Kangaroos Football Club
Encyclopedia
The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football
club in the Australian Football League
(AFL) and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world. It is based at the Arden Street Oval
in the inner Melbourne suburb of North Melbourne
, but plays its home matches at the nearby Docklands Stadium.
The club is characterised by its inner-city location, its working class background, the doggedness of successive administrators and a iron-like vision to survive and eventually succeed, despite the odds. The club's mascot is a grey or red kangaroo
, dating from the middle of the 20th century. The club is also unofficially known as "The Shinboners", a term which dates back to its 19th century abattoir-worker origins. The club's motto is Victoria Amat Curam, Latin for "Victory Demands Dedication".
(which served as the clubs home ground until 1882) and that the ball used in the match was purchased by a local resident called Tom Jacks, who sold some roofing iron to pay for it.
Today, the founder of the club is regarded as James Henry Gardiner
who served the club diligently both on the field and off the field until his death in 1921.
In 1870, Victoria for the first time saw the introduction of regular premiership matches of Australian Football. North Melbourne was a part of this, but was classed as a “Junior Club” having not yet graduated to senior ranks. The Australasian noted them as being “one of the best of many Junior Clubs” during those early years.
The club continued to evolve, graduating to senior ranks in 1874 and acquitted themselves remarkably well, finishing 4th. Along with the promotion, the club adopted its first uniform of blue and white horizontal stripes.
By 1876 North had ceased to function due to troubles, but managed to secure an amalgamation with Albert Park
to form “North Melbourne Cum Albert Park”. The football world assumed that the amalgamation was the death knell of the club, but they underestimated the spirit of the “founding fathers” and the local community who dug deep and came up with the funds to re-establish the club under the new name of “Hotham” in early 1877.
Football took a giant step forward in 1877, with the formation of the first colonial football league, the VFA. Hotham were prime movers in establishing this league and were afforded a place in light of their previous contributions to Australian Football.
The 1880s marked the emergence of the modern identity we now associate with North today. In 1882, the club amalgamated with the Hotham Cricket Club and moved into the North Melbourne Recreation Reserve (Arden St Oval) which has remained as the home of the club up until this day. The joint venture was aimed at affecting improvements at the Hotham Cricket Ground, which was the name of the Reserve at the time. Four years later the club adopted the traditional uniform of blue and white vertical stripes at the insistence of the VFA, who wanted a visible contrast between Geelong and Hotham’s uniforms. The third significant development occurred in 1888 with the club returning to its original name of the North Melbourne Football Club. This followed the name of the local area reverting from Hotham to North Melbourne.
The 1880s saw the club develop a penchant for inter-colonial travel with trips to Tasmania (1881/1887) and South Australia (1889). Hotham also found itself well represented at the first ever inter-colonial game in 1879 with 4 players from the club gaining selection for the "Big V".
Undaunted, North continued on in the depleted VFA emerging as a powerhouse finishing 2nd in both 1897, 98 and 99. In 1903 the Club’s ultimate aspirations were reached when they were crowned premiers against Richmond. It had taken 34 years of hardship, and adversity, but North finally tasted absolute triumph. The club went back to back premiers in 1904 after Richmond forfeited the final in what go down as one of the most controversial premierships in football history.
North caused a sensation in 1907 after announcing an amalgamation with fellow football club West Melbourne (which at the time had lost their home ground). The joint venture saw their chance of promotion and applied for admission to the prestigious VFL but their plan was scuttled by Richmond and University who were admitted to the VFL instead. As punishment, the West and North Melbourne clubs were banished from the VFA for their treachery.
This may have seemed like the end for North, but rising phoenix like from the ashes the local community re-established the North Melbourne Football Club as a brand new identity and the VFA re-admitted the new club to the Association for the 1908 season.
The reformation of the Club necessitated a massive clean out of the team leaving only two players remaining from the previous season. The 1910 season was marked by one of the most sensational transfers in Victorian Football history, when Andy Curran masterminded the clearance of Carlton’s famed “Big Four” of ‘Mallee’ Johnson, Fred Jinks
, Charlie Hammond
and Frank ‘Silver’ Caine to North Melbourne. These signings secured the Northerners third premiership in 1910.
The 1912 finals series was one of the most amazing ever, with the Semi Final having to be replayed 3 times after North and Brunswick drew twice. North were eventually victorious and moved on to the final, but without the Big Four they lost the game by a mere four points with the last kick of the day.
The next few years were punctuated by “The Invincibles”. In the Northerners most illustrious period ever, the club went undefeated from 1914 to 1919, collecting premierships in 1914, 1915 and 1918. As well as this, the club won the championship in both 1915 and 1918 for finishing on top of the ladder, and accounted for VFL side St Kilda comfortably. During this period the club won 58 consecutive matches including 49 successive premiership matches, a record that has remained unmatched in Association or League History since.
Despite being rejected from the VFL in both 1896 and 1907, North still persisted relentlessly to gain admission into what was the premier league of the land. On 30 June 1921, North dropped a bombshell mid-season and told its players it would disband and try to gain entry to the VFL by the ‘back-door’. Essendon League Football Club had lost its playing ground at East Melbourne and had decided to acquire the North Melbourne Recreation Reserve as a new playing ground. North accepted their proposal in the idea that the club’s would amalgamate. All of North’s players were urged to join the Essendon League Club
to help facilitate the amalgamation. The amalgamation was foiled when some members of the Essendon Committee launched a successful legal challenge. As a result the Essendon League Club moved instead to the Essendon Oval kicking the original occupants Essendon Association
out.
North was now without a playing team and the Essendon Association Club was now without a ground, so as a matter of convenience the two clubs amalgamated so they could compete in the 1922 season. With the same resilience it had displayed fifteen years earlier, North had once again rose Phoenix-like from the ashes to avert self-destruction.
After 3 attempts, 29 years of waiting and numerous other applications to enter the VFL, finally North was rewarded for its relentless persistence with admittance to the League in 1925, along with Footscray and Hawthorn
. Even then, the opportunity almost slipped out of the club’s grasp as the League delegates debated into the early hours of the morning on which clubs should be invited to join the intake. It was only after much deliberation that North Melbourne’s name was eventually substituted for Prahran's making North “the lucky side” of the invitees that included Footscray and Hawthorn.
Two main reasons for North being accepted over Prahran was that North had been the most popular choice in a recent poll conducted in a Melbourne newspaper on who should be promoted. The other reason was that the Club’s committee, in an unprecedented move, had visited every single League Club as well as the VFL Headquarters to make their case for why they should be included in the intake.
But two big conditions were attached to North’s entry. One was that the club had to change their uniform and another was that they had to give up their recruiting grounds to the Essendon Football Club.
North Melbourne were cellar dwellers for the first twenty-five years of VFL
membership, but by the late 1940s had developed a strong list and significant supporter base. In 1949 North secured the VFL Minor Premiership, finishing top of the ladder at the end of the home-and-away season with 14 wins and 5 losses. They failed to make the Grand Final that year (eventually won by Essendon
), but in 1950 they did reach the last Saturday in September, gallantly going down to defeat by a more efficient Essendon. It was in this year that the club adopted the "Kangaroos" mascot.
The 1950s and 1960s were lean years for North Melbourne, though the club did secure two consecutive Night Premierships in 1965 and 1966. Allen Aylett
was a brilliant player in the late 1950s and captain between 1961 and 1964, and Noel Teasdale
who lost the Brownlow Medal
on a countback in 1965 (he was later awarded a retrospective medal when the counting system was amended).
, North Melbourne began its climb to supremacy. As part of a major recruitment drive North secured the services of several big name stars including Barry Davis
from Essendon
and Doug Wade
(Geelong
), John Rantall,(South Melbourne), Barry Cable (WA),and lesser known hero John Burns who would go on to play a pivotal role in securing the 1975 Premiership. In a major coup, the great Ron Barassi
was appointed coach in 1973. Barrassi managed to reverse the club's fortunes, taking an unremarkable team that was once regarded as the traditional cellar dwellers of the competition, through a golden era of success that transformed North into one of the powerhouses of the VFL. Barassi's ruthless and inspiring coaching methods took North to a Grand Final (defeated by Richmond
) in 1974 and brought success in his 1975 and 1977 seasons. North made five consecutive Grand Finals from 1974–1978) and defeated Norwood
in the 1975 national championship to be declared Champions of Australia.
Also, in 1973 and 1974, North's wingman Keith Greig
won consecutive Brownlow Medal
s. He was joined in 1978 by the mercurial forward Malcolm Blight
, whose victory was known as the "worst kept secret in football". Doug Wade
also secured the Coleman medal
in 1974 with his 103 goals for the season.
Barassi continued as coach into 1980, but only a Night Premiership in that year was to result from his last years at Arden Street
. North then entered another period of decline, though Malcolm Blight
kicked 103 goals to take out the Coleman medal
in 1982, and another Brownlow win came through the talented Ross Glendinning
in 1983. In that year, North Melbourne won a third Minor Premiership (the second had come in 1978) with 16 wins and 6 losses for the season, but failed to make the Grand Final.
in 1989, who topped the club goalkicking over five consecutive seasons (1990–1994) and won the Coleman medal
in 1990 with 98 goals – just two short of the magic ton. At the beginning of the 1993 season, in a dramatic and controversial move, the board of the club sacked coach and long-time playing stalwart Wayne Schimmelbusch
and appointed Denis Pagan
in his place. Results were immediate, as North reached the finals for the first time in nearly a decade. Pagan was also instrumental in appointing the brilliant Wayne Carey
as the club's youngest-ever captain. Carey had been recruited at the same time as Longmire
, but taken longer to develop as a player. Carey's leadership over the next nine seasons was inspirational, and he came to be regarded as the standout player in the league, called 'the King' by media commentators and fellow footballers alike.
Narrow misses in 1994 and 1995 were finally avenged in 1996 when North defeated the Sydney Swans
to take out the gold centenary AFL
cup. Glenn Archer
won the Norm Smith Medal
. Late season injuries in 1997 North lost to St. Kilda in the Preliminary Final (during which key ruckman Corey McKernan
dislocated his shoulder). 1998 seemed to all to be North's year, as the club won both the pre-season Ansett Cup and topped the ladder with 16 wins and 6 losses (narrowly tipping out the Western Bulldogs
in the final home-and-away game of the season). However, poor kicking and a lack of discipline allowed the Adelaide Crows
to win their second premiership in as many years.
In 1999, the Kangaroos finished in second position on the ladder, thanks to good form of the key members of the playing group ( Carey, McKernan, Archer, Stevens). Thus, the 1999 Grand Final was won easily by the Kangaroos [the first premiership won without the name 'North Melbourne' attached to the logo], with former Sydney midfielder Shannon Grant
taking out the Norm Smith Medal
.
Since its inception, the club has often had to contend with financial hardship and a fairly modest support base. The club has been subject to several merger attempts, including attempts at takeover by Essendon
in the early 20th century and an almost-completed merger with Fitzroy
during the uncertain 1990s.
Seeking new markets and greater financial security in an increasingly corporatized AFL
environment, the title "North Melbourne" was officially dropped from the logo in 1999, from which time the team played only as the "Kangaroos". During the successful 1999 season, North Melbourne played home games in Sydney with a view of becoming a second team in New South Wales
. Perhaps partly because of North's victory over the Sydney Swans
in the 1996 AFL Grand Final
, the experiment was not successful, with crowds averaging only 12,000. Since the South Melbourne Football Club
moved to the city and took many years to become accepted, most Sydney people had become aware and cynical of the concept of relocating Melbourne teams. The club maintains their home ground in Victoria at Arden Street Oval
, North Melbourne, which from 2006 underwent the first stages of a $16 million upgrade of training and other facilities. These new facilities are considered state of the art and provide a good basis for the NMFC to remain in Melbourne and the centre will now provide the club with all the resources to compete with the bigger clubs in the competition.
, captain Wayne Carey
and chief executive Greg Miller – left the club under acrimonious circumstances. They went from finishing a reasonable 4th in 2000, before slumping to 13th position at the end of 2001.
had been having an extramarital affair with the wife of teammate and vice-captain Anthony Stevens
shook the club, and the football world in general. Carey resigned in disgrace. However, despite this turmoil on the eve of the season commencing, Denis Pagan
against all odds guided the Kangaroos to the 2002 finals series. Melbourne proved too strong in the elimination final and defeated the club. This was also John Blakey's and Craig Scholl's (Scholl kicking a record equaling 7 goals in a final) last game.
The resignation of Pagan
at the end of the 2002 season after being poached by Carlton
president John Elliott
further accelerated the process of decline, though North Melbourne remained competitive, and often a significant threat to the emerging powerhouses of Port Adelaide
and Brisbane. Pagan was replaced by 1996 premiership player Dean Laidley
. A talented player and wily coach, Laidley had previously been an Assistant Coach at Collingwood
from 1999 until the end of season 2002.
on 6 June against Richmond
. McCartney's statistics were modest, but he set up the winning goal with seconds remaining. He retired immediately after the game.
.
2006 was anticipated as a major turning point for the Kangaroos. The club was consistent in its policy of swapping early draft picks for experienced players. There was a perception from outsiders that the club was facing an aging squad, with Daniel Wells shaping as the only young prospect for the Kangaroos. However, 2006 saw good performances from many of the other youngsters on North's list, including Daniel Harris, Hamish McIntosh, Corey Jones, Drew Petrie, David Hale and Andrew Swallow.
On 22 July 2006, the Kangaroos' training ground, Arden Street
suffered minor damage in a fire, which occurred at 4:30 am, following the club's massive 72-point loss to Adelaide (whose captain Mark Ricciuto
was celebrating his 300th game) at AAMI Stadium the night before (it is believed that the two events are not linked together). Arson was believed to be the cause of the fire, and it forced the Kangaroos to train at Etihad Stadium for the remainder of the 2006 AFL season
.
Apart from highlights such as the victories over Port Adelaide
, Hawthorn
, Carlton
and Essendon
, as well as Nathan Thompson
kicking 54 goals and 13 votes in the Brownlow medal
count the 2006 season was largely a disappointment.
At the conclusion of the 2006 Premiership Season, the North Melbourne Football Club changed their logo, mainly due to strong supporter pressure. The design includes an image of stream-lined Kangaroo, backed by a blue and white shield, with 'Kangaroos' underneath. Under 'Kangaroos' is the wording 'North Melbourne Football Club', back on the logo, much to the delight of thousands of North Melbourne traditionalists.
and Leigh Harding
, the club was overwhelmingly tipped to receive the wooden spoon
at season's end. Conflict between members of the club's board, and speculation of a relocation of the club to the Gold Coast, also gave the North Melbourne Football Club unwanted media attention. Midseason, speculation about whether Dean Laidley
would be re-signed as coach of the club despite its impressive performance thus far in 2007 was prominent in the media for a ten day period but then faded away.
In spite of negative media attention, the club has had a significant resurgence on field, with its performances being more than respectable. A semi-finals berth in the pre-season competition
was a preview of what was to come. However, the Kangaroos didn't get the start they hoped for, losing their first 3 matches including a Round 1 defeat at the hands of Collingwood by 3 points with losses against Port Adelaide and Hawthorn following.
