James Demetriou (born 7 June 1955) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

player. He later worked as a lawyer and set up the charity Sports Without Borders Australian Sports Technologies Network.

Biography

Demetriou was born to Tony and Chrysi Demetriou in 1955. His father was an immigrant from Cyprus who ran a

fish and chips Fish and chips is a hot dish consisting of batter (cooking), battered and fried fish, served with French fries, chips. Often considered the national dish of the United Kingdom, fish and chips originated in England in the 19th century. Today, ...

shop. Demetriou is an experienced Senior Executive/ Director in Mergers and Acquisition /cross border investment, specialist advisor in Asian investment and listed and large private board governance advisor and has sat on many government, large private and listed company boards. He has been an Asset manager of various funds particularly around Sports/ Digital health, Clean Energy, Leisure and hospitality and been involved in many major company turnarounds. He has an extensive knowledge of technology that measures, evaluates and advises on performance of companies in the financial, education, real estate and sports sectors. He has represented the University of Melbourne, Australian Sports Technologies Network, the Victorian Government and Austrade at many Asian Conferences and trade missions as well as presenting to many international forums. He also is the Founding Chairman of Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) and he is one of the Australia’s leaders most respected leaders in Sports Business, Sports Governance and Sports Technology. James has played a major role in Australian sport over the past 40 years as a senior player at the Essendon Football Club (1975-1976), a Board Director of Essendon Football Club in the mid to late 90s. He was the founding Chair, Sports Without Borders ( 2006 to 2016. He holds a Master of International Business, University of Melbourne, Australia, •Bachelor of Laws, University of Melbourne, Australia Alumni of The Anderson School of Business, Global GAP program, UCLA, USA. Demetriou was appointed a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

in the 2025 King's Birthday Honours for "significant service to sport, to education, and to business". Demetriou married Toni Demetriou ( Nee Ryan)> (1978–) and has 3 children Thomas ( b.1979), Lauren ( b. 1981) and Tim ( b. 1984). He has 3 brothers George( b.1957) Phiv ( b.1958) and

Andrew Demetriou 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. Demetriou play ...

( b. 1961) was

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL).

Playing career

Demetriou played nine matches for in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL) in 1975 and 1976. During a match against in 1976 he broke his leg after tripping on a sprinkler, ending his top level career.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Demetriou, Jim 1955 births Essendon Football Club players Brunswick Football Club players Pascoe Vale Football Club players Australian people of Greek Cypriot descent Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Lawyers from Melbourne Living people Members of the Order of Australia People from Carlton, Victoria 20th-century Australian sportsmen