Andrew Demetriou

AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE Andrew Demetriou Speech to National Press CluB, May 2011 Thankyou. And thankyou for inviting me to speak here at the National Press Club. It’s fair to say it’s been a big few months for the AFL and the game of Australian football. Not only have we seen some cracking footy but we’ve witnessed the dawn of the Gold Coast Suns, who this week will play for their first game at the new Metricon Stadium. And of course just a few weeks ago we announced a landmark broadcast agreement that will change the way the game is watched right across Australia. Despite all of this, I’ve learned it’s wise never to get ahead of yourself. And I was reminded of it again in a Sydney café recently. After ordering our coffees, the owner of the café wandered over, looked at me and said: “I know you. You’re that bloke from the AFL. Alex Demetriou.” At least it’s better than some other names I get called. In thinking about today, the temptation was to focus on our broadcast deal and the size of the game. To talk numbers. Yes, more than seven million people attended AFL matches last year. Yes, there are now more than 750,000 people participating in our game and 615,000 people, or one in 36 Australians, are members of AFL clubs. And yes, Australian football now generates nearly $4 billion in economic activity and employs the equivalent of more than 10,000 people. These are all impressive numbers but at the end of the day they’re just numbers. They’re not what’s really important about our game. As Eddie McGuire said at the AFL season launch this year, we are all involved in this game because at some stage we fell in love with a team, a player or the game itself And the game became a part of our life. As the son of migrants growing up in the back of a fish ‘n chip shop in Coburg, I know exactly what Eddie means. Footy gave my brothers and I – and so many kids from migrant families - a chance to connect with new friends and new opportunities. It gave me a sense of community. It gave me a sense of belonging. It also gave me the sort of opportunities my parents could only dream of when they left Cyprus in the hope of giving their children and their children’s children a better life. Someone once asked me how I would describe our game. I like to think of Australian football as a great democratizer. A game for anyone and everyone. A game that is inclusive, accessible and affordable. A game that does not discriminate. A little while ago I took an overseas guest to the football. As well as remarking how tough the players were and asking why they didn’t wear padding, he also commented on how many women and children there were watching the game. And how they all seemed to get along together. There was no violence. Not even any abuse towards each other. Obviously it wasn’t a Collingwood game. But it reinforced to me that footy is a great meeting place. Every week it brings diverse groups of people together from across the community. People from a range of backgrounds but with a common passion for the game. People don’t come to our game because they want to impose their values on it. They come to our game because of its values. I was again reminded of it when the Essendon football club recently hosted a number of newly arrived migrants at its game against the Gold Coast. Afterwards, a Chinese woman remarked how she’d never felt more connected to the community and Australian culture than she did sitting among the Bomber faithful. She said: “It’s just the best thing I have done since coming to Australia”. It was a similar experience for Jamie Pi. Jamie is a young Chinese man who came to Australia with his parents when he was 13. He still remembers his first day at school and suddenly finding himself playing footy in the schoolyard. That he couldn’t speak a word of English didn’t matter. He was communicating in a language just as powerful as English or Chinese. The language of sport. And in his case, Australian football. Jamie has since helped start his own Asian football team in Melbourne called the Southern Dragons. Last year he called our first ever AFL game in China. Ali Faraj is forging a similar path in the Muslim community in western Sydney. He’s started his own club called the Auburn Tigers and wants other young Muslim men and women to play too. It’s one thing that Jamie and Ali are helping us to take football into their communities. Just as importantly they’re bringing their cultures into the AFL and helping us understand the similarities and differences. As much as football is making a difference in their communities, they are making a difference in ours. If we are to truly grow our game, we need to constantly hold a mirror to ourselves and make sure we are reflecting the community around us. It’s the same with Majak Daw, the young Sudanese born player now on North Melbourne’s rookie list, and Emmanuel Irra, a 17 year-old Ugandan now playing for Woodville in South Australia. Exciting young players who bring to the game more than their talent on the field. Young men who also enrich the culture our game. A game which needs them more than they need us. The same goes for indigenous players. You’d all be aware of the some of the great names like Michael Long, Andrew McLeod, and Adam Goodes just to name a few. Great players who’ve not only brought their great skills, determination, commitment and flair to our game but also given us an insight into their culture. And enriched the culture of the game at the same time. Look at our Indigenous Round just gone. 83,000 people watching Dreamtime at the G. Andrew Krakouer’s sensational mark. Buddy Franklin’s six goals. Ten per cent of AFL players are now indigenous. While it’s something we can be proud of, it not enough simply to have more indigenous people playing our game. As Andrew McLeod said in his address to the United Nations earlier this year, indigenous people must also be represented across the football industry. Represented at board level in AFL clubs and represented in AFL coaching ranks. We have to improve the pathways so Indigenous players can have the same opportunities to excel off the field as they do on it. To coach. To administer. To influence. To lead. Just imagine Andrew McLeod coaching a team the way he played. Or Adam Goodes. Or Liam Jurrah for that matter. Some see the AFL as simply a sport. Others see it as simply a big business. The reality is that we are, and need to be, more than just a sporting competition or a business. We are also a not for profit, community and cultural organization that must take a leadership role in the community. Despite what some may think, the biggest highlights of my time as CEO of the AFL have not been signing broadcast agreements or watching grand finals at a packed MCG. One of my proudest moments as CEO was the Peace Team which played in the 2008 International Cup. Everyone thought it was ludicrous idea to bring Palestinians and Israelis together and send them halfway around the world to play a game they’d never heard of. But the Peace Team worked. In fact it was great success. Muslims, Jews and Christians put aside their differences and came together as one team. The sight of coach Robert DipierDomenico being translated firstly into English and then simultaneously into Arabic and Hebrew, was a sight to behold. It was another wonderful example of how sport can act as a vehicle for social change. It was the same feeling I got when the MCG was transformed into a sea of pink for Field of Women to raise money and awareness for breast cancer. Or when the AFL staged a match with the Mildura community in 2007 in the wake of the crash which killed six teenagers. All sport, whether it is Australian football, rugby league, rugby union or soccer, not only brings people together and gives them a sense of belonging and connection but also gives them pathways and opportunities. It’s the same with sport in our schools. Just this week we’ve seen another study that found 10 year-olds are finding it harder to do basic exercises like sit ups and even walking up stairs. In my view this is completely unacceptable. Sport not only promotes physical activity and helps tackles the growing incidence of childhood obesity, it also has important psychological, educational and social benefits. But it’s too often neglected in too many schools because of too few teachers and failing facilities. In deciding how to allocate finite resources, schools often are forced to put sport last. The AFL believes every primary school in Australia should have a specialist physical education teacher so children can enjoy the benefits of healthy and active lifestyles from a young age. Instead of trying to appease interest groups by banning soft drinks in school and advertising of fast food, governments should be investing more so children can play sport and develop good habits to take with them through their lives.

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