An example of the new running game of the Kangaroos was in Round 4 against the Lions in the Roos first Carrara home game, in which they won by 24 points, 12.15.87 to 8.15.63. Leigh Brown kicked 3 goals for the Roos, while Hamish McIntosh had his best game of his career to that point, with 20 possessions. Daniel Wells, Jess Sinclair, Glenn Archer and Shannon Grant also had stellar performances.
The Kangaroos won 6 games in a row from round 4 to round 9, including a shock win over eventual premiers Geelong at Skilled Stadium, before eventually losing to West Coast by a whopping 66 points at Subiaco in Round 10. Following this loss, the Roos bounced back to defeat St. Kilda by a margin of 22 points at Etihad Stadium. However, possibly due to inexperience, the Kangaroos have not always appeared to have the ability to close out a game until late in the fourth quarter, with the notable exception of the Round 9 game against the
The club was victorious between Rounds 13 to 17 after the loss to Adelaide in Round 12. One of these victories, perhaps one of the most important to the club this year, was the Round 13 game against the Western Bulldogs
where North Melbourne champion and Shinboner of the Century Glenn Archer
celebrated his milestone 300th game.
Round 15 saw the Kangaroos upset the Fremantle Dockers at Subiaco by 4 points in a nailbaiting contest the whole way through with less than 6 points the difference at each break. Round 16 had the Kangaroos demolish Melbourne by 64 points and another Kangaroos victory followed a week later, this time a comfortable 37 point upset win over a higher placed Hawthorn
at Aurora Stadium
. This victory lifted North Melbourne to outright second on the AFL ladder by the conclusion of Round 17, with many football observers reluctantly having to revisit their assessments of both the ability of the North Melbourne squad for 2007 and the likelihood of the team playing in the finals.
The 2007 campaign hit an obstacle late in the season when, at the beginning of a difficult run to the finals, the club was defeated by the Lions
at the Gabba by 37 points in Round 18. While the Kangaroos retained their position of second on the AFL ladder following this defeat, they did so with a lower percentage and with one less game as a buffer.
Following the defeat by the Brisbane Lions, the Kangaroos lost against fellow top 2 contenders and reigning premiers West Coast by 17 points at Etihad Stadium in a tight hard fought contest for most of the game. A week later in Round 20 the Kangaroos challenged Geelong who had wrapped up the minor premiership the week before. The Kangaroos being the last team to beat Geelong went in hoping that they could do it again, however Geelong won by 27 points. This loss pushed the Kangaroos down to 5th with the double chance looking dim but when they beat Carlton by 82 points the following week they sealed their place in the finals and also saw a chance to steal 4th spot had results fallen their way in the final round.
In the final round of the 2007 home and away season, the 5th placed Kangaroos played the Western Bulldogs winning by an impressive 64 points. Not only was this loss disappointing for the Western Bulldogs but in the 2nd term they were held to their first scoreless quarter of football since they played West Coast at Subiaco Oval in Round 6 1999. This was also the first time this season that a team has been kept scoreless in a quarter of football. On the same day, the Sydney Swans recorded an upset 72 point win against Hawthorn at the SCG which allowed the Kangaroos to leapfrog the Hawks to claim 4th spot and win the double chance plus a spot against the minor Premiers Geelong in the 1st qualifying final.
In the first week of the 2007 AFL finals when the club was beaten by the Geelong Football Club
by 106 points, the fifth highest losing margin in finals history.
The Roos then defeated Hawthorn Hawks
by 33 points in the semi final. They qualified for a preliminary final against the Port Adelaide Power at AAMI Stadium. The Power won by 87 points, the same margin they defeated the Kangaroos by in the 2005 finals.
With the completion of a 15 million dollar training facility, a new coach, growing membership and the building of a talented, but very young list, North Melbourne implemented the slogan "New game, new era" heading into the 2010 season and appears set to leave the "battlers" tag and financial woes of the past behind them.
North Melbourne had a terrible start to season 2010, losing three of their first four matches, including a 104-point annihilation from the previous year's runners-up St Kilda in which the Roos were held scoreless until just before halftime. However the Roos would bounce back with wins over 2006 premiers , 2008 premiers and , however what was a 3–3 record after round six slipped into the red again with huge losses to eventual premiers and by 66 and 70 points respectively with only a narrow 9-point win over sandwiched in between (North Melbourne led by 54 points at three-quarter-time). The Roos fell to 4–6 following a 61-point thumping by at Subiaco Oval
however recovered the following week to record a famous 1-point victory over the Brisbane Lions
at home. This was the start of a three-match winning stretch before it was ended with a 35-point loss to premiers at Skilled Stadium. Further losses to Sydney
, and the followed but in between the Sydney and Essendon losses was a 50-point win over . The Kangaroos then kept their finals hopes alive with a 54-point win over at home but all was extinguished the following week with another heavy loss to St Kilda, this time by 52 points. The following week, the last slim hope North Melbourne had left of playing in the finals was gone when thrashed to close the door on the top eight for season 2010. Despite the fact they couldn't make the top 8, North Melbourne moved on to win their last two games of the season against eventual wooden spooners the West Coast Eagles
and Melbourne.
North Melbourne ended up missing out on the finals by percentage alone to Carlton whom North had defeated by 29 points early on in the season.
North Melbourne has now begun the 2011 season with the club hoping to make the finals for the first time since 2008. The season did not start well; with the club losing its first four matches, to be at the bottom of the ladder by the end of Round 5. The Kangaroos then went on to win two of their next three matches, against and before losing their next two matches, against the and by 14 and 1 point respectively. The loss to Sydney sparked a four-match winning streak, which put North Melbourne into a position to break into the top eight. But their entrance into the top eight was denied by who ended North's four game winning streak and kept the Kangaroos outside of the top eight. In round 16 North Melbourne was thrashed by by over 100 points, moving North to 11th on the ladder.
They missed the finals in the end due to the antagonising losses earlier in the year, but despite this there were positives to come out of the year. North's players developed at all levels. Senior Kangaroos Petrie and Wells returned to full fitness and had career-best seasons. Emerging players Goldstein and Ziebell (particularly in the second half of the season) stamped themselves as key players in North's midfield. The Kangaroos were also able to blood seven debutants, ranging from highly touted draft picks Atley and Harper to mature-age rookies Pedersen, Luke Delaney and Richardson. North also showed heart to fight back from a dismal start to the season to challenge strongly for a finals spot. The effort was there, but the finishing class was not. However, that should change if some of North's youngsters can develop as much as Goldstein and Ziebell did in 2011.
The official name of the club is North Melbourne, but the club has gone under several other aliases over the years. The club was originally founded as the 'North Melbourne Football Club', but changed to 'North Melbourne cum Albert Park' after merging with Albert park in 1876. Following the reformation of the club in 1877, it was known as the 'Hotham Football Club' but later retook the name 'North Melbourne' in 1888. In 1998 the club proposed changing its name to the 'Northern Kangaroos', but it was rejected by the AFL. Between 1999 and 2007, the club traded without much success as 'The Kangaroos' in a bid to increase its appeal nationally. At the end of 2007 this decision was officially rescinded, and the club has once again reverted back to the name 'North Melbourne'.
The current clash guernsey, adopted in 2009, has sky blue and white vertical stripes. It is nicknamed the "Argentina stripes" because it resembles the uniform of the Argentina national soccer team
.
The famed song is generally sung, in accordance to common football tradition, after a victory. It is also played before every match.
"Join in the Chorus" is believed to be the oldest club anthem of any AFL club, and has been associated with North from its early VFA days. The preamble of the song originates from a score of a Theatre Musical called 'Australia: Heart to Heart and Hand to Hand" written by Toso Taylor in the 1890s in pre-federation Australia. It is traditionally sung (or shouted) in great spirit by players and fans alike. The second verse is unknown in origin and was presumably added later by members of the North Melbourne Football Club when the song was chosen as the club theme. The chorus was appropriated from a song written and performed by Scottish musician Harry Lauder
. The recording currently used by the club was performed by the Fable Singers in 1972 and only includes the choruses.
The song has a strong Victorian heritage, and has been traditionally song by the Victorian State Football and Victorian Cricket teams respectively.
During the 90s, the last line was sung as North Melbourne will be premiers in 1993, and changed according to what year it was. The last line has also been sung as North Melbourne is the team and place to win for you and me or North Melbourne is the team that plays to win for you and me. The 2nd line in the 2nd verse was originally sung as We train so hard, we play the game, we must win every day.
A more gritty opening verse exists that goes as;
Between 2000 and 2004 the club song was updated to keep it inline with 'Kangaroos' rebranding.
The song went as follows;
Likewise, local butchers on Abottsford St, used to proudly hang shinbones decorated in blue and white streamers from their veranda. It all started from the early North sides being so close knit that it reminded the butchers of blowflies on a shin of beef, and so the nickname was born. The hanging of shinbones decorated in blue and white became a tradition of the area, before health inspectors put an end to the practice.
Other theories exist that it started as a result of the Irish immigrants who played hurling on the North Melbourne Recreational Reserve during the 1930s who had a tendency to whack their opponents on the shinbones with their sticks. With other more derogatory theories coming from opposing teams that North Melbourne players were used to kicking people in the shins.
Whatever the answer, the Shinboner Spirit refers to the camaraderie and gutsy determination that was shown by the club in those early days. Nowadays it is a phrase attributed to the Kangaroos' ability to fight back against overwhelming odds with their backs against the wall.
This fighting spirit was forged by the club in its relentless persistence to gain admissions to the VFL. Despite folding 3 times in those early years, the community rallied together to re-establish the club like a phoenix from the ashes.
Former player and coach Denis Pagan is arguably responsible for rejuvenating the nickname when he began coaching the club's under 19's squad in 1982. Running the team off the smell of an oily rag, Pagan coached the squad to nine consecutive Grand Finals, before becoming senior coach in 1993 where he led the poorest club in the league to another 2 Premierships in a decade of dominance.
During those years the team gained a legendary reputation for mateship that transcended the football field which is what kept the team so successful. The 1996 season was the epitome of the Shinboner Spirit when it became obvious that the club would not exist beyond the season unless it merged with Fitzroy. Despite all of the turmoil off the field, the club went on to win the 1996 centenary premiership and avert self-destruction.
After the drama of the Carey and Pagan walkouts in 2002, when North lost the two biggest faces of the club, the football world forecasted doom for club. Again, the club punched above its weight putting in competitive showings year after year, going against the doom and gloom predicted by the pundits.
2004 produced a memorable performance of Shinboner Spirit when the team rallied from a 40 point deficit at three-quarter-time to record a win in favourite son Glenn Archer
's 250th game. Other evident performances were seen in the 2005 and 2007 seasons, where the club recorded a number of record comeback wins that earnt them the tag of being the team that can't be killed.
In 2005, to celebrate the club's 80th anniversary of senior competition in the VFL and the thirtieth anniversary of the first VFL premiership, the Kangaroos held a massive "Shinboner Spirit" gala event, attended by almost the entire surviving playing list. In the awards ceremony, the key "Shinboners" of the past eighty years were acknowledged, with Glenn Archer
being named the "Shinboner of the Century" to almost unanimous acclaim.
Evidently what once a derogatory term, is now a badge of honour.
The club’s board compromises nine directors with each director serving a 3 year term before their position is put up for re-election at an AGM. Only one-third of the board is contested at each AGM due to the rolling structure of the terms of the directors. This structure safeguards the entire board from being ousted at a single AGM, and has made North Melbourne immune to a lot of the in house fighting witnessed at other AFL football clubs. The board governs the club as well as selecting a Chairman to head the club through a majority vote of directors.
North Melbourne is unique in its structure, because from 1986 to 2006 the club was privately owned and limited by shares. The club was floated in 1986 through a membership vote led by then Chairman Bob Ansett. At the meeting, members were encouraged to buy into the club by purchasing shares. The float ended up raising over $3 million and helped to keep the club solvent through the next decade.
In 1991, the John Elliott
-led Carlton Football Club
attempted a hostile take over North Melbourne by purchasing a large parcel of shares formerly owned by Bob Ansett. The Blues acquired 20 per cent of the capital but that stake was eventually bought back by John Magowan, the former head of Merrill Lynch Australia, in 2001. The resulting melodrama saw the formation of B-Class shareholders who had the effective power of veto over any attempt to merge or relocate the club.
Further takeover attempts were made in the first decade of the 21st century by the Southport Sharks. Then Chairman Allan Aylett knocked back a proposal from the Sharks that would have seen them gain a majority stake in the club in exchange for an injection of capital. In early 2006, another proposal from Sharks to underwrite Kangaroos games on the Gold Coast, in exchange for a slice of the shareholder structure at the club was knocked back after AFL intervention.
Due to an Australian Tax Office
ruling in 2006, the club proposed a shareholder restructure that would have seen the B Class shareholders power reduced significantly and some voting rights returned to members. This was done to avoid extraordinary taxes being placed on the club, but the move was blocked in December by Bob Ansett and his proxies who feared that the restructure would make the club vulnerable to further takeover bids.
On 28 February 2007, another meeting was called to resolve the shareholder issue, and a motion was passed that would return see some voting rights return to members and stop any future tax increments.
In April 2007 it was revealed the AFL was attempting to buy out the shareholders of the club in a bid to gain full ownership, and force a relocation of the club to the Gold Coast.
During October 2007, a group called We Are North Melbourne emerged and launched a public campaign, calling for ordinary members to be given the final say on the relocation issue. While the group became synonymous with the push to keep the Club in Melbourne, its first priority was to see the Club's shareholder structure wound-up and control returned to ordinary members.
North Melbourne reverted back to public company in November 2008. A moratorium was passed at an Extraordinary General Meeting that will allow James Brayshaw’s board to serve unopposed until 2010, so as to allow his ticket the maximum time to enact their policies to make the North Melbourne Football Club financially viable.
.
In 2007, research conducted by Roy Morgan estimated that 228,000 people Australia-wide followed the club. This is 2nd only to the Melbourne Demons as the smallest supporter base in the league. Decisions to play more games interstate and to change the club's name, have alienated their Melbourne based supporters, and this is reflected in Roy Morgan's research which suggests that North has lost 14% of its supporter base since their golden era ended in 2000.
Apart from co-founding the first ever football league in Victoria – the VFA, and being the first club to install seats at their home ground, they were also the first club to introduce:
All of these ideas were quickly copied by other footy clubs across the country.
North has never been afraid to try out new ideas. In the early 1970s North were the first club to try and convert an athlete from another country and sport, when they recruited 'Wee Willie' Anderson, who was a professional African American basketballer. He never played a senior game.
In 1977, North became the first team to be televised in colour, live across Australia, in the 1977 Grand Final. Eight years later, North became the first club of the modern era to move away from their local suburban suburban ground, in favour of better facilities at the centrally located MCG. The resulting move kicked off ground rationalisation in the VFL and saw clubs abandon their home grounds for larger stadiums at the MCG, Waverley and Etihad Stadium. In 1986, North became the first privatised club in the league, which was followed by Sydney and Fitzroy.
