the AFLPA. 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. "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. He's revolutionised the code's response to illicit drug use; initiated a policy to improve the treatment of women; allowed free movement of uncontracted, end-of-term players between clubs; and supported some of the strongest anti-discrimination policies in international sport. Credit: The high-profile Melbourne identity, who has been a director of the casino giant since 2015 and is chairman of Crown . 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. This is true for the AFL Commission as a whole, and for Demetriou personally. "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. "Symone and my children are my . ", Finally - and perhaps most importantly - he believes (or persuades others he believes) that no deal is worth dying for. The comic wore a white tuxedo with a matching black tie. "Yep, she let her guard down there!" Discover today's celebrity birthdays and explore famous people who share your birthday. Join 1.7 Million Subscribers Jokes about people's mothers hurt people!". . ANDREW Demetriou leaves the AFL wounded by events in recent years, but they will not define him. I didn't take things as seriously.". ", "Andrew Demetriou," wrote Bassett, "has taught me much about life.". Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Folau was paid a reported $3 million for three years; Hunt was persuaded to switch to AFL by Demetriou himself. 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. "You could see, even at that young age, that he was very erudite, well-read, interested in travel.". Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. And the heads of other codes - Buckley, the NRL's David Gallop and the ARU's John O'Neill - have all maintained upbeat public attitudes towards expansion. I'll read junk, too. We're changing people's lives. Demetriou kicked two goals. Or, as he would put it, giving people options. 1998 Between 1998 and 2000, Demetriou was CEO of the AFL Players Association. I wanted to see what his reaction would be. [14] Sydney won the 2012 premiership implementing a style of relentless tackling and attacking play. Industrial harmony has been a cornerstone of the AFL's recent success, though there are always issues brewing. 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. I understand it. 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. To do what? [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. In 2002 he married his current wife Symone, and they have three daughters and a son. I used to go to the races. We spoil them from time to time, but we also want them to want. "If I were to believe you guys," he told the audience of journalists, "I'm a hot-tempered, loud, heavy-gambling Cypriot, prone to fly off the handle without warning. She was his tutor, several years older than him and a noted academic. ", "What is out there is our bread and butter. "I don't think the AFL has the slightest interest in the community of western Sydney," says Roy Masters. That's the reality of the world we're living in. "But you have to say it's very hard for any detractors to mount a really substantive case given the progress that's been made on his watch You'd have to say that at this stage the AFL is in better shape than any other football code in the country. This is what we do. "He looks at numbers and they sort of sing to him, if you like; he has the ability to pick trends and assess things very quickly. ", "But it's completely unacceptable today. "The Sydney Swans went there in 1981. 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. Collect, curate and comment on your files. Andrew Demetriou is the quintessential boy done good. "I think the task is absolutely massive," says Ireland. 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. 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. 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. At this point in time, no one knows if Andrew Demetriou can make the AFL expansion work. 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. But that's part of the game. Demetriou's negotiating skills have gained almost mythological status. The chief executive, who joined the AFL first as its football boss in 2000, will vacate the role which has become the most powerful in Australian sport, was questioned about whether he should be blamed at all for Essendons dangerous drug program. He's even convinced those behind enemy walls to join his crusade. He met his second wife, Symone, then a corporate sales executive at the AFL in 2001 and they married a few years later. 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." North Melbourne Football Club had played three home games there in 2007 and, at the conclusion of that season, Demetriou offered the club $100 million to relocate there permanently. We manufacture and distribute false teeth. "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. I played golf once three or four years ago, and when I got home after six hours " - he pauses, smiling - "no, no. "I'll never forget the phone calls," he says of the jarring interruption of bad news from afar. 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. I want to be part of the best team possible. (m). Of course, the less you appear to care, the more you are likely to care. 