North Melbourne Football Club
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| Full name | North Melbourne Kangaroos Football Club |
| Nickname | Kangaroos, The Roos |
| Strip | Royal Blue and White vertical stripes, white shorts and royal blue socks |
| Founded | 1869 |
| Sport | Australian rules football |
| League | Australian Football League |
| Ground | Telstra Dome & Carrara Stadium |
| Club song | 'Join in the Chorus' |
| President/Chair | Graham Duff |
| Coach | Dean Laidley |
| Captain | Adam Simpson |
| 2006 | 14th of 16 |
The North Melbourne Football Club, known as the Kangaroos, and informally known as the Shinboners, is an Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League. It is based at the Arden Street Oval in the inner Melbourne suburb of North Melbourne, but plays its home matches at the Telstra Dome and occasionally, the Melbourne Cricket Ground. From 2007 they will play 3 home games at Carrara on the Gold Coast. The club mascot, dating from the middle of the twentieth century, is a grey or red kangaroo.
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[edit] Club history
The club was formed in 1869 believed to be an offshoot of Hotham or of the St Mary's Church of England Cricket Club and was a foundation club of the first organised Australian Rules competition, the VFA. North Melbourne began slowly, but had emerged as something of a powerhouse by the early 1900s, winning premierships in 1903, 1904 (after the game was forfeited by Richmond), 1910, 1914, 1915 and 1918.
Having failed in their bid to enter the professional and more prestigious VFL in both 1897 and 1907, they were finally invited to do so in 1925. The early inability to secure entry into the VFL was laregly due to financial weakness, a reputation for hooliganism (resulting in the 'Shinboner' tag) and similar territory to Essendon, the latter leading to deliberate obstruction by that more prestigious club. One of the last Melbourne based clubs to be admitted to the league (along with Footscray and Hawthorn) and without sustained success in its early VFL days, North Melbourne struggled to gain new supporters, as most had existing loyalties to other clubs.
North Melbourne did not achieve highly in 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. 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 the equally-brilliant Noel Teasdale only fell short of the Brownlow Medal on a countback in 1965 (he was later awarded a retrospective medal when the counting system was amended).
Towards the end of the 1960s, and under the dynamic leadership of Dr. Allen Aylett, North Melbourne began its climb to supremacy. As part of a major recruitment drive, Barry Davis and Doug Wade were both brought from Essendon and Geelong respectively (though North failed to secure Carl Ditterich from St Kilda). In a major coup, the great Ron Barassi was appointed coach in 1973. His ruthless and inspiring coaching methods took North to a Grand Final (defeated by Richmond) in 1974 and brought success in his third (1975) and fifth (1977) seasons as coach. North made five consecutive Grand Finals under Barassi (1974-1978), though technically this number should be six, as the 1977 season saw two Grand Finals played between North and the Magpies, the first resulting in a draw which needed to be decided the following week (much to the chagrin of Magpie supporters). Also, in 1973 and 1974, North's superbly-talented wingman Keith Greig won consecutive Brownlow Medals. 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.
The capable coaching of John Kennedy aside, the 1980s and early 1990s were lean years for the Kangaroos. One major highlight was the recruitment of the gun forward John Longmire in 1989, who topped the club goalkicking over five consecutive seasos (1990-1994) and won the Coleman medal in 1990 with 98 - infuriatingly short of the magic 'tonne' (100). At the beginning of the 1993, in a dramatic and controversial move, the board of the club sacked coach (since 1990) 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. Nuggety backman Glenn Archer secured the Norm Smith Medal for a best on ground performance in that game. Expected to continue on the winning ways, a slump came in 1997 after the injury to Carey's shoulder in a first round match against the Melbourne Football Club, and a loss to St. Kilda in the Semi 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 steal their second premiership in as many years.
It seemed that North might have missed its chance in 1998 when the following season seemed to belong to the Essendon Football Club. However, a strong season from all of the key members of the playing group (including Carey, McKernan, Archer, Stevens) took North to a Grand Final against the Carlton Football Club, after the latter had defeated an overly cocky Essendon, who had lacked the discipline to deserve a Grand Final place. The 1999 Grand Final was won almost clinically by Carey's troops, 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 the attendant lack of large supporter-base. The club has been subject to several merger attempts, including attempts at takeover by Essendon in the early twentieth century and an almost-completed merger with Fitzroy during the uncertain 1990s.
Seeking new markets and greater financial security in an increasingly corporatised 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, the experiment was not successful, with crowds averaging only 12,000. Most Sydney people had become aware of the concept of relocating Melbourne teams since the South Melbourne Football Club moved to Sydney and took many years to become accepted. The Kangaroos played several home games at Manuka Oval in Canberra over recent seasons, but from 2007 will play up to 10 home matches over three seasons at Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast where support is growing for the AFL. The club still maintains their home ground in Victoria at the iconic Arden Street Oval, North Melbourne, which from 2006 underwent the first stages of a $6 million upgrade of training and other facilities.
[edit] The 21st century
Since the Kangaroos' last Grand Final Win in 1999, the club has slowly declined in strength. This was exacerbated by the revelations, emerging only a few weeks before the begninng of the 2002 season that champion captain Wayne Carey had been having an extra-marital affair (or perhaps "intra-marital") with the wife of teammate and vice-captain Anthony Stevens. Carey resigned in disgrace, and North failed to make the finals for the first time under coach Denis Pagan. The resignation of Pagan at the end of the 2002 season further accelerated the process of decline, though North 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.
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 all the critics who had labelled the club and new coach as 'ineffective' and 'useless'. Unfortunately, these critics returned when in the 1st Elimination Final, the Kangaroos lost by a shattering 87 points to reigning Premiers Port Adelaide.