Other minor achievements are that they were the first club to play games interstate when in 1998 they trialled a home game in Canberra, which has now been copied by Carlton, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Richmond, St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs. North also were the first club to introduce headbands which became popular in the 90s, with the inspired "Operation Kangaroo" headbands in 1990.
Even today North continues to innovate, with the Orange sponsored Kangaroo jumper in 2001, and the introduction of an Argentine inspired soccer jumper in 2009.
In 1985, North Melbourne introduced the world first concept of playing football on a Friday Night. Since then, North Melbourne has played the most Friday Night games of any AFL club. North Melbourne's Friday Night dominance peaked during the 90s when they were almost invincible on the night stage. Their exploits in Friday and Saturday Night games became the stuff of legend. Led by superstars like Wayne Carey
, John Longmire
and Wayne Schwass
, North swept aside almost all opposition it faced. Their strong performances under lights have continued to this day.
Similarly, North has the same reputation of dominance in wet weather games. The history of North and wet weather football extends back to the days when the team played at the water logged Arden St. Their strength in wet weather football culminated in the 1997 Qualifying Final where an injury depleted, 7th placed North Melbourne side defeated 2nd placed Geelong in torrential rain at the MCG.
Together, these efforts have earnt North the tag of being the Night and Wet Weather Specialists respectively.
Despite being a traditionally catholic club, North Melbourne has a strong history of supporting Aboriginal footballers and fostering Aboriginal talent in the VFL and AFL. The first indigenous footballer to play for the club was Percy Johnson in the 1950s, and was ably followed by other fan favorites like Bertie Johnson, Barry Cable and the Krakouer brothers in the following decades. Despite the attitudes of some other fans and clubs to indigenous footballers, North Melbourne has always been inclusive of Aboriginal talent.
The following is a list of Indigenous footballers to have played senior football at the club:
Other Aboriginal footballers who did not play senior football:
North supporters have long been bitter with Essendon for excluding them from the VFL, and have blamed that for their small supporter base in comparison to Essendon's. North's first VFL Grand Final was against Essendon in 1950
.
The rivalry was reignited in the 90s, and in 1998 some North fans decided to inform Essendon of their softness by throwing marshmallows at coach Kevin Sheedy.
Hawthorn – North and Hawthorn have a fierce rivalry that dates back to the 1970s when they played off against each other in three Grand Finals in the space of four years. From 1974 to 1978 the two clubs played against each other in ten finals, and took each other on for the Australian Championship in Adelaide in 1976. During the '80s Hawthorn dominated North, and during the 90s the results were reversed with North dominating Hawthorn. The rivalry with the Hawks has been getting more fierce in the past few years, due to some questionable trading between the two clubs.
, which North went on to win to the replay by 27 points.
Carlton – North Melbourne was once listed on the stock market and Carlton tried to buy out North and take their top players. Later there was talk of a merger, or more specifically, Carlton increasing its shareholdings. North fans didn't think kindly of either option which made defeating Carlton in the 1999 Grand Final that much more special.
Sydney/South Melbourne – North verse South sounds like an obvious bitter rivalry but it was never as strong as the Essendon and later Hawthorn rivalries although it undoubtedly existed. However it is based on recent events that the rivalry has intensified. It is more a one sided rivalry as Sydney have few 'true' arch enemies and North have plenty. In the 1996 Grand Final, Sydney lost to North Melbourne denying the Swans the chance to end the then longest premiership drought. The rivalry was further extended in 2000 when North Melbourne considered playing a game in Sydney to further promote the game of Australian rules football; the Swans interpreted this as North trying to invade Sydney's "territory". A cumulation of close games, including a goal after the siren win by Daryn Cresswell in 2002, and immense and 100+ point winning margins, ensured the Swans' rivalry was maintained with the Kangaroos in recent years.
Port Adelaide – Despite being the second newest club in the competition, Port Adelaide and North Melbourne have always shared a strong rivalry. Port Adelaide did not manage to defeat North Melbourne until 2003, after being in the competition for six seasons, and having defeated every other club. Critical matches have also been between these two clubs, such as the 2005 Elimination Final, where eighth placed Port Adelaide defeated fifth placed North Melbourne by 87 points in an upset win. However, in 2007, both clubs were fighting out for a berth in the 2007 AFL Grand Final
, and the heavily favoured Port Adelaide won in their home state, again by 87 points. That was Glenn Archer's final ever AFL match played. The rivalry came to a head in 2008, when North Melbourne needed to defeat non-finalists Port Adelaide in the last round of the season to ensure a spot in the top four and finals double chance. However, they went down by 77 points in a shock loss, leaving them in seventh place (rightfully should have been sixth since Sydney finished sixth with the same amount of points as North Melbourne.), and bowed out of the finals series the next week against Sydney. However, in recent times, North Melbourne has managed to claw its way back against Port Adelaide, with the most recent encounter being a 60 point victory (a match where North had kicked 25 behinds) at Etihad Stadium in Round 6 of the 2011 AFL season
.
(club historian), Keith McKenzie (former coach), Lloyd Holyoak (former president), Max Ritchie (former player and chairman of selectors) and Greg Miller (chief executive).
David King, John Blakey, Wayne Schwass and Gary Dempsey were selected as emergencies.
, including almost all surviving North Melbourne players. Glenn Archer
was voted the Shinboner of the Century by his peers as the player who most represents the 'Shinboner Spirit'. The following players were voted 'Shinboners' of their era:
1 Won by West Melbourne before merger
2 Won by Essendon Association before merger
Wikipedia listing of North Melbourne players
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...
club in 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...
(AFL) and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world. It is based at the Arden Street Oval
Arden Street Oval
Arden Street Oval is a sports oval based in Arden Street, North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is currently the training base of Australian rules team North Melbourne Football Club and up to the end of the 1985 season it was used for elite-level VFL/AFL matches.-History:The North Melbourne...
in the inner Melbourne suburb of North Melbourne
North Melbourne, Victoria
North Melbourne is a large inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km north-west from Melbourne's central business district. It is bounded by the CityLink freeway to the west, Victoria Street to the south, O'Connell and Peel Streets to the east and Flemington Road to the north. Its...
, but plays its home matches at the nearby Docklands Stadium.
The club is characterised by its inner-city location, its working class background, the doggedness of successive administrators and a iron-like vision to survive and eventually succeed, despite the odds. The club's mascot is a grey or red kangaroo
Kangaroo
A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...
, dating from the middle of the 20th century. The club is also unofficially known as "The Shinboners", a term which dates back to its 19th century abattoir-worker origins. The club's motto is Victoria Amat Curam, Latin for "Victory Demands Dedication".
Club history
Formative years
The North Melbourne Football Club arose from lowly origins in 1869, purportedly established to satisfy the needs of local cricketers who were keen to keep themselves fit over the winter months. One view is that the club was connected to the St Mary’s Church of England Cricket Club, now the St Mary's Anglican Church North Melbourne, whose colours – blue and white – are reflected in the Club's colour's today. The association between the St Mary's Church of England Cricket Club and the establishment of the North Melbourne Football Club is believed not to be formal, rather a general gathering to play some competitive sport. Information on the club’s first ever match is sketchy, but it is known that it took place in Royal ParkRoyal Park, Melbourne
Royal Park is the largest of Melbourne's inner city parks . It is located north of the Melbourne Central Business District, Victoria, Australia, in the suburb of Parkville....
(which served as the clubs home ground until 1882) and that the ball used in the match was purchased by a local resident called Tom Jacks, who sold some roofing iron to pay for it.
Today, the founder of the club is regarded as James Henry Gardiner
James Henry Gardiner
James Henry Gardiner was an early Australian rules football administrator, footballer and public servant. He is primarily known for the pivotal role he played in establishing the North Melbourne Football Club, which now competes in the Australian Football League.-Early life:For a man who played...
who served the club diligently both on the field and off the field until his death in 1921.
In 1870, Victoria for the first time saw the introduction of regular premiership matches of Australian Football. North Melbourne was a part of this, but was classed as a “Junior Club” having not yet graduated to senior ranks. The Australasian noted them as being “one of the best of many Junior Clubs” during those early years.
The club continued to evolve, graduating to senior ranks in 1874 and acquitted themselves remarkably well, finishing 4th. Along with the promotion, the club adopted its first uniform of blue and white horizontal stripes.
By 1876 North had ceased to function due to troubles, but managed to secure an amalgamation with Albert Park
Albert Park Football Club
Albert Park Football Club is an Australian rules football club located 3 km south of Melbourne in the suburb of Albert Park.Originally affiliated with the VFA during the 19th century.The club colours are red and white....
to form “North Melbourne Cum Albert Park”. The football world assumed that the amalgamation was the death knell of the club, but they underestimated the spirit of the “founding fathers” and the local community who dug deep and came up with the funds to re-establish the club under the new name of “Hotham” in early 1877.
Association years
The 1880s marked the emergence of the modern identity we now associate with North today. In 1882, the club amalgamated with the Hotham Cricket Club and moved into the North Melbourne Recreation Reserve (Arden St Oval) which has remained as the home of the club up until this day. The joint venture was aimed at affecting improvements at the Hotham Cricket Ground, which was the name of the Reserve at the time. Four years later the club adopted the traditional uniform of blue and white vertical stripes at the insistence of the VFA, who wanted a visible contrast between Geelong and Hotham’s uniforms. The third significant development occurred in 1888 with the club returning to its original name of the North Melbourne Football Club. This followed the name of the local area reverting from Hotham to North Melbourne.
The 1880s saw the club develop a penchant for inter-colonial travel with trips to Tasmania (1881/1887) and South Australia (1889). Hotham also found itself well represented at the first ever inter-colonial game in 1879 with 4 players from the club gaining selection for the "Big V".
Disregarded by the VFL
The VFA became unwieldy by the 1890s having swelled to 15 Clubs. Led by Geelong, and fuelled by Essendon, the largest clubs of the VFA revolted and formed their own break away league, the Victorian Football League (VFL) in 1896. Despite finishing 6th North was rudely excluded from the competition, a fact not lost on their supporters today. The main reasons for being excluded are as follows:- North had not won a premiership yet, and thus was not considered a powerful club
- The industrialisation of the locality had drained the club’s income streams
- The club had a strong reputation for hooliganism from their fans
- There was a lot of bad blood between Collingwood and North following a torrid engagement in the previous season
- Essendon felt threatened by the close proximity of North Melbourne
- A court case against the North Melbourne Cricket Club had damaged the Football Club’s status
Undaunted, North continued on in the depleted VFA emerging as a powerhouse finishing 2nd in both 1897, 98 and 99. In 1903 the Club’s ultimate aspirations were reached when they were crowned premiers against Richmond. It had taken 34 years of hardship, and adversity, but North finally tasted absolute triumph. The club went back to back premiers in 1904 after Richmond forfeited the final in what go down as one of the most controversial premierships in football history.
North caused a sensation in 1907 after announcing an amalgamation with fellow football club West Melbourne (which at the time had lost their home ground). The joint venture saw their chance of promotion and applied for admission to the prestigious VFL but their plan was scuttled by Richmond and University who were admitted to the VFL instead. As punishment, the West and North Melbourne clubs were banished from the VFA for their treachery.
This may have seemed like the end for North, but rising phoenix like from the ashes the local community re-established the North Melbourne Football Club as a brand new identity and the VFA re-admitted the new club to the Association for the 1908 season.
"The Invincibles"
Fred Jinks
Fred Jinks was an Australian rules footballer who played for Carlton in the VFL during the early 1900s.Originally from VFA club Footscray, Jinks was recruited by Carlton in 1906. Although he spent only four seasons with Carlton, he played in a Grand Final each year for three premierships. He...
, Charlie Hammond
Charlie Hammond
Charles William Hammond was an Australian rules footballer who played with the Carlton Football Club in the Victorian Football League . Hammond is notable as the only footballer in history to play in five Carlton premiership sides.Hammond played originally for Northcote in the Victorian Football...
and Frank ‘Silver’ Caine to North Melbourne. These signings secured the Northerners third premiership in 1910.
The 1912 finals series was one of the most amazing ever, with the Semi Final having to be replayed 3 times after North and Brunswick drew twice. North were eventually victorious and moved on to the final, but without the Big Four they lost the game by a mere four points with the last kick of the day.
The next few years were punctuated by “The Invincibles”. In the Northerners most illustrious period ever, the club went undefeated from 1914 to 1919, collecting premierships in 1914, 1915 and 1918. As well as this, the club won the championship in both 1915 and 1918 for finishing on top of the ladder, and accounted for VFL side St Kilda comfortably. During this period the club won 58 consecutive matches including 49 successive premiership matches, a record that has remained unmatched in Association or League History since.
Despite being rejected from the VFL in both 1896 and 1907, North still persisted relentlessly to gain admission into what was the premier league of the land. On 30 June 1921, North dropped a bombshell mid-season and told its players it would disband and try to gain entry to the VFL by the ‘back-door’. Essendon League Football Club had lost its playing ground at East Melbourne and had decided to acquire the North Melbourne Recreation Reserve as a new playing ground. North accepted their proposal in the idea that the club’s would amalgamate. All of North’s players were urged to join the Essendon League Club
Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
to help facilitate the amalgamation. The amalgamation was foiled when some members of the Essendon Committee launched a successful legal challenge. As a result the Essendon League Club moved instead to the Essendon Oval kicking the original occupants Essendon Association
Essendon Association Football Club
Essendon Association Football Club was an Australian rules football club which played in the Victorian Football Association from 1900 until 1921. The 'Dreadnoughts', who wore black and red, played their home games at the Essendon Recreation Reserve...
out.
North was now without a playing team and the Essendon Association Club was now without a ground, so as a matter of convenience the two clubs amalgamated so they could compete in the 1922 season. With the same resilience it had displayed fifteen years earlier, North had once again rose Phoenix-like from the ashes to avert self-destruction.
Entering the VFL
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...
. Even then, the opportunity almost slipped out of the club’s grasp as the League delegates debated into the early hours of the morning on which clubs should be invited to join the intake. It was only after much deliberation that North Melbourne’s name was eventually substituted for Prahran's making North “the lucky side” of the invitees that included Footscray and Hawthorn.
Two main reasons for North being accepted over Prahran was that North had been the most popular choice in a recent poll conducted in a Melbourne newspaper on who should be promoted. The other reason was that the Club’s committee, in an unprecedented move, had visited every single League Club as well as the VFL Headquarters to make their case for why they should be included in the intake.
But two big conditions were attached to North’s entry. One was that the club had to change their uniform and another was that they had to give up their recruiting grounds to the Essendon Football Club.
North Melbourne were cellar dwellers for the first twenty-five years of VFL
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
membership, but by the late 1940s had developed a strong list and significant supporter base. In 1949 North secured the VFL Minor Premiership, finishing top of the ladder at the end of the home-and-away season with 14 wins and 5 losses. They failed to make the Grand Final that year (eventually won by Essendon
Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
), but in 1950 they did reach the last Saturday in September, gallantly going down to defeat by a more efficient Essendon. It was in this year that the club adopted the "Kangaroos" mascot.