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. A month after the ex-AFL chief and former Crown Melbourne chairman gave a televised public lesson in October in how . It's based in northern Italy. USER IS NOT PERMITTED TO DOWNLOAD OR USE IMAGE WITHOUT PRIOR APPROVAL. We're not drug experts. Andrew Demetrious income source is mostly from being a successful Player. "It wasn't whim. Encouraging kids and beginners to try your code is one thing; seducing mature athletes from a rival code after years of development is quite another. He looks momentarily uncomfortable, as if he's never thought about it. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. "He really stood out," says Unglik. ANDREW DEMETRIOU | CHAIRMAN Former Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Football League (AFL), Andrew has been a CEO across a number of business sectors. Even when I said to him, 'Andrew, you know, maybe now you should start to think about moving on how are you feeling? First Name Andrew. "Andrew Demetriou's first appointment to the Australian Football League hierarchy in May 2000 was characterised as a case of poacher-turned-gamekeeper. 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. 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. Demetriou insists that the policy, which forces two-time offenders into rehabilitation before any suspension, is working. It's not worth it." Andrew Demetriou and family pose with La Trobe deputy chancellor Dr Philip Moors AO (left) and vice-chancellor Professor John Dewar (right). 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. He has an older brother Jim Demetriou who played senior football for Essendon in the mid-1970s. It's a great escape. Demetriou currently leads a great life - great job, great family, great health etc. "The business is a good business. "With a chuckle, he continues: "I have to say, that board meeting takes longer than the meetings of other boards that I've been on they're talking about different designs, the manufacturers in India, what colours we should do. It was.Post football, Demetriou set out teaching at first, legal studies and politics, then got into business running Ruthinium, a company that imported dental products. That would leave a massive hole at the competitions governing body and the game at the crossroads. "And finally, I want the right amount of time to consider my responsibilities to my workplace and my family and to make sure the balance works for both. [18], Demetriou had a regular spot with Red Symons on Melbourne radio station ABC 774. They never saw their mothers after they left. It represents to him what is best about Australia: egalitarianism, acceptance, encouragement of talent. Millions of high-quality images, video, and music options await you. What he lacks in celebrity style, however, he makes up for in knowledge. Access the best of Getty Images with our simple subscription plan. David. Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. 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. Demetriou, in fact, was better at most things than most people. In the spirit of reconciliation the AFL acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. And I dare say it's the same for NRL. He always puts the family first. He was betraying the sports . Demetriou's tastes are eclectic if nothing else. After the children are in bed, he and his wife watch "crappy TV" (hence his awareness of Kim Kardashian's rich inner life), and read the gossip mags. "I don't know about a fortune," he responds. I just never envisaged that I could meet anybody else. ", "He's exceptionally adept with figures," adds James Demetriou. just moments after touching on the death of his first wife. And on the drugs policy, the heat was coming in the form of a blowtorch from Howard Government ministers George Brandis and Christopher Pyne, who in the lead-up to the 2007 election beat a path to league headquarters, media in tow, demanding change. "From day one, and we're genuine about it, we have had a very healthy respect for the NRL," he says. Jennifer Hageney is the first wife of Andrew Shue, an American actor with whom she has three children named Nathaniel Shue, Aiden Shue and Wyatt Shue. Demetriou has a regular spot with Red Symons on Melbourne radio station ABC 774. Much has been made in the past of a possible move into politics, though Demetriou has consistently denied it. So, these clubs are great survivors. 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. Chief Andrew Demetriou and wife Symone arrive at the David Jones Summer 2006 Collections Launch on August 17, 2006 in Melbourne, Australia. 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. They'll share a couple of pizzas, maybe have a glass of wine. The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. "Andrew Demetriou was born, the youngest of four boys, in Melbourne to Greek Cypriot parents in 1961. In April 2014, it was announced that Gillon McLachlan, Demetriou's then deputy, would be his successor. "Our numbers are very impressive in western Sydney," he says, when he says anything at all. Demetriou was made CEO of the AFL in 2003, replacing Wayne Jackson. I was lucky to have someone who understood," he recalls. "Was it four years?" He has wide interests outside the AFL. If you see what he's done it becomes clear he must be ambitious, and possess a certain amount of drive. Andrew . I've said it 3000 times. The game will need all the money it can get. "To be frank, if the clubs had had their way, there'd be no national expansion," says Gale. He lacks fanaticism. [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. "Expansion is going to make things much tougher for clubs in the short term," says Gale, speaking as Richmond CEO. So he was really pointing out missed opportunities. Demetriou's first wife died in 1999. 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