1981: MADE his VFL debut with North Melbourne, playing 103 games with the club between 1981 and 1987.
 
1988: Played three games for Hawthorn before retiring.
 
1998: After forging a successful career in business, was appointed CEO of the AFL Players' Association. Restructures the organisation, which achieved 100 per cent membership for the first time.
 
1998: Negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement with the AFL (1998-2003), achieving for the players fair terms and an equitable share of the game's revenue. 
 
2000: Arrived at AFL House as general manager of football operations, holding the position from May 2000 to September 2003.
 
2003: Appointed AFL CEO in September 2003, replacing Wayne Jackson.

2003: AFL revenue listed at $170.9m. Home and away season crowd attendance: 5.87 million.

2004: First AFL game for premiership points played at TIO Stadium in Darwin between the Western Bulldogs and Port Adelaide.

2005: Negotiated a record-breaking TV rights deal worth $780m
 
2005: Introduced sweeping changes to the AFL Tribunal, introducing a grading system for offences through the Match Review Panel.
 
2005: Said the Sydney Swans play "unattractive" football under coach Paul Roos. The Swans would go on to win the premiership.
 
2007: Offers North Melbourne the opportunity to wipe out its debt and relocate to the Gold Coast. The Kangaroos reject the deal in the absence of a signed stadium agreement.
 
2008: AFL launches a future fund to underpin the fundamentals of the game for the long term.
 
2009: Granted a provisional license for Gold Coast to have its own AFL team, commencing in 2011.

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2010: Greater Western Sydney officially awarded the 18th AFL licence.
 
2011: Negotiated a record-breaking $1.25 billion TV rights deal for 2012-16. Fans in every state in Australia able to watch games on free to air, pay TV, tablet devices, mobile phones and Telstra T-Box.   
 
2011: Gold Coast plays its first game in the AFL, against Carlton at the Gabba.
 
2011: Demetriou brokers an agreement to bring AFL football back to the redeveloped Adelaide Oval from 2014 in a $535 million deal. He calls the deal, considering the history of antipathy between cricket and football in South Australia, perhaps his best achievement.

2011: Signs off on deal to have US musician Meatloaf perform as the headline act at the 2011 Grand Final.
 
2011: First AFL game played at Cazalys Stadium in Cairns between Gold Coast and Richmond
 
2012: Greater Western Sydney plays its first game in the AFL, against the Sydney Swans at ANZ Stadium.

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2012: Was widely criticised for taking a seven-week, long-service leave during the middle of the AFL season, including a visit to the London Olympics.
 
2013: Spends most of the year immersed in the Essendon supplements scandal. ASADA and the AFL undertake a joint investigation. Tensions between Demetriou and Essendon coach James Hird rise to the surface towards the end of the year, ahead of a negotiated outcome between Essendon, Hird and the AFL.
 
2013: St Kilda and the Sydney Swans play on Anzac Day in New Zealand, the first game played for premiership points outside Australia.

2013: AFL revenue up to $446.5m. Home and away season crowd attendance reaches 6.36 million.
 
2013: Was in the frame to be the new worldwide head of the ATP Tour, the roof body for men's professional tennis and also expressed a desire to join the board of Crown Resorts.
 
2014: Announces he will step down as AFL chief executive by the end of the season. Says he is keen to keep working and to explore new opportunities.

Below: Andrew Demetriou and former CEO Wayne Jackson in 2003. Picture: AFL Media.