The 1950s and 1960s were lean years for North Melbourne, though the club did secure two consecutive Night Premierships in 1965 and 1966. Allen Aylett
Allen Aylett
Dr. Allen Aylett is a former Australian rules football player and administrator. He was the chairman/president of the North Melbourne Football Club during the 1970s and then again from 2001–2005...
was a brilliant player in the late 1950s and captain between 1961 and 1964, and Noel Teasdale
Noel Teasdale
Noel Teasdale is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the Victorian Football League.Originally from Daylesford, Teasdale made his debut with the North Melbourne Football Club in 1956 playing as a ruckman and for a period, a full-back.Teasdale was noted for his tough, uncompromising...
who lost the Brownlow Medal
Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
on a countback in 1965 (he was later awarded a retrospective medal when the counting system was amended).
Golden era
Towards the end of the 1960s, and under the dynamic leadership of Allen AylettAllen Aylett
Dr. Allen Aylett is a former Australian rules football player and administrator. He was the chairman/president of the North Melbourne Football Club during the 1970s and then again from 2001–2005...
, North Melbourne began its climb to supremacy. As part of a major recruitment drive North secured the services of several big name stars including Barry Davis
Barry Davis
Barry Davis is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the Victorian Football League with Essendon and North Melbourne, before coaching his original team between 1978–1980.- Essendon career :...
from Essendon
Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
and Doug Wade
Doug Wade
Douglas Graeme Wade is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club and North Melbourne Football Club....
(Geelong
Geelong Football Club
The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...
), John Rantall,(South Melbourne), Barry Cable (WA),and lesser known hero John Burns who would go on to play a pivotal role in securing the 1975 Premiership. In a major coup, the great Ron Barassi
Ron Barassi
Ronald Dale Barassi, Jr AM is a former Australian rules football player and coach. During a long and decorated career, Barassi has been one of the most important figures in the history of Australian football. His father, Ron Barassi, Sr., was the first Australian footballer killed at Tobruk during...
was appointed coach in 1973. Barrassi managed to reverse the club's fortunes, taking an unremarkable team that was once regarded as the traditional cellar dwellers of the competition, through a golden era of success that transformed North into one of the powerhouses of the VFL. Barassi's ruthless and inspiring coaching methods took North to a Grand Final (defeated by Richmond
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
) in 1974 and brought success in his 1975 and 1977 seasons. North made five consecutive Grand Finals from 1974–1978) and defeated Norwood
Norwood Football Club
Norwood Football Club, nicknamed, Redlegs, is an Australian rules football club belonging to the South Australian National Football League in the state of South Australia...
in the 1975 national championship to be declared Champions of Australia.
Also, in 1973 and 1974, North's wingman Keith Greig
Keith Greig
Keith Greig played on the wing for the Australian rules football North Melbourne Football Club from 1971 to 1985. He is considered as one of the most exciting players of the era, earning the nickname "Racehorse" because of his blistering speed on the field.Greig was recruited from Brunswick in 1971...
won consecutive Brownlow Medal
Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
s. He was joined in 1978 by the mercurial forward Malcolm Blight
Malcolm Blight
Malcolm Jack Blight AM is a former champion Australian rules football player and coach, and current television commentator. During the 1970s and 1980s Blight played for the Woodville Football Club in the South Australian National Football League and the North Melbourne Football Club in the...
, whose victory was known as the "worst kept secret in football". Doug Wade
Doug Wade
Douglas Graeme Wade is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club and North Melbourne Football Club....
also secured the Coleman medal
Coleman Medal
The Coleman Medal is awarded yearly to the Australian Football League player who kicks the most goals in regular-season matches in that year...
in 1974 with his 103 goals for the season.
Barassi continued as coach into 1980, but only a Night Premiership in that year was to result from his last years at Arden Street
Arden Street Oval
Arden Street Oval is a sports oval based in Arden Street, North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is currently the training base of Australian rules team North Melbourne Football Club and up to the end of the 1985 season it was used for elite-level VFL/AFL matches.-History:The North Melbourne...
. North then entered another period of decline, though Malcolm Blight
Malcolm Blight
Malcolm Jack Blight AM is a former champion Australian rules football player and coach, and current television commentator. During the 1970s and 1980s Blight played for the Woodville Football Club in the South Australian National Football League and the North Melbourne Football Club in the...
kicked 103 goals to take out the Coleman medal
Coleman Medal
The Coleman Medal is awarded yearly to the Australian Football League player who kicks the most goals in regular-season matches in that year...
in 1982, and another Brownlow win came through the talented Ross Glendinning
Ross Glendinning
Ross Glendinning was an Australian rules footballer for the North Melbourne Football Club and West Coast Eagles in the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League...
in 1983. In that year, North Melbourne won a third Minor Premiership (the second had come in 1978) with 16 wins and 6 losses for the season, but failed to make the Grand Final.
Team of the 1990s
The capable coaching of John Kennedy aside, the 1980s and early 1990s were lean years for the Kangaroos.However, the rebuilding of the club was taking place. The Krakouer brothers (Jim and Phil) brought a spark into the side and lifted many hopes for North supporters and the excitement to the general football public. The innovative idea of night games was instigated by the club and meeting the challenges, the club survived. One major highlight was the recruitment of the gun forward John LongmireJohn Longmire
John Longmire is the current coach of the Sydney Swans. As a player, he represented the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League from 1988 to 1999.-Early years:...
in 1989, who topped the club goalkicking over five consecutive seasons (1990–1994) and won the Coleman medal
Coleman Medal
The Coleman Medal is awarded yearly to the Australian Football League player who kicks the most goals in regular-season matches in that year...
in 1990 with 98 goals – just two short of the magic ton. At the beginning of the 1993 season, in a dramatic and controversial move, the board of the club sacked coach and long-time playing stalwart Wayne Schimmelbusch
Wayne Schimmelbusch
Wayne Schimmelbusch is a former Australian Rules Footballer in the Victorian Football League .A courageous wingman and inspirational speedster who seemingly never knew when to give up, Schimmelbusch played in 306 games, including 29 finals games, for the North Melbourne Football Club...
and appointed Denis Pagan
Denis Pagan
Denis Pagan is a former Australian rules football coach and player in the VFL/AFL. He is current coach of Northern Knights in TAC Cup.-Playing career:...
in his place. Results were immediate, as North reached the finals for the first time in nearly a decade. Pagan was also instrumental in appointing the brilliant Wayne Carey
Wayne Carey
Wayne Carey is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the North Melbourne and Adelaide Football Clubs in the Australian Football League ....
as the club's youngest-ever captain. Carey had been recruited at the same time as Longmire
John Longmire
John Longmire is the current coach of the Sydney Swans. As a player, he represented the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League from 1988 to 1999.-Early years:...
, but taken longer to develop as a player. Carey's leadership over the next nine seasons was inspirational, and he came to be regarded as the standout player in the league, called 'the King' by media commentators and fellow footballers alike.
| 1996 AFL Grand Final 1996 AFL Grand Final The 1996 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the North Melbourne Football Club and Sydney Swans, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 28 September 1996. It was the 100th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League/Australian Football... |
G | B | Total |
| North Melbourne | 19 | 17 | 131 |
| 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... |
13 | 10 | 88 |
| Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light... |
Crowd: 93,102 | ||
Narrow misses in 1994 and 1995 were finally avenged in 1996 when North defeated 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...
to take out the gold centenary AFL
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
cup. Glenn Archer
Glenn Archer
Glenn Archer is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played his entire career with the North Melbourne Football Club.Archer had a reputation as one of the most courageous players ever to play the game...
won the Norm Smith Medal
Norm Smith Medal
The Norm Smith Medal is the award given in the AFL Grand Final to the player adjudged by an independent panel of experts to have been the best player in the match.-History:The Norm Smith Medal is named after former Melbourne player and coach, Norm Smith...
. Late season injuries in 1997 North lost to St. Kilda in the Preliminary Final (during which key ruckman Corey McKernan
Corey McKernan
Corey McKernan is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the North Melbourne Kangaroos and Carlton Blues in the Australian Football League...
dislocated his shoulder). 1998 seemed to all to be North's year, as the club won both the pre-season Ansett Cup and topped the ladder with 16 wins and 6 losses (narrowly tipping out the Western Bulldogs
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
in the final home-and-away game of the season). However, poor kicking and a lack of discipline allowed the Adelaide Crows
Adelaide Crows
The Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed The Crows, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Adelaide, South Australia, playing in the Australian Football League ....
to win their second premiership in as many years.
| 1998 AFL Ansett Australia Cup Final 1998 Ansett Australia Cup - Scorecard :- Final Placings :1. North Melbourne 2. St. Kilda 3. Melbourne 4. Brisbane 5. Western Bulldogs 6. Essendon 7. Adelaide 8. West Coast 9. Richmond 10. Sydney 11. Port Adelaide 12. Fremantle 13. Carlton 14. Geelong 15. Hawthorn... |
G | B | Total |
| North Melbourne | 14 | 13 | 97 |
| St Kilda | 12 | 11 | 83 |
| Venue: Waverley Park Waverley Park Waverley Park was an Australian rules football stadium in Mulgrave, Victoria, Australia. For most of its history, its purpose was as a neutral venue and used by all Victorian based Victorian Football League/Australian Football League clubs. However, during the 1990s it became the home ground of... |
Crowd: 63,898 | ||
In 1999, the Kangaroos finished in second position on the ladder, thanks to good form of the key members of the playing group ( Carey, McKernan, Archer, Stevens). Thus, the 1999 Grand Final was won easily by the Kangaroos [the first premiership won without the name 'North Melbourne' attached to the logo], with former Sydney midfielder Shannon Grant
Shannon Grant
Shannon Grant is a retired Australian rules footballer who was known as one of the premier midfielders in the AFL. He began his career at the Sydney Swans in 1995 before moving to the Kangaroos in 1998 and being a part of their 1999 premiership side, in which he also won the Norm Smith Medal for...
taking out the Norm Smith Medal
Norm Smith Medal
The Norm Smith Medal is the award given in the AFL Grand Final to the player adjudged by an independent panel of experts to have been the best player in the match.-History:The Norm Smith Medal is named after former Melbourne player and coach, Norm Smith...
.
Since its inception, the club has often had to contend with financial hardship and a fairly modest support base. The club has been subject to several merger attempts, including attempts at takeover by 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 early 20th century and an almost-completed merger with Fitzroy
Fitzroy Football Club
The Fitzroy Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League on its inception in 1897...
during the uncertain 1990s.
| 1999 AFL Grand Final 1999 AFL Grand Final The 1999 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between and , held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 25 September 1999. It was the 103rd annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the... |
G | B | Total |
| North Melbourne | 19 | 10 | 124 |
| Carlton Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897... |
12 | 17 | 89 |
| Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light... |
Crowd: 94,228 | ||
Seeking new markets and greater financial security in an increasingly corporatized AFL
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
environment, the title "North Melbourne" was officially dropped from the logo in 1999, from which time the team played only as the "Kangaroos". During the successful 1999 season, North Melbourne played home games in Sydney with a view of becoming a second team in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
. Perhaps partly because of North's victory over 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...
in the 1996 AFL Grand Final
AFL Grand Final
The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...
, the experiment was not successful, with crowds averaging only 12,000. Since the South Melbourne Football Club
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...
moved to the city and took many years to become accepted, most Sydney people had become aware and cynical of the concept of relocating Melbourne teams. The club maintains their home ground in Victoria at Arden Street Oval
Arden Street Oval
Arden Street Oval is a sports oval based in Arden Street, North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is currently the training base of Australian rules team North Melbourne Football Club and up to the end of the 1985 season it was used for elite-level VFL/AFL matches.-History:The North Melbourne...
, North Melbourne, which from 2006 underwent the first stages of a $16 million upgrade of training and other facilities. These new facilities are considered state of the art and provide a good basis for the NMFC to remain in Melbourne and the centre will now provide the club with all the resources to compete with the bigger clubs in the competition.
2000–2001
The 21st century did not begin well for the North Melbourne Football Club. Its decade-long onfield potency was in decline, questions were raised about its financial position and long-term sustainability and three of the pillars that had underpinned its 1990s dominance – coach Denis PaganDenis Pagan
Denis Pagan is a former Australian rules football coach and player in the VFL/AFL. He is current coach of Northern Knights in TAC Cup.-Playing career:...
, captain Wayne Carey
Wayne Carey
Wayne Carey is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the North Melbourne and Adelaide Football Clubs in the Australian Football League ....
and chief executive Greg Miller – left the club under acrimonious circumstances. They went from finishing a reasonable 4th in 2000, before slumping to 13th position at the end of 2001.
2002
Revelations that emerged only a few weeks before the beginning of the 2002 season that champion captain Wayne CareyWayne Carey
Wayne Carey is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the North Melbourne and Adelaide Football Clubs in the Australian Football League ....
had been having an extramarital affair with the wife of teammate and vice-captain Anthony Stevens
Anthony Stevens
Anthony Stevens is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the North Melbourne Kangaroos. He was named as ruck rover in the club's official 'Team of the Century'....
shook the club, and the football world in general. Carey resigned in disgrace. However, despite this turmoil on the eve of the season commencing, Denis Pagan
Denis Pagan
Denis Pagan is a former Australian rules football coach and player in the VFL/AFL. He is current coach of Northern Knights in TAC Cup.-Playing career:...
against all odds guided the Kangaroos to the 2002 finals series. Melbourne proved too strong in the elimination final and defeated the club. This was also John Blakey's and Craig Scholl's (Scholl kicking a record equaling 7 goals in a final) last game.
The resignation of Pagan
Denis Pagan
Denis Pagan is a former Australian rules football coach and player in the VFL/AFL. He is current coach of Northern Knights in TAC Cup.-Playing career:...
at the end of the 2002 season after being poached by Carlton
Carlton Football Club
The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
president John Elliott
John Elliott (businessman)
John Dorman Elliott is a former president of the Liberal Party, and former president of Carlton Football Club. In 2003 he was found guilty of trading while insolvent and in 2005 declared bankrupt...
further accelerated the process of decline, though North Melbourne remained competitive, and often a significant threat to the emerging powerhouses of Port Adelaide
Port Adelaide Football Club
The Port Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, which plays in the Australian Football League and the South Australian National Football League...
and Brisbane. Pagan was replaced by 1996 premiership player Dean Laidley
Dean Laidley
Dean Laidley is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles and North Melbourne in the Australian Football League from 1987 to 1997, including in North Melbourne's 1996 premiership side. He served as coach of North Melbourne from 2003 to 2009...
. A talented player and wily coach, Laidley had previously been an Assistant Coach at Collingwood
Collingwood Football Club
The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
from 1999 until the end of season 2002.
2003–2004
The 2003 season was mostly uneventful, with one major exception – the emotional return of Jason McCartney from severe burns suffered in the 2002 Bali bombing2002 Bali bombing
The 2002 Bali bombings occurred on 12 October 2002 in the tourist district of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali. The attack was claimed as the deadliest act of terrorism in the history of Indonesia according to the current police general, killing 202 people,...
on 6 June against Richmond
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
. McCartney's statistics were modest, but he set up the winning goal with seconds remaining. He retired immediately after the game.
