Andrew Demetriou
Encyclopedia
Andrew Demetriou is the chief executive officer of the Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

 and a former Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

er. He is the youngest son of Greek-Cypriot
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

 immigrants and, before becoming a VFL player, he worked in the dental import industry. He has an older brother Jim Demetriou who played senior football for Essendon
Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...

 in the mid 1970s.

Playing career

Recruited from Pascoe Vale
Pascoe Vale Football Club
The Pascoe Vale Football Club is an Australian rules football club located 11 km north west of Melbourne in the suburb of Pascoe Vale . The club is affiliated with the Essendon District Football League....

, Demetriou played for the North Melbourne Football Club
North Melbourne Football Club
The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world...

 as a winger
Winger (sport)
In certain sports, such as football, field hockey, ice hockey, handball, rugby union, lacrosse and rugby league, the term winger is the name of a position. It refers to positions on the extreme left and right sides of the pitch . In American football and Canadian football, the analogous position...

, playing 103 games and kicking
Kick (football)
Kicking is a method used by many types of football, including:* Association football* Australian rules football* International rules football* American football* Canadian football* Gaelic football* Rugby league* Rugby union...

 47 goals between 1981 and 1987.

He had a brief move to Hawthorn
Hawthorn Football Club
The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League . The club, founded in 1902, is the youngest of the Victorian-based teams in the AFL. The team play in Brown & Gold vertically striped guernseys...

 playing for the club in 1988, playing just three games and kicking one goal.

Demetriou was reported for striking David Rhys-Jones
David Rhys-Jones
David Rhys-Jones is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Carlton Football Club and the Sydney Swans in the VFL/AFL. The highlight of his 182 game career was winning the Norm Smith Medal as best on ground in Carlton's 1987 Grand Final victory...

 in 1984 and suspended for two matches.

Administration career

Between 1998 and 2000, Demetriou was CEO of the AFL Players Association
AFL Players Association
The AFL Players Association, or AFLPA, is the representative body for all current and past professional Australian Football League players....

.

Demetriou is best known for his position as CEO of the Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

. He was elected by the board of directors at the end of the 2003 season, taking over from the outgoing CEO Wayne Jackson. In 2005 he was instrumental in securing a record breaking A$780 million TV rights deal. In the same season, the league posted record breaking TV ratings and attendances.

On 2 October 2007 it was reported in The Bulletin
The Bulletin
The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...

that Demetriou was initiating plans to resign in order to spend more time with his family, and in particular to visit his holiday home at Lake Como
Lake Como
Lake Como is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of 146 km², making it the third largest lake in Italy, after Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore...

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. Demetriou issued a statement denying these claims – the statement was acknowledged at the online The Bulletin
The Bulletin
The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...

, but the magazine stood by its initial report.

In 2009, Demetriou earned $1.8 million for his role at the AFL.

In 2011, Demetriou was involved in securing a record breaking A$1.25 billion TV rights deal for the period of 2012-2016. The deal included unprecedented live TV coverage of the AFL competition in all states of Australia through free-to-air, subscription and IP television.

Push for a Gold Coast-based team

Demetriou has been highly influential in the AFL Commission's desire for a team to be based on the Gold Coast. North Melbourne Football Club
North Melbourne Football Club
The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world...

 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. North Melbourne rejected that offer and, in January 2008, the AFL chairman, Mike Fitzpatrick
Mike Fitzpatrick (footballer)
Michael "Mike" Fitzpatrick is an Australian businessman, sporting administrator and former Australian rules footballer....

, announced that the Gold Coast Football Club would enter the AFL in 2011.

Sydney Swans

In 2005 Demetriou criticised the Sydney Swans
Sydney Swans
The Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney...

 and their coach Paul Roos
Paul Roos (Australian rules footballer)
Paul Roos is a former Australian rules football player and coach in the VFL and Australian Football League.Playing the majority of his career with Fitzroy, Roos was one of the teams greats, captaining the side for a long time and was acknowledged as its best player for several seasons, being named...

, labelling the team's play as "unattractive" and "ugly". He also claimed that the Swans would not win a premiership the way they were playing, and then a heavy loss to St Kilda in Round 10 of that season sent the Swans into deep crisis. The Saints found themselves in this position after round 13 of the same season. The Saints loss was the turning point in the Swans' season, with the Swans losing only two more home-and-away games for the season and eventually winning the 2005 Premiership.

Australian FIFA World Cup Bid

Demetriou embroiled himself in controversy in December 2009 in regards to statements he made about the Australian 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bid.

Other businesses

Demetriou has interests in factories in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 which manufacture dental products and exports them to 70 markets, including Australia.

Life outside of AFL

As of 2008, Demetriou earns an annual salary of $1.4 million, making him the highest paid administrator or player currently employed by the AFL.

Personal life

Demetriou is married to Symone and they have three daughters; twins Francesca and Alexandra (born 2003) and Mattea (born 2006). They were expecting their fourth child in November 2009.

In 2007, Demetriou purchased a mansion in the exclusive suburb of Toorak
Toorak, Victoria
Toorak is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district located on a rise on the south side of a bend in the Yarra River. Its Local Government Area is the City of Stonnington...

 for A$7 million.

External links

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