2006 was anticipated as a major turning point for the Kangaroos. The club has been consistent in its policy of swapping early draft picks for experienced players. The perception from outsiders is that the club is now 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 Jesse Smith. In July of 2006, the Kangaroos' training ground, Arden Street suffered minor damage in a fire. Arson was believed to be the cause of the fire, and it forced the Kangaroos to train at Telstra Dome for the remainder of the 2006 AFL Season.
Apart from victories over Hawthorn and Port Adelaide early in the season, and the pleasant sensation of defeating long-time AFL superpowers-turned wooden-spoon contenders Carlton and Essendon, the 2006 season was a disappointment, aside from the slow reemergence of Nathan Thompson (formerly of Hawthorn, with a season total of 54 goals and 13 votes in the Brownlow medal count.
[edit] Membership base
In 2005, the Kangaroos Football Club had 24,154 members (including Canberra Kangaroos memberships), a record number for the 3rd year in a row, but remains the lowest supported in the competition.
| Year | Members | Finishing position² |
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| 1998 | 20,196 | 2nd |
| 1999 | 22,080 | 1st |
| 2000 | 22,156 | 4th |
| 2001 | 21,409 | 13th |
| 2002 | 20,831 | 7th |
| 2003 | 21,403 | 10th |
| 2004 | 23,420 | 10th |
| 2005 | 24,154 | 5th |
| 2006 | 24,624¹ | 14th |
[edit] Shinboner spirit
- Main article: Shinboner spirit.
Though its origin is disputed, the 'Shinboner Spirit' came originally from butcher shops that were close to Arden Street Oval, when the North Melbourne Football Club was new. Known as the 'Shinboners' for roughly the first decades of their existence, the club adopted the "Kangaroos" nickname around the 1940s, and by the time of the first Grand Final appearance in 1950, this had become the dominant identifier of North Melbourne.
The Shinboner Spirit is a phrase attributed to the Kangaroos' ability to fight back hard with their backs against the wall. The 2005 Season was a great example of this spirit, with the Kangaroos finishing fifth after being tipped for the wooden spoon by many otherwise well-respected football writers and journalists (including the often-wrong Robert Walls). It was most evident in their match against the Sydney Swans in 2004, when they rallied from a 40 point deficit at three-quarter-time to record a fitting result in Glenn Archer's 250th game of AFL Football.
In 2005, to celebrate the club's 80th anniversary of senior competition 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 named the "Shinboner of the Century" to almost unanimous acclaim.
[edit] History of the North Melbourne Jumper
- Main article: North Melbourne Jumpers.
[edit] Current squad
- As of October 31, 2006
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[edit] Kangaroos Team of the Century
| Kangaroos Team of the Century | |||
| B: | Glenn Archer | David Dench | Michael Martyn |
| HB: | John Rantall | Ross Glendinning | Ted Jarrad |
| C: | Keith Grieg | Les Foote | Laurie Dwyer |
| HF: | Malcolm Blight | Wayne Carey | Wayne Schimmelbusch |
| F: | John Dougdale | Jock Spencer | Allen Aylett |
| Foll: | Noel Teasdale | Anthony Stevens | Barry Cable |
| Int: | Brent Crosswell | Barry Davis | Peter Steward |
| Sam Kekovich | |||
| Coach: | Denis Pagan | ||
[edit] Premierships (pre VFL/AFL)
- 1903 - North Melbourne: 7.6.48 def. Richmond: 3.9.27.
- 1904 - North Melbourne: Game forfeited by Richmond.
- 1910 - North Melbourne: 9.14.68 def. Brunswick: 5.9.39.
- 1914 - North Melbourne: 12.14.86 def. Footscray: 7.9.51.
- 1915 - North Melbourne: 11.10.76 def. Brunswick: 3.10.28.
- 1918 - North Melbourne: 18.13.108 def. Prahran: 3.10.28.
[edit] Premierships (VFL and AFL)
- 1975 - North Melbourne: 19.8.122 def. Hawthorn: 9.13.67.
- 1977 - North Melbourne: 21.25.151 def. Collingwood: 19.10.124.
- 1996 - North Melbourne: 19.17.131 def. Sydney: 13.10.88.
- 1999 - North Melbourne: 19.10.124 def. Carlton: 12.17.89.
[edit] Records
[edit] Games record
- Wayne Schimmelbusch 306 (1973-87)
[edit] Leading goalkickers
- 671 Wayne Carey (1989-2001)
- 511 John Longmire (1988-95; 1997-99)
- 475 Jock Spencer (1948-57)
- 444 Malcolm Blight (1974-82)
- 411 Sel Murray (1937-44; 1948)
- 358 John Dugdale (1955-70)
- 354 Wayne Schimmelbusch (1973-87)
- 352 Bill Findlay (1935-45)
[edit] Individual awards
[edit] Best and Fairest
Recipients:
- 2006 Brady Rawlings
- 2005 Brent Harvey
- 2004 Brady Rawlings
- 2003 Brent Harvey
- 2002 Adam Simpson
- 2001 Shannon Grant
- 2000 Peter Bell
- 1999 Anthony Stevens
- 1998 Wayne Carey
- 1997 Anthony Stevens
- 1996 Wayne Carey
- 1995 Wayne Schwass
- 1994 Wayne Schwass
- 1993 Wayne Carey
- 1992 Wayne Carey
- 1991 Craig Sholl & Michael Martyn
- 1990 John Longmire
- 1989 Michael Martyn
- 1988 Matthew Larkin
- 1987 Matthew Larkin
- 1986 Jim Krakouer
- 1985 Matthew Larkin
- 1984 Kym Hodgeman
- 1983 Ross Glendinning