2005–2006
In the 2005 season, the Kangaroos fought back from a mid-season slump finishing fifth on the ladder and in doing so helped to silence critics who had labelled the club and new coach as 'ineffective' and 'useless'. These critics returned when in the 1st Elimination Final, the Kangaroos lost by a shattering 87 points to reigning Premiers Port AdelaidePort Adelaide Football Club
The Port Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, which plays in the Australian Football League and the South Australian National Football League...
.
2006 was anticipated as a major turning point for the Kangaroos. The club was consistent in its policy of swapping early draft picks for experienced players. There was a perception from outsiders that the club was facing an aging squad, with Daniel Wells shaping as the only young prospect for the Kangaroos. However, 2006 saw good performances from many of the other youngsters on North's list, including Daniel Harris, Hamish McIntosh, Corey Jones, Drew Petrie, David Hale and Andrew Swallow.
On 22 July 2006, the Kangaroos' training ground, Arden Street
Arden Street Oval
Arden Street Oval is a sports oval based in Arden Street, North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is currently the training base of Australian rules team North Melbourne Football Club and up to the end of the 1985 season it was used for elite-level VFL/AFL matches.-History:The North Melbourne...
suffered minor damage in a fire, which occurred at 4:30 am, following the club's massive 72-point loss to Adelaide (whose captain Mark Ricciuto
Mark Ricciuto
Mark Anthony Ricciuto is a former Australian rules football player, who played for the Adelaide Crows in the Australian Football League...
was celebrating his 300th game) at AAMI Stadium the night before (it is believed that the two events are not linked together). Arson was believed to be the cause of the fire, and it forced the Kangaroos to train at Etihad Stadium for the remainder of the 2006 AFL season
2006 AFL season
Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 2006.-National Cup: 3.10.5 defeated 1.10.15 in the 2006 NAB Cup Final...
.
Apart from highlights such as the victories over Port Adelaide
Port Adelaide Football Club
The Port Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, which plays in the Australian Football League and the South Australian National Football League...
, 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...
, Carlton
Carlton Football Club
The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
and Essendon
Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
, as well as Nathan Thompson
Nathan Thompson
Nathan Thompson is a former Australian rules footballer, who previously played with the Hawthorn and North Melbourne Football Clubs in the Australian Football League. He is currently a part of the Panel on the Sunday Footy Show....
kicking 54 goals and 13 votes in the Brownlow medal
Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
count the 2006 season was largely a disappointment.
At the conclusion of the 2006 Premiership Season, the North Melbourne Football Club changed their logo, mainly due to strong supporter pressure. The design includes an image of stream-lined Kangaroo, backed by a blue and white shield, with 'Kangaroos' underneath. Under 'Kangaroos' is the wording 'North Melbourne Football Club', back on the logo, much to the delight of thousands of North Melbourne traditionalists.
2007
Early 2007 saw the club in the media spotlight on a number of fronts. With the retirement of personally troubled key defender Jonathan Hay and season ending injuries to the club's top two goal kickers of 2006, Nathan ThompsonNathan Thompson
Nathan Thompson is a former Australian rules footballer, who previously played with the Hawthorn and North Melbourne Football Clubs in the Australian Football League. He is currently a part of the Panel on the Sunday Footy Show....
and Leigh Harding
Leigh Harding
Leigh Harding is an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.Originally from Teesdale, Victoria,a small town near Bannockburn, Victoria Harding then played under-18 football with the Geelong Falcons before he moved to play with Geelong in the VFL.Selected in the 2000 rookie...
, the club was overwhelmingly tipped to receive the wooden spoon
Wooden spoon (award)
A wooden spoon is a mock or real award, usually given to an individual or team which has come last in a competition, but sometimes also to runners-up. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous events...
at season's end. Conflict between members of the club's board, and speculation of a relocation of the club to the Gold Coast, also gave the North Melbourne Football Club unwanted media attention. Midseason, speculation about whether Dean Laidley
Dean Laidley
Dean Laidley is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles and North Melbourne in the Australian Football League from 1987 to 1997, including in North Melbourne's 1996 premiership side. He served as coach of North Melbourne from 2003 to 2009...
would be re-signed as coach of the club despite its impressive performance thus far in 2007 was prominent in the media for a ten day period but then faded away.
In spite of negative media attention, the club has had a significant resurgence on field, with its performances being more than respectable. A semi-finals berth in the pre-season competition
Australian Football League pre-season competition
The Australian Football League pre-season competition, which is known at present as the NAB Cup, is a competition held before the beginning of the Australian Football League premiership season...
was a preview of what was to come. However, the Kangaroos didn't get the start they hoped for, losing their first 3 matches including a Round 1 defeat at the hands of Collingwood by 3 points with losses against Port Adelaide and Hawthorn following.
An example of the new running game of the Kangaroos was in Round 4 against the Lions in the Roos first Carrara home game, in which they won by 24 points, 12.15.87 to 8.15.63. Leigh Brown kicked 3 goals for the Roos, while Hamish McIntosh had his best game of his career to that point, with 20 possessions. Daniel Wells, Jess Sinclair, Glenn Archer and Shannon Grant also had stellar performances.
The Kangaroos won 6 games in a row from round 4 to round 9, including a shock win over eventual premiers Geelong at Skilled Stadium, before eventually losing to West Coast by a whopping 66 points at Subiaco in Round 10. Following this loss, the Roos bounced back to defeat St. Kilda by a margin of 22 points at Etihad Stadium. However, possibly due to inexperience, the Kangaroos have not always appeared to have the ability to close out a game until late in the fourth quarter, with the notable exception of the Round 9 game against the
The club was victorious between Rounds 13 to 17 after the loss to Adelaide in Round 12. One of these victories, perhaps one of the most important to the club this year, was the Round 13 game against the Western Bulldogs
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
where North Melbourne champion and Shinboner of the Century Glenn Archer
Glenn Archer
Glenn Archer is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played his entire career with the North Melbourne Football Club.Archer had a reputation as one of the most courageous players ever to play the game...
celebrated his milestone 300th game.
Round 15 saw the Kangaroos upset the Fremantle Dockers at Subiaco by 4 points in a nailbaiting contest the whole way through with less than 6 points the difference at each break. Round 16 had the Kangaroos demolish Melbourne by 64 points and another Kangaroos victory followed a week later, this time a comfortable 37 point upset win over a higher placed 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...
at Aurora Stadium
Aurora Stadium
York Park is a sports ground in the Inveresk and York Park Precinct, Launceston, Australia. Holding 20,000 people—more than any other stadium in Tasmania—York Park has been known as Aurora Stadium under a six-year naming rights agreement signed with Aurora Energy in 2004...
. This victory lifted North Melbourne to outright second on the AFL ladder by the conclusion of Round 17, with many football observers reluctantly having to revisit their assessments of both the ability of the North Melbourne squad for 2007 and the likelihood of the team playing in the finals.
The 2007 campaign hit an obstacle late in the season when, at the beginning of a difficult run to the finals, the club was defeated by the Lions
Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...
at the Gabba by 37 points in Round 18. While the Kangaroos retained their position of second on the AFL ladder following this defeat, they did so with a lower percentage and with one less game as a buffer.
Following the defeat by the Brisbane Lions, the Kangaroos lost against fellow top 2 contenders and reigning premiers West Coast by 17 points at Etihad Stadium in a tight hard fought contest for most of the game. A week later in Round 20 the Kangaroos challenged Geelong who had wrapped up the minor premiership the week before. The Kangaroos being the last team to beat Geelong went in hoping that they could do it again, however Geelong won by 27 points. This loss pushed the Kangaroos down to 5th with the double chance looking dim but when they beat Carlton by 82 points the following week they sealed their place in the finals and also saw a chance to steal 4th spot had results fallen their way in the final round.
In the final round of the 2007 home and away season, the 5th placed Kangaroos played the Western Bulldogs winning by an impressive 64 points. Not only was this loss disappointing for the Western Bulldogs but in the 2nd term they were held to their first scoreless quarter of football since they played West Coast at Subiaco Oval in Round 6 1999. This was also the first time this season that a team has been kept scoreless in a quarter of football. On the same day, the Sydney Swans recorded an upset 72 point win against Hawthorn at the SCG which allowed the Kangaroos to leapfrog the Hawks to claim 4th spot and win the double chance plus a spot against the minor Premiers Geelong in the 1st qualifying final.
In the first week of the 2007 AFL finals when the club was beaten by the Geelong Football Club
Geelong Football Club
The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...
by 106 points, the fifth highest losing margin in finals history.
The Roos then defeated Hawthorn Hawks
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...
by 33 points in the semi final. They qualified for a preliminary final against the Port Adelaide Power at AAMI Stadium. The Power won by 87 points, the same margin they defeated the Kangaroos by in the 2005 finals.
2008–2010
The conclusion of a disappointing 2009 season saw the departure of coach Dean Laidley, replaced by ex-Brisbane Lions premiership player and Collingwood Magpies Assistant coach Brad Scott. Due to injuries to key players, Laidley focussed on the development of younger players throughout 2009, highlighted by Andrew Swallow winning the club's Best and Fairest and emergence of a new leadership group.With the completion of a 15 million dollar training facility, a new coach, growing membership and the building of a talented, but very young list, North Melbourne implemented the slogan "New game, new era" heading into the 2010 season and appears set to leave the "battlers" tag and financial woes of the past behind them.
North Melbourne had a terrible start to season 2010, losing three of their first four matches, including a 104-point annihilation from the previous year's runners-up St Kilda in which the Roos were held scoreless until just before halftime. However the Roos would bounce back with wins over 2006 premiers , 2008 premiers and , however what was a 3–3 record after round six slipped into the red again with huge losses to eventual premiers and by 66 and 70 points respectively with only a narrow 9-point win over sandwiched in between (North Melbourne led by 54 points at three-quarter-time). The Roos fell to 4–6 following a 61-point thumping by at Subiaco Oval
Subiaco Oval
Subiaco Oval , known colloquially as Subi, is the highest capacity sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia...
however recovered the following week to record a famous 1-point victory over the Brisbane Lions
Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...
at home. This was the start of a three-match winning stretch before it was ended with a 35-point loss to premiers at Skilled Stadium. Further losses to Sydney
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 the followed but in between the Sydney and Essendon losses was a 50-point win over . The Kangaroos then kept their finals hopes alive with a 54-point win over at home but all was extinguished the following week with another heavy loss to St Kilda, this time by 52 points. The following week, the last slim hope North Melbourne had left of playing in the finals was gone when thrashed to close the door on the top eight for season 2010. Despite the fact they couldn't make the top 8, North Melbourne moved on to win their last two games of the season against eventual wooden spooners the West Coast Eagles
West Coast Eagles
The West Coast Eagles are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League. The club is based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and played its first games in the 1987 season. Its current home ground is Subiaco Oval...
and Melbourne.
North Melbourne ended up missing out on the finals by percentage alone to Carlton whom North had defeated by 29 points early on in the season.
2011–present
2011 begun pretty average for North Melbourne despite training in Utah in the Off-Season. They began in the NAB Cup in Pool 6 at Skilled Stadium against and the both matches resulted in losses ending North Melbourne's NAB Cup campaign for 2011. They began their NAB Challenge matches with a 29 point loss to Hawthorn at Skilled Stadium, but then it became a great NAB Challenge series, with a 40 – 0 first quarter against GWS in the end it was 73 point win over GWS. Followed a week later by a nine goal final quarter against the to win at Eureka Stadium.North Melbourne has now begun the 2011 season with the club hoping to make the finals for the first time since 2008. The season did not start well; with the club losing its first four matches, to be at the bottom of the ladder by the end of Round 5. The Kangaroos then went on to win two of their next three matches, against and before losing their next two matches, against the and by 14 and 1 point respectively. The loss to Sydney sparked a four-match winning streak, which put North Melbourne into a position to break into the top eight. But their entrance into the top eight was denied by who ended North's four game winning streak and kept the Kangaroos outside of the top eight. In round 16 North Melbourne was thrashed by by over 100 points, moving North to 11th on the ladder.
They missed the finals in the end due to the antagonising losses earlier in the year, but despite this there were positives to come out of the year. North's players developed at all levels. Senior Kangaroos Petrie and Wells returned to full fitness and had career-best seasons. Emerging players Goldstein and Ziebell (particularly in the second half of the season) stamped themselves as key players in North's midfield. The Kangaroos were also able to blood seven debutants, ranging from highly touted draft picks Atley and Harper to mature-age rookies Pedersen, Luke Delaney and Richardson. North also showed heart to fight back from a dismal start to the season to challenge strongly for a finals spot. The effort was there, but the finishing class was not. However, that should change if some of North's youngsters can develop as much as Goldstein and Ziebell did in 2011.
Name and mascot
The club was widely known as the 'Shinboners' for much of their early history. The origins of this nickname are unknown but it may have had something to do with the club's reputation for targeting the shinbones of opposition players, or to do with local butchers who showed their support for North by dressing up beef leg-bones in the club colours. By 1926, the club was known as the 'Blue Birds' but this nickname did not last. It was Phonse Tobin, North president from 1953–56, who finally gave the club a proper mascot when he adopted the Kangaroos emblem in 1954. Tobin found the image of a Shinbone unsavoury and wanted the club to have a mascot it could show with pride. In selecting a new name, he wanted something characteristically Australian and got inspiration from a giant Kangaroo he saw on display outside a city store.The official name of the club is North Melbourne, but the club has gone under several other aliases over the years. The club was originally founded as the 'North Melbourne Football Club', but changed to 'North Melbourne cum Albert Park' after merging with Albert park in 1876. Following the reformation of the club in 1877, it was known as the 'Hotham Football Club' but later retook the name 'North Melbourne' in 1888. In 1998 the club proposed changing its name to the 'Northern Kangaroos', but it was rejected by the AFL. Between 1999 and 2007, the club traded without much success as 'The Kangaroos' in a bid to increase its appeal nationally. At the end of 2007 this decision was officially rescinded, and the club has once again reverted back to the name 'North Melbourne'.
