Demetriou to step down

[holdencaulfield]

Should have gone years ago

[David]

[Woods Of Ypres]

His legacy is that he has over-complicated the the game of football.

[Didaksgoal]

The Demons didn't tank........um er um errr, but we'll fine them anyway....................um er umm errrrrrrrrrrrrr....................Dork!

Go the Pies

[swoop42]

His legacy?

A rather large arse imprint on his office chair.

[Piesnchess]

Not much legacy, was asleep at the wheel for ages, stuffed up tanking and the whole essendoper business. No doubt the fat little prick will buy himself a greek island and retire there on his largesse massive income.

[Jezza]

Very happy that Andrew Demetriou will no longer be the chief executive of the AFL after this year. This man has done more damage to the game than anyone else I can think of in the past decade! It's amazing that he's lasted this long to be honest and I thought he should have given his position away a few years ago.

The handling of the Essendon saga has been nothing short of a disgrace. The constant rules changes and interpretations of the game has made the game worse and over the years the commercialisation (Americanisation) of the game of Australian Rules has increasingly got worse and it's made me become a little disillusioned about the direction the game is currently heading towards. Also the introduction of the Gold Coast and GWS franchises was not necessary as 16 teams was a sufficient amount of teams already for the AFL.

Anyway we can only hope that the next man in the role of chief executive does a better job in the game and appeals more to the common football supporter who's become a little frustrated by the game in general! I have a bad feeling that someone like Gillon McLachlan will take over the role and that nothing will change but we'll have to wait and see what happens.

[Dr Pie]

unlike a vast many, i have always liked demetriou as ceo.

I agree - I wont share the rapture of others. I think he's been a great steward of the game, even if I didn't agree with all decisions.

Count me in. Should have done better with Essendon & James Hird. Needed to be more forthright & the penalty much more severe over Hird & especially Adelaide's CEO: should have been severely punished for his deliberate player overpayments

Otherwise, generally speaking:a good job overall.

Yes there were things wrong with Demetriou but frankly he was the AFL's best CEO so far. Compare him with Ross Oakley who tried to destroy (via forced mergers,) Footscray, Hawthorn and possibly St Kilda and North Melbourne and succeeded in destroying Fitzroy by helping other clubs poach their players and undermining their attempts to renew loans until they had no chance of escaping from debt. Demetriou regarded the players' association as an important part of the AFL scene, Oakley regarded the AFLPA as the enemy.

Demetriou worked to make the AFL more inclusive towards indigenous and non-Anglo players and towards female spectators and administrators. He also put the AFL in a much stronger position in relation to the other three football codes, particularly in terms of the television deals.

[Proud Pies]

An interesting read on Demetriou and the AFL from Crikey

Andrew Demetriou will retire at the end of this season, amid accolades and praise. But was he actually good for AFL?

http://www.crikey.com.au/2014/03/06/lau ... -the-mark/

[think positive]

Bloody good article, thanks

[Doc63]

An interesting read on Demetriou and the AFL from Crikey

Andrew Demetriou will retire at the end of this season, amid accolades and praise. But was he actually good for AFL?

http://www.crikey.com.au/2014/03/06/lau ... -the-mark/

Great article. Good riddance to him.

[David]

Great article, PP. Thanks for posting. Astounded that so many otherwise insightful posters are willing to praise Demetriou's supposed achievements (though, granted, he probably wasn't much worse than his predecessors).