Logo
| Logo |
|---|
 This monogram design featured on official club publications prior to the 1960s. |
| This is the club's official coat of arms and was used alongside the monogram design during the early 20th century up to the 1960s. |
| In 1977 the VFL introduced official logos for the first time. Prior to 1977 logos were generally done by outside companies for sales of merchandise, but were in no way official. All the club's logos were printed on shields and had navy blue top halves to represent the VFL. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Home grounds
| Homegrounds | Years |
|---|---|
| Royal Park Royal Park, Melbourne Royal Park is the largest of Melbourne's inner city parks . It is located north of the Melbourne Central Business District, Victoria, Australia, in the suburb of Parkville.... |
1869–1875 |
| Albert Park Albert Park and Lake Albert Park and Albert Park Lake are situated in the City of Port Phillip, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of the Melbourne CBD.... |
1876 |
| Royal Park Royal Park, Melbourne Royal Park is the largest of Melbourne's inner city parks . It is located north of the Melbourne Central Business District, Victoria, Australia, in the suburb of Parkville.... |
1877–1882 |
| Arden Street Oval Arden Street Oval Arden Street Oval is a sports oval based in Arden Street, North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is currently the training base of Australian rules team North Melbourne Football Club and up to the end of the 1985 season it was used for elite-level VFL/AFL matches.-History:The North Melbourne... |
1882–1964 |
| Coburg City Oval Coburg City Oval Coburg City Oval is an Australian rules football/cricket stadium located in Coburg, Australia. It is home to the Coburg Tigers Football Club and the Coburg Cricket Club and served as the home ground for the North Melbourne Football Club in the 1965 VFL season only.The oval is fenced off to the... |
1965 |
| Arden Street Oval Arden Street Oval Arden Street Oval is a sports oval based in Arden Street, North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is currently the training base of Australian rules team North Melbourne Football Club and up to the end of the 1985 season it was used for elite-level VFL/AFL matches.-History:The North Melbourne... |
1966–1985 |
| Melbourne Cricket Ground Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light... |
1985–2002 |
| Docklands Stadium | 2002 – present |
Guernsey
North Melbourne is recognised throughout Australian football for its famous vertically striped royal blue and white guernsey. The design, first used in 1884, pre-dates any of the other vertically striped jumpers worn by other clubs in the Australian Football League. It has proven itself popular in Australian football having been adopted by hundreds of other clubs across the country.The current clash guernsey, adopted in 2009, has sky blue and white vertical stripes. It is nicknamed the "Argentina stripes" because it resembles the uniform of the Argentina national soccer team
Argentina national football team
The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in association football and is controlled by the Argentine Football Association , the governing body for football in Argentina. Argentina's home stadium is Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti and their head coach is Alejandro...
.
| Guernsey details | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Manufacturer | Guernsey sponsor(s) | Short sponsor | |||
| 1975–1978 | — | Courage Courage (brewery) Courage is a former British brewery. The brands are now 100 per cent owned and brewed by Wells & Young's Brewery as part of a venture called Courage Brands Ltd.-History:... |
— | |||
| 1979–1984 | — | Budget Budget Rent a Car Budget Rent a Car System, Inc. is an American car rental company that was founded in 1958 in Los Angeles, California by Morris Mirkin. Budget's operations are headquartered in Parsippany-Troy Hills Township, New Jersey.... |
— | |||
| 1985–1992 | — | Qantas Qantas Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport... |
— | |||
| 1993–1995 | — | NZI Insurance NZI NZI or New Zealand Insurance was formed in 1859 and is one of New Zealand's largest and longest-serving fire and general insurance brands. In January 2003 Insurance Australia Group purchased NZI when acquiring Aviva's general insurance business... |
— | |||
| 1996 | Nike Nike, Inc. Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area... |
Hypertec PCs | NZI Insurance | |||
| 1997 | Hewlett-Packard Hewlett-Packard Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including... |
SmokeFree | ||||
| 1998 | ||||||
| 1999 | Mazda Mazda is a Japanese automotive manufacturer based in Fuchū, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.In 2007, Mazda produced almost 1.3 million vehicles for global sales... , SmokeFree |
Wentworth | ||||
| 2000 | ||||||
| 2001 | Russell Athletic | iPrimus Primus Telecom Australia Primus Telecommunications Pty Ltd is an Australian telecommunications provider.As a full service carrier, Primus operates its own fibre network in the five major capital cities, delivering a range of business direct-connect services including ISDN, frame relay, ATM, telephone line, broadband x-DSL... |
||||
| 2002 | Mazda | |||||
| 2003 | ||||||
| 2004 | Bont Bont Bont is a ball game originating from Southern France.The game, a cross between croquet and hockey, is a competitive sport that involves all six players to hit a plastic ball, similar to a hockey ball, through a single hoop erected on the grass playing field... |
Mazda, Primus Primus Telecom Australia Primus Telecommunications Pty Ltd is an Australian telecommunications provider.As a full service carrier, Primus operates its own fibre network in the five major capital cities, delivering a range of business direct-connect services including ISDN, frame relay, ATM, telephone line, broadband x-DSL... |
Primus | |||
| 2005 | ||||||
| 2006 | Reebok Reebok Reebok International Limited, a subsidiary of the German sportswear company Adidas since 2005, is a producer of Athletic shoes, apparel, and accessories. The name comes from the Afrikaans spelling of rhebok, a type of African antelope or gazelle... |
|||||
| 2007 | ||||||
| 2008 | Mazda, Vodafone Vodafone Australia Vodafone Australia is a mobile telephone company, a subsidiary of Vodafone Hutchison Australia. Vodafone Australia was formerly a wholly owned subsidiary of Vodafone Plc .... |
Blackwoods | ||||
| 2009 | Blades | Mazda 3 | ||||
| 2010 | ||||||
| 2011 | Mazda BT-50 | |||||
Club song
"Join in the Chorus" is the official anthem of the North Melbourne Football Club. It is sung to the tune of a Scottish folk song "A wee Deoch and Doris", from around 1911.The famed song is generally sung, in accordance to common football tradition, after a victory. It is also played before every match.
"Join in the Chorus" is believed to be the oldest club anthem of any AFL club, and has been associated with North from its early VFA days. The preamble of the song originates from a score of a Theatre Musical called 'Australia: Heart to Heart and Hand to Hand" written by Toso Taylor in the 1890s in pre-federation Australia. It is traditionally sung (or shouted) in great spirit by players and fans alike. The second verse is unknown in origin and was presumably added later by members of the North Melbourne Football Club when the song was chosen as the club theme. The chorus was appropriated from a song written and performed by Scottish musician Harry Lauder
Harry Lauder
Sir Henry Lauder , known professionally as Harry Lauder, was an international Scottish entertainer, described by Sir Winston Churchill as "Scotland's greatest ever ambassador!"-Early life:...
. The recording currently used by the club was performed by the Fable Singers in 1972 and only includes the choruses.
The song has a strong Victorian heritage, and has been traditionally song by the Victorian State Football and Victorian Cricket teams respectively.
- Lyrics
- 1st Verse
- Hearts to hearts and hands to hands
- Beneath the blue and white we stand
- We shout God bless our native land
- North Melbourne, North Melbourne!
- 2nd Verse
- Out we come, out we come, out we come, to play
- Just for recreations sake to pass the time away
- Lots of fun, heaps of fun, enjoy yourselves today
- North Melbourne boys are hard to beat when they come out to play!
- Chorus
- So join in the chorus, and sing it one and all
- Join in the chorus, North Melbourne's on the ball
- Good old North Melbourne, they're champions you'll agree
- North Melbourne will be premiers, just you wait and see!
During the 90s, the last line was sung as North Melbourne will be premiers in 1993, and changed according to what year it was. The last line has also been sung as North Melbourne is the team and place to win for you and me or North Melbourne is the team that plays to win for you and me. The 2nd line in the 2nd verse was originally sung as We train so hard, we play the game, we must win every day.
A more gritty opening verse exists that goes as;
- Shovels to shovels and picks to picks
- On the North Melbourne ground you stick like shit
- Get up you dirty mug or we'll hit you with a brick
Between 2000 and 2004 the club song was updated to keep it inline with 'Kangaroos' rebranding.
The song went as follows;
- 1st Verse
- Hearts to hearts and hands to hands
- The length and breadth of this great land
- A Club deep in tradition held high in esteem
- From North Melbourne a national team
- 2nd Verse
- Out we come, out we come, out we come to play
- To take on all those other teams
- And blow them all away
- Lots of strain, with heaps to gain
- Is the way we play
- The Kangaroos will beat any team
- On any given day
- Chorus
- So join in the chorus, and sing it one and all
- Join in the chorus, the Roos are on the ball
- Good old Kangas, they're champions you'll agree
- The Kangaroos will be premiers
- Just you wait and see.
Shinboner spirit
The origin of North Melbourne's 'Shinboner' nickname and the so called 'Shinboner Spirit' remains one of footy's great mysteries. Several theories exist as to how the club came to be known as the Shinboners. The general belief is that it became associated with North because so many of its players worked in the nearby meatworks. The players wore shorts whilst working at the abattoirs and would attend the evening training sessions with blood splashed over their legs, which gave rise to the nickname 'Shinboners'.Likewise, local butchers on Abottsford St, used to proudly hang shinbones decorated in blue and white streamers from their veranda. It all started from the early North sides being so close knit that it reminded the butchers of blowflies on a shin of beef, and so the nickname was born. The hanging of shinbones decorated in blue and white became a tradition of the area, before health inspectors put an end to the practice.
Other theories exist that it started as a result of the Irish immigrants who played hurling on the North Melbourne Recreational Reserve during the 1930s who had a tendency to whack their opponents on the shinbones with their sticks. With other more derogatory theories coming from opposing teams that North Melbourne players were used to kicking people in the shins.
Whatever the answer, the Shinboner Spirit refers to the camaraderie and gutsy determination that was shown by the club in those early days. Nowadays it is a phrase attributed to the Kangaroos' ability to fight back against overwhelming odds with their backs against the wall.
This fighting spirit was forged by the club in its relentless persistence to gain admissions to the VFL. Despite folding 3 times in those early years, the community rallied together to re-establish the club like a phoenix from the ashes.
Former player and coach Denis Pagan is arguably responsible for rejuvenating the nickname when he began coaching the club's under 19's squad in 1982. Running the team off the smell of an oily rag, Pagan coached the squad to nine consecutive Grand Finals, before becoming senior coach in 1993 where he led the poorest club in the league to another 2 Premierships in a decade of dominance.
During those years the team gained a legendary reputation for mateship that transcended the football field which is what kept the team so successful. The 1996 season was the epitome of the Shinboner Spirit when it became obvious that the club would not exist beyond the season unless it merged with Fitzroy. Despite all of the turmoil off the field, the club went on to win the 1996 centenary premiership and avert self-destruction.
After the drama of the Carey and Pagan walkouts in 2002, when North lost the two biggest faces of the club, the football world forecasted doom for club. Again, the club punched above its weight putting in competitive showings year after year, going against the doom and gloom predicted by the pundits.
2004 produced a memorable performance of Shinboner Spirit when the team rallied from a 40 point deficit at three-quarter-time to record a win in favourite son Glenn Archer
Glenn Archer
Glenn Archer is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played his entire career with the North Melbourne Football Club.Archer had a reputation as one of the most courageous players ever to play the game...
's 250th game. Other evident performances were seen in the 2005 and 2007 seasons, where the club recorded a number of record comeback wins that earnt them the tag of being the team that can't be killed.
In 2005, to celebrate the club's 80th anniversary of senior competition in the VFL and the thirtieth anniversary of the first VFL premiership, the Kangaroos held a massive "Shinboner Spirit" gala event, attended by almost the entire surviving playing list. In the awards ceremony, the key "Shinboners" of the past eighty years were acknowledged, with Glenn Archer
Glenn Archer
Glenn Archer is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played his entire career with the North Melbourne Football Club.Archer had a reputation as one of the most courageous players ever to play the game...
being named the "Shinboner of the Century" to almost unanimous acclaim.
Evidently what once a derogatory term, is now a badge of honour.
Ownership
The North Melbourne Football Club is a non-profit organisation limited by guarantee. Members of the club serve as the guarantees of capital, and have full voting rights at AGMs to elect directors to the club’s board.The club’s board compromises nine directors with each director serving a 3 year term before their position is put up for re-election at an AGM. Only one-third of the board is contested at each AGM due to the rolling structure of the terms of the directors. This structure safeguards the entire board from being ousted at a single AGM, and has made North Melbourne immune to a lot of the in house fighting witnessed at other AFL football clubs. The board governs the club as well as selecting a Chairman to head the club through a majority vote of directors.
North Melbourne is unique in its structure, because from 1986 to 2006 the club was privately owned and limited by shares. The club was floated in 1986 through a membership vote led by then Chairman Bob Ansett. At the meeting, members were encouraged to buy into the club by purchasing shares. The float ended up raising over $3 million and helped to keep the club solvent through the next decade.
In 1991, the John Elliott
John Elliott (businessman)
John Dorman Elliott is a former president of the Liberal Party, and former president of Carlton Football Club. In 2003 he was found guilty of trading while insolvent and in 2005 declared bankrupt...
-led Carlton Football Club
Carlton Football Club
The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
attempted a hostile take over North Melbourne by purchasing a large parcel of shares formerly owned by Bob Ansett. The Blues acquired 20 per cent of the capital but that stake was eventually bought back by John Magowan, the former head of Merrill Lynch Australia, in 2001. The resulting melodrama saw the formation of B-Class shareholders who had the effective power of veto over any attempt to merge or relocate the club.
Further takeover attempts were made in the first decade of the 21st century by the Southport Sharks. Then Chairman Allan Aylett knocked back a proposal from the Sharks that would have seen them gain a majority stake in the club in exchange for an injection of capital. In early 2006, another proposal from Sharks to underwrite Kangaroos games on the Gold Coast, in exchange for a slice of the shareholder structure at the club was knocked back after AFL intervention.
Due to an Australian Tax Office
Australian Taxation Office
The Australian Taxation Office is an Australian Government statutory agency and the principal revenue collection body for the Australian Government. The ATO has responsibility for administering the Australian federal taxation system and superannuation legislation...
ruling in 2006, the club proposed a shareholder restructure that would have seen the B Class shareholders power reduced significantly and some voting rights returned to members. This was done to avoid extraordinary taxes being placed on the club, but the move was blocked in December by Bob Ansett and his proxies who feared that the restructure would make the club vulnerable to further takeover bids.
On 28 February 2007, another meeting was called to resolve the shareholder issue, and a motion was passed that would return see some voting rights return to members and stop any future tax increments.
In April 2007 it was revealed the AFL was attempting to buy out the shareholders of the club in a bid to gain full ownership, and force a relocation of the club to the Gold Coast.
During October 2007, a group called We Are North Melbourne emerged and launched a public campaign, calling for ordinary members to be given the final say on the relocation issue. While the group became synonymous with the push to keep the Club in Melbourne, its first priority was to see the Club's shareholder structure wound-up and control returned to ordinary members.
North Melbourne reverted back to public company in November 2008. A moratorium was passed at an Extraordinary General Meeting that will allow James Brayshaw’s board to serve unopposed until 2010, so as to allow his ticket the maximum time to enact their policies to make the North Melbourne Football Club financially viable.
Membership base
North Melbourne has one of the most passionate and loyal supporter bases in the league. The club enjoys the 2nd highest supporter to member conversion rate, behind only the Fremantle Dockers. Despite this, the club still had the 2nd lowest membership base in the AFLAustralian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
.
In 2007, research conducted by Roy Morgan estimated that 228,000 people Australia-wide followed the club. This is 2nd only to the Melbourne Demons as the smallest supporter base in the league. Decisions to play more games interstate and to change the club's name, have alienated their Melbourne based supporters, and this is reflected in Roy Morgan's research which suggests that North has lost 14% of its supporter base since their golden era ended in 2000.
| Season | Members | Change from previous season | Finishing position | Average Attendance | Total Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 1984 VFL season Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1984.-Awards:* The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Peter Moore of Melbourne.* The Coleman Medal was awarded to Bernie Quinlan of Fitzroy.... |
6,374 | — | 11th | 17,675 | 388,856 |
| 1985 1985 VFL season The 89th Victorian Football League Premiership season commenced in March 1985 and concluded on 28 September 1985 with Essendon winning their second consecutive Premiership in their third consecutive Grand Final battle with Hawthorn... |
6,520 | 146 (+2.29%) | 4th | 24,042 | 577,019 |
| 1986 1986 VFL season Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1986.- Awards :* The Brownlow Medal was awarded to both Greg Williams of the Sydney Swans and Robert "Dipper" DiPierdomenico of the Hawthorn Hawks... |
5,318 | 1202 (−18.44%) | 7th | 21,592 | 475,032 |
| 1987 1987 VFL season Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1987.-Night Series: defeated 8.10 to 8.6 in the Final at Waverley Park.-Leading goalkickers:... |
3,430 | 1888 (−35.50%) | 5th | 21,108 | 485,491 |
| 1988 1988 VFL season The 92nd Victorian Football League Premiership Season commenced in April 1988 and concluded on 24 September 1988, with Hawthorn winning their seventh Premiership in their sixth consecutive Grand Final appearance.-Night Series:... |
4,415 | 985 (+28.72%) | 11th | 15,662 | 344,558 |
| 1989 1989 VFL season -Notable events:* In Round 13, horrendous conditions at Windy Hill saw Essendon and Footscray play the lowest scoring game since the 1927 Grand Final, with the teams combining for only 6.15 .... |
3,411 | 1004 (−22.74%) | 9th | 17,759 | 390,693 |
| 1990 1990 AFL season Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 1990.See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list.-Ladder:All teams played 22 games during the home and away season, for a total of 154... |
5,201 | 1790 (+52.48%) | 6th | 19,526 | 429,565 |
| 1991 1991 AFL season Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 1991.See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list.-National Cup:... |
6,683 | 1482 (+28.49%) | 8th | 20,574 | 452,617 |
| 1992 1992 AFL season Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 1992. The AFL Grand Final this year was won by the West Coast Eagles, who became the first non-Victorian club to win a Premiership.-Ladder:... |
6,083 | 600 (−8.98%) | 12th | 19,652 | 432,350 |
| 1993 1993 AFL season -Ladder:All teams played 20 games during the home and away season, for a total of 165. Each team also had two byes. An additional 7 games were played during the finals series.-Awards:*The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Gavin Wanganeen of .... |
6,851 | 768 (+12.63%) | 5th | 27,213 | 571,481 |
| 1994 1994 AFL season -Ladder:All teams played 22 games during the home and away season, for a total of 165. An additional 9 games were played during the finals series. It was the first season that the AFL implemented a top 8 team finals series... |
10,296 | 3445 (+50.28%) | 3rd | 33,177 | 796,254 |
| 1995 1995 AFL season Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 1995.-Round 1:-Round 2:-Round 3:-Round 4:*This was the first ANZAC Day clash held between Collingwood and Essendon which famously ended in a draw.-Round 5:-Round 6:... |
14,027 | 3731 (+36.24%) | 3rd | 35,379 | 884,477 |
| 1996 1996 AFL season Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 1996.See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list.-Lighting Premiership:... |
14,438 | 411 (+2.93%) | 1st | 37,827 | 945,678 |
| 1997 1997 AFL season Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 1997.The Port Adelaide Power joined the competition.The Brisbane Lions also joined the competition after the merger of the and .... |
19,368 | 4930 (+34.15%) | 4th | 36,873 | 921,829 |
| 1998 | 20,196 | 828 (+4.26%) | 2nd | 38,336 | 958,394 |
| 1999 | 22,080 | 1884 (+9.33%) | 1st | 34 814 | 870,349 |
| 2000 | 22,156 | 76 (+0.34%) | 4th | 33,471 | 836,765 |
| 2001 2001 AFL season Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 2001.See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list.-National Cup:Port Adelaide defeated Brisbane Lions 17.9 to 3.8 in the Final.... |
21,409 | 747 (−3.37%) | 13th | 30,209 | 664,601 |
| 2002 2002 AFL season -Round 2:-Round 3:-Round 4:-Round 5 :-Ladder:All teams played 22 games during the home and away season, for a total of 176... |
20,831 | 578 (−2.70%) | 7th | 26,879 | 618,211 |
| 2003 2003 AFL season Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 2003.See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list.-National Cup:... |
21,403 | 572 (+2.76%) | 10th | 29,812 | 655,854 |
| 2004 2004 AFL season Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 2004.See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list.-Wizard Home Loans Cup:The Wizard Home Loans Cup Final saw St... |
23,420 | 2017 (+9.42%) | 10th | 28,300 | 622,580 |
| 2005 2005 AFL season Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 2005.See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list.-National Cup:... |
24,154 | 734 (+3.13%) | 7th | 31,511 | 724,757 |
| 2006 2006 AFL season Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 2006.-National Cup: 3.10.5 defeated 1.10.15 in the 2006 NAB Cup Final... |
24,700 | 546 (+2.26%) | 14th | 28,849 | 634,686 |
| 2007 2007 AFL season The 2007 AFL Season was the 111th season of the Australian Football League, the highest-level professional Australian rules football league in Australia... |
22,372 | 2328 (−9.43%) | 3rd | 33,458 | 836,445 |
| 2008 2008 AFL season -Round 1 :-Round 2:-Round 3 :-Round 4:-Round 5:-Round 6 :-Round 7:-AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match:-Round 8:... |
34,342 | 11970 (+53.50%) | 8th | 29,569 | 680,095 |
| 2009 2009 AFL season -Round 1 :-Round 2:-Round 3 :-Round 4:-Round 5 :-Round 6:-Round 7:-Round 8:-Round 9 :-Round 10:... |
30,613 | 3729 (−10.86%) | 13th | 27,028 | 594,606 |
| 2010 2010 AFL season -Premiership season:The draw for the 2010 AFL Premiership Season is not a random selection of matches, but rather is planned by the AFL. It is intended to produce a balanced draw while also providing the fans and television networks with blockbuster games. In a competition with 16 teams and 22... |
29,272 | 1341 (−4.38%) | 9th | 27,435 | 603,586 |
| 2011 2011 AFL season The 2011 Australian Football League season was the 115th season of the Australian rules football competition. It was the debut year for , and was scheduled to be the only season to be played with 17 teams... |
30,362 | 1090 (+3.97%) | 9th | 25,734 | 617,625 |
| 2012 2012 AFL season The 2012 Australian Football League season is the 116th season of the Australian rules football competition. It is the first season in which the new will compete, bringing the number of teams in the competition to a record high eighteen.... |
9,542* |
- as of 26/11/2011
Football pioneers
One of the pervading reasons as to why North continues to survive today is its enterprising sense of initiative. Since 1869, the club has gained a repuatutation as the footy pioneers of Australian Football, for the amount of initiatives the club has formulated.Apart from co-founding the first ever football league in Victoria – the VFA, and being the first club to install seats at their home ground, they were also the first club to introduce:
- Club memberships
- Jumper sponsorships
- League fixtures
- Club songs
- Separate pre-season jumpers
- Clash jumpers
- Corporate Entertainment
- Pre-match entertainment
- Coterie Memberships
- Social Clubs
- Mid-week discos
- Grand Final BreakfastsNorth Melbourne Grand Final BreakfastThe North Melbourne Grand Final Breakfast is a breakfast function organised by the North Melbourne Football Club on the morning of the AFL Grand Final. The breakfast marks the traditional beginning to Grand Final day and is one of the biggest social highlights on the Australian sporting calendar...
- Doubleheader Football
- Friday Night Football
- Footy flags
- Cheersquads
All of these ideas were quickly copied by other footy clubs across the country.
North has never been afraid to try out new ideas. In the early 1970s North were the first club to try and convert an athlete from another country and sport, when they recruited 'Wee Willie' Anderson, who was a professional African American basketballer. He never played a senior game.
In 1977, North became the first team to be televised in colour, live across Australia, in the 1977 Grand Final. Eight years later, North became the first club of the modern era to move away from their local suburban suburban ground, in favour of better facilities at the centrally located MCG. The resulting move kicked off ground rationalisation in the VFL and saw clubs abandon their home grounds for larger stadiums at the MCG, Waverley and Etihad Stadium. In 1986, North became the first privatised club in the league, which was followed by Sydney and Fitzroy.
Other minor achievements are that they were the first club to play games interstate when in 1998 they trialled a home game in Canberra, which has now been copied by Carlton, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Richmond, St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs. North also were the first club to introduce headbands which became popular in the 90s, with the inspired "Operation Kangaroo" headbands in 1990.
Even today North continues to innovate, with the Orange sponsored Kangaroo jumper in 2001, and the introduction of an Argentine inspired soccer jumper in 2009.
Night and wet weather specialists
North Melbourne has the special reputation of being the night and wet weather specialists of the AFL.In 1985, North Melbourne introduced the world first concept of playing football on a Friday Night. Since then, North Melbourne has played the most Friday Night games of any AFL club. North Melbourne's Friday Night dominance peaked during the 90s when they were almost invincible on the night stage. Their exploits in Friday and Saturday Night games became the stuff of legend. Led by superstars like Wayne Carey
Wayne Carey
Wayne Carey is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the North Melbourne and Adelaide Football Clubs in the Australian Football League ....
, John Longmire
John Longmire
John Longmire is the current coach of the Sydney Swans. As a player, he represented the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League from 1988 to 1999.-Early years:...
and Wayne Schwass
Wayne Schwass
Wayne Schwass was an Australian rules football player in the VFL/AFL who debuted in 1988.He is notable as one of only a few New Zealand-born players of Māori heritage in the history of the VFL/AFL....
, North swept aside almost all opposition it faced. Their strong performances under lights have continued to this day.
Similarly, North has the same reputation of dominance in wet weather games. The history of North and wet weather football extends back to the days when the team played at the water logged Arden St. Their strength in wet weather football culminated in the 1997 Qualifying Final where an injury depleted, 7th placed North Melbourne side defeated 2nd placed Geelong in torrential rain at the MCG.
Together, these efforts have earnt North the tag of being the Night and Wet Weather Specialists respectively.
Indigenous pride
Throughout the history of Australian Football Aboriginal footballers have thrilled crowds with their skill and flare, but have had to overcome great racial prejudices in order to compete at the highest level.Despite being a traditionally catholic club, North Melbourne has a strong history of supporting Aboriginal footballers and fostering Aboriginal talent in the VFL and AFL. The first indigenous footballer to play for the club was Percy Johnson in the 1950s, and was ably followed by other fan favorites like Bertie Johnson, Barry Cable and the Krakouer brothers in the following decades. Despite the attitudes of some other fans and clubs to indigenous footballers, North Melbourne has always been inclusive of Aboriginal talent.
The following is a list of Indigenous footballers to have played senior football at the club:
- Percy Johnson (1951–1955)
- Bertie Johnson (1965–1968)
- Barry Cable (1970, 1974–1977)
- Craig Holden (1982–1983)
- Jim Krakouer (1982–1989)
- Phil Krakouer (1982–1989)
- Derek Kickett (1989)
- Andrew Krakouer (1989–1990)
- Adrian McAdam (1993–1995)
- Warren Campbell (1994–1995)
- Winston Abraham (1998–2001)
- Byron Pickett (1997–2002)
- Gary Dhurrkay (1999–2000)
- Shannon Motlop (1999–2003)
- Daniel Motlop (2001–2005)
- Daniel Wells (2003–present)
- Eddie Sansbury (2004–2008)
- Djaran Whyman (2007)
- Matt Campbell (2007–present)
- Lindsay Thomas (2007–present)
- Cruize Garlett (2009–present)
Other Aboriginal footballers who did not play senior football:
- Warren Benjamin
- Robert Cockatoo
- Rodney Cockatoo
- David Ross
- Christian Woodley
Lest We Forget
Like most other AFL clubs, North Melbourne suffered its share of fatalities during the World Wars. The following is a list of footballers who played for North Melbourne, but were killed in action.World War II
- George BrockGeorge Brock (footballer)George Brock was an Australian rules footballer who played with North Melbourne in the Victorian Football League. He was killed in an aircraft accident near Melbourne during a RAAF training exercise in World War II.-Sources:...
- Alf GoonanAlf GoonanJim 'Alf' Goonan was an Australian rules footballer who played with North Melbourne in the Victorian Football League ....
- Len JohnsonLen Johnson (footballer)Len Johnson was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon and North Melbourne in the Victorian Football League . He was equal leading goalkicker for Essendon in the 1929 VFL season, and in one game kicked 9 goals. He was killed in action in World War II.-Sources:*Holmesby, Russell &...
- Mo ShapirMo ShapirMo Shapir is a former Australian rules footballer who played with North Melbourne. He was killed in World War II.-Sources:*Holmesby, Russell & Main, Jim . The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing....
- Len ThomasLen ThomasLen Thomas was an Australian rules footballer who played 187 games with South Melbourne in the VFL during the 1930s, before finishing his career as captain-coach at both Hawthorn and North Melbourne...
- Beres ReillyBeres ReillyBeresford Stanley "Beres" Reilly was an Australian rules footballer who played with North Melbourne, Melbourne and St Kilda in the Victorian Football League . Representing a Victorian schoolboys team, he tried out with Footscray...
Major
Essendon – North and Essendon have a chequered history that dates back to the late 19th century. Firstly in 1896, Essendon had North excluded from the VFL, because both clubs drew supporters from the same area. Later on in 1922, Essendon stole the cream of North's squad after the two clubs went through a failed merger. To add insult to the rivalry, when North was accepted to the VFL in 1925, North were forced to cede all of their neighbouring recruiting territory to Essendon.North supporters have long been bitter with Essendon for excluding them from the VFL, and have blamed that for their small supporter base in comparison to Essendon's. North's first VFL Grand Final was against Essendon in 1950
1950 VFL Grand Final
The 1950 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Essendon Football Club and North Melbourne Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 23 September 1950. It was the 54th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the...
.
The rivalry was reignited in the 90s, and in 1998 some North fans decided to inform Essendon of their softness by throwing marshmallows at coach Kevin Sheedy.
Hawthorn – North and Hawthorn have a fierce rivalry that dates back to the 1970s when they played off against each other in three Grand Finals in the space of four years. From 1974 to 1978 the two clubs played against each other in ten finals, and took each other on for the Australian Championship in Adelaide in 1976. During the '80s Hawthorn dominated North, and during the 90s the results were reversed with North dominating Hawthorn. The rivalry with the Hawks has been getting more fierce in the past few years, due to some questionable trading between the two clubs.
Minor
Collingwood – North and Collingwood have a small kind of rivalry between them. As they drew in the 1977 Grand Final1977 VFL Grand Final
The 1977 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the North Melbourne Football Club and the Collingwood Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 24 September 1977...
, which North went on to win to the replay by 27 points.
Carlton – North Melbourne was once listed on the stock market and Carlton tried to buy out North and take their top players. Later there was talk of a merger, or more specifically, Carlton increasing its shareholdings. North fans didn't think kindly of either option which made defeating Carlton in the 1999 Grand Final that much more special.Sydney/South Melbourne – North verse South sounds like an obvious bitter rivalry but it was never as strong as the Essendon and later Hawthorn rivalries although it undoubtedly existed. However it is based on recent events that the rivalry has intensified. It is more a one sided rivalry as Sydney have few 'true' arch enemies and North have plenty. In the 1996 Grand Final, Sydney lost to North Melbourne denying the Swans the chance to end the then longest premiership drought. The rivalry was further extended in 2000 when North Melbourne considered playing a game in Sydney to further promote the game of Australian rules football; the Swans interpreted this as North trying to invade Sydney's "territory". A cumulation of close games, including a goal after the siren win by Daryn Cresswell in 2002, and immense and 100+ point winning margins, ensured the Swans' rivalry was maintained with the Kangaroos in recent years.
Port Adelaide – Despite being the second newest club in the competition, Port Adelaide and North Melbourne have always shared a strong rivalry. Port Adelaide did not manage to defeat North Melbourne until 2003, after being in the competition for six seasons, and having defeated every other club. Critical matches have also been between these two clubs, such as the 2005 Elimination Final, where eighth placed Port Adelaide defeated fifth placed North Melbourne by 87 points in an upset win. However, in 2007, both clubs were fighting out for a berth in the 2007 AFL Grand Final
2007 AFL Grand Final
The 2007 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Geelong Football Club and the Port Adelaide Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 29 September 2007. It was the 111th annual Grand Final of the VFL/AFL, staged to determine the...
, and the heavily favoured Port Adelaide won in their home state, again by 87 points. That was Glenn Archer's final ever AFL match played. The rivalry came to a head in 2008, when North Melbourne needed to defeat non-finalists Port Adelaide in the last round of the season to ensure a spot in the top four and finals double chance. However, they went down by 77 points in a shock loss, leaving them in seventh place (rightfully should have been sixth since Sydney finished sixth with the same amount of points as North Melbourne.), and bowed out of the finals series the next week against Sydney. However, in recent times, North Melbourne has managed to claw its way back against Port Adelaide, with the most recent encounter being a 60 point victory (a match where North had kicked 25 behinds) at Etihad Stadium in Round 6 of the 2011 AFL season
2011 AFL season
The 2011 Australian Football League season was the 115th season of the Australian rules football competition. It was the debut year for , and was scheduled to be the only season to be played with 17 teams...
.
Honour roll
| Year | W: L: D | Position | Chairman | CEO | Coach | Captain | Vice-Captain | Best and Fairest | Leading Goalkicker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 15:10:0 | 4th | R. P. Casey/A. Carter | G. Miller | D. Pagan | W. Carey | A. Stevens | P. Bell | W. Carey 69 |
| 2001 | 9:13:0 | 13th | A. Carter/A. Aylett | G. Miller/M. Easy | D. Pagan | W. Carey | A. Stevens | S. Grant | S. Rocca 48 |
| 2002 | 12:11:0 | 7th | A. Aylett | M. Easy/G. Walsh | D. Pagan | A. Stevens | G. Archer | A. Simpson | S. Rocca 50 |
| 2003 | 11:10:1 | 10th | A. Aylett | G. Walsh | D. Laidley Dean Laidley Dean Laidley is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles and North Melbourne in the Australian Football League from 1987 to 1997, including in North Melbourne's 1996 premiership side. He served as coach of North Melbourne from 2003 to 2009... |
A. Stevens | G. Archer | B. Harvey | L. Harding 33 |
| 2004 | 10:12:0 | 10th | A. Aylett | G. Walsh | D. Laidley | A. Simpson | B. Harvey | B. Rawlings | S. Rocca 49 |
| 2005 | 13:10:0 | 7th | A. Aylett/G. Duff | G. Walsh | D. Laidley | A. Simpson | B. Harvey | B. Harvey | N. Thompson 52 |
| 2006 | 7:15:0 | 14th | G. Duff | G. Walsh/R. Aylett | D. Laidley | A. Simpson | B. Harvey | B. Rawlings | N. Thompson 54 |
| 2007 | 15:10:0 | 3rd | G. Duff/J. Magowan/J. Brayshaw | R. Aylett | D. Laidley | A. Simpson | B. Harvey | B. Harvey | C. Jones 43 |
| 2008 | 12:10:1 | 7th | J. Brayshaw James Brayshaw James Antony Brayshaw is a former state cricketer and now Australian television and radio personality. As a cricketer he was known as Jamie Brayshaw. He is the son of former Western Australian cricketer and Australian rules footballer Ian Brayshaw, and the brother of Mark Brayshaw, a former... |
E. Arocca | D. Laidley | A. Simpson | B. Harvey | B. Harvey | D. Hale 37 |
| 2009 | 7:14:1 | 13th | J. Brayshaw | E. Arocca | D. Laidley/D. Crocker Darren Crocker Darren Crocker is a former Australian rules footballer and former coach of the North Melbourne Football Club. He was known for his instantly recognisable bald head and tough uncompromising style. On 16 June 2009, he was appointed caretaker coach of the North Melbourne Football Club after the... |
B. Harvey Brent Harvey Brent "Boomer" Harvey is an Australian rules footballer and the current captain of the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League .... |
D. Petrie Drew Petrie Drew Petrie is an Australian rules footballer for the North Melbourne Football Club. Since debuting in 2001 he has played over 100 games for the club. He has played in a variety of roles for the Kangaroos including centre half-forward, defence and ruck... |
A. Swallow Andrew Swallow Andrew Swallow is an Australian rules footballer currently playing for the North Melbourne Football Club.-Recruitment:He was North Melbourne's second round draft selection in the 2005 AFL Draft, number 43 overall, from the East Fremantle Football Club in the WAFL.-2006: Debut:He received a... |
D. Petrie 27 |
| 2010 | 11:11:0 | 9th | J. Brayshaw | E. Arocca | B. Scott | B. Harvey | D. Petrie | B. Harvey, B. Rawlings | L. Thomas Lindsay Thomas (footballer) Lindsay Thomas is an Australian rules footballer for the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League... 29 |
| 2011 | 10:12:0 | 9th | J. Brayshaw | E. Arocca | B. Scott | B. Harvey | D. Petrie | A. Swallow, D. Wells | D. Petrie 48 |
Finishing positions (1869–2011)
| Finishing Position | Year (Finals in Bold) | Tally |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1903, 1904, 1910, 1914, 1915, 1918, 1975, 1977, 1996, 1999 | 10 |
| 2nd | 1897, 1898, 1899, 1905, 1913, 1919, 1950, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1998 | 11 |
| 3rd | 1876, 1877, 1884, 1901, 1902, 1911, 1912, 1920, 1922, 1949, 1979, 1983, 1994, 1995, 2007 | 15 |
| 4th | 1874, 1875, 1878, 1879, 1906, 1945, 1954, 1958, 1982, 1985, 1997, 2000 | 12 |
| 5th | 1880, 1882, 1885, 1890, 1900, 1924, 1980, 1987, 1993 | 9 |
| 6th | 1883, 1886, 1889, 1894, 1896, 1923, 1944, 1959, 1973, 1990 | 10 |
| 7th | 1881, 1888, 1909, 1921, 1952, 1953, 1963, 1966, 1986, 2002, 2005, 2008 | 12 |
| 8th | 1887, 1891, 1895, 1932, 1933, 1948, 1957, 1964, 1967, 1969, 1981, 1991 | 12 |
| 9th | 1907, 1908, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1946, 1951, 1965, 1971, 1989, 2010, 2011 | 14 |
| 10th | 1925, 1947, 2003, 2004 | 4 |
| 11th | 1892, 1927, 1928, 1936, 1955, 1960, 1962, 1984, 1988 | 9 |
| 12th | 1926, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1940, 1956, 1961, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1992 | 14 |
| 13th | 1893, 2001, 2009 | 3 |
| 14th | 2006 | 1 |
| 15th | nil | 0 |
| 16th | nil | 0 |
| 17th | nil | 0 |
North Melbourne Team of the Century
At a special function in August 2001 the North Melbourne Team of the Century was announced. There was no minimum number of games set for selection. Wayne Carey was named as captain and Denis Pagan as coach. The selection panel was Geoff Poulter (journalist), Father Gerard DowlingGerard Dowling
Father Gerard Dowling is an Australian Catholic priest and radio personality.Residing in Melbourne, Australia, Dowling is a renowned priest who appears on a radio counselling show on Sport 927...
(club historian), Keith McKenzie (former coach), Lloyd Holyoak (former president), Max Ritchie (former player and chairman of selectors) and Greg Miller (chief executive).
David King, John Blakey, Wayne Schwass and Gary Dempsey were selected as emergencies.
Shinboner of the Century
On 18 March 2005, the North Melbourne football club held a special gala dinner entitled the "North Story" to celebrate the 80th anniversary of North's admission to the VFL, and the 30th anniversary of the club's first VFL premiership. Over 3500 people attended the historic event held at the prestigious Royal Exhibition BuildingRoyal Exhibition Building
The Royal Exhibition Building is a World Heritage Site-listed building in Melbourne, Australia, completed in 1880. It is located at 9 Nicholson Street in the Carlton Gardens, flanked by Victoria, Nicholson, Carlton and Rathdowne Streets, at the north-eastern edge of the central business district...
, including almost all surviving North Melbourne players. Glenn Archer
Glenn Archer
Glenn Archer is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played his entire career with the North Melbourne Football Club.Archer had a reputation as one of the most courageous players ever to play the game...
was voted the Shinboner of the Century by his peers as the player who most represents the 'Shinboner Spirit'. The following players were voted 'Shinboners' of their era:
- Les FooteLes FooteLeslie Roy Foote was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League.-Football career:A local lad, and recruited from the North Melbourne Colts, Foote played his first match with the North Melbourne Football Club in 1941 at just 16 years of age.He was able to kick equally well with...
– Shinboner of the early era (1925–50) - Allen AylettAllen AylettDr. Allen Aylett is a former Australian rules football player and administrator. He was the chairman/president of the North Melbourne Football Club during the 1970s and then again from 2001–2005...
– Shinboner of the 50s - Noel TeasdaleNoel TeasdaleNoel Teasdale is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the Victorian Football League.Originally from Daylesford, Teasdale made his debut with the North Melbourne Football Club in 1956 playing as a ruckman and for a period, a full-back.Teasdale was noted for his tough, uncompromising...
– Shinboner of the 60s - Malcolm BlightMalcolm BlightMalcolm Jack Blight AM is a former champion Australian rules football player and coach, and current television commentator. During the 1970s and 1980s Blight played for the Woodville Football Club in the South Australian National Football League and the North Melbourne Football Club in the...
– Shinboner of the 70s - Wayne SchimmelbuschWayne SchimmelbuschWayne Schimmelbusch is a former Australian Rules Footballer in the Victorian Football League .A courageous wingman and inspirational speedster who seemingly never knew when to give up, Schimmelbusch played in 306 games, including 29 finals games, for the North Melbourne Football Club...
– Shinboner of the 80s - Wayne CareyWayne CareyWayne Carey is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the North Melbourne and Adelaide Football Clubs in the Australian Football League ....
– Shinboner of the modern era (1990–2005)
VFA
- Champions (undefeated premiers) 1915, 1918
- Premiers 1903, 1904, 19061, 1910, 19112, 19122, 1914
- Runners Up 1905, 19071, 1913, 1919
- Minor Premiers 1905, 1910, 1914, 1915, 1918, 1919
- Second Twenty Premiers 1886
VFL
- VFL Premiers 19751975 VFL Grand FinalThe 1975 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the North Melbourne Football Club and Hawthorn Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 27 September 1975. It was the 79th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to...
, 19771977 VFL Grand FinalThe 1977 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the North Melbourne Football Club and the Collingwood Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 24 September 1977... - VFL Runners Up 1950, 1974, 1976,1978
- VFL Minor Premiers 1949, 1978, 1983
- VFL Seconds Premiers 1947, 1957
- VFL Seconds Runners Up 1950
- VFL Reserves Premiers 1967, 1978, 1979
- VFL Reserves Runners Up 1976, 1988
- VFL Thirds Premiers 1946
- VFL Thirds Runners Up 1947
- VFL Under 19s Premiers 1976, 1984, 1987, 1988
- VFL Under 19s Runners Up 1972, 1983, 1985, 1989
AFL
- AFL Premiers 19961996 AFL Grand FinalThe 1996 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the North Melbourne Football Club and Sydney Swans, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 28 September 1996. It was the 100th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League/Australian Football...
, 19991999 AFL Grand FinalThe 1999 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between and , held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 25 September 1999. It was the 103rd annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the... - AFL Runners Up 1998
- AFL Minor Premiers 1998
- AFL Reserves Premiers 1995, 1996
- AFL Reserves Grand Finalists 1993, 1994
- AFL Under 19s Premiers 1990, 1991
Other
- Champions of Australia 1975
- NFL Championship Grand Finalists 1976
- McClelland Trophy 1976, 1978, 1983, 1998
- Night Series Premiers 1965, 1966, 1980
- Night Series Runners Up 1961, 1968, 1978, 1982
- NMFL Under 17s Premiers 1979
- Pre-season Premiers 1995, 1998
- Pre-season Runners Up 1990, 1991, 2000
- VFL Affiliate Premiers North Ballarat, 2008, 2009, 2010
- VFL Affiliate Runners Up Port Melbourne, 2004
1 Won by West Melbourne before merger
2 Won by Essendon Association before merger
Individual honours
Best and Fairest
Current coaching staff
- Senior Coach: Brad Scott
- Assistant Coaches:
- Darren CrockerDarren CrockerDarren Crocker is a former Australian rules footballer and former coach of the North Melbourne Football Club. He was known for his instantly recognisable bald head and tough uncompromising style. On 16 June 2009, he was appointed caretaker coach of the North Melbourne Football Club after the...
(Midfield) - Shane WatsonShane Watson (footballer)Shane Watson is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood in the Australian Football League ....
(Backline) - Brett AllisonBrett AllisonBrett Allison is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the North Melbourne Football Club and the Sydney Swans in the VFL/AFL....
(Forwards) - Player Development Manager: Jon Haines
- Development Coach – North Ballarat Jason Lappin
- Development Coach – Werribee John Lamont
See also
- Sport in AustraliaSport in AustraliaAustralia has a long sporting history dating back to the mid 1800s. By the 1920s, a number of sports were being played by both men and women, including cricket, badminton, judo, swimming, tennis, netball, lacrosse, golf, hockey and various codes of football....
- Sport in VictoriaSport in VictoriaThe state of Victoria, Australia, is known for its sporting culture. The Victorian capital, Melbourne is often referred to as the sporting capital of the world....
Wikipedia listing of North Melbourne players
External links
- Official website of the Kangaroos
- "Around the Grounds" – web documentary – Arden Street
- Club Footy Jumpers
- Shawfactor: History of North Melbourne FC
| North Melbourne Football Club VFA Premiership Teams |
|---|
| North Melbourne Football Club VFL/AFL Premiership Teams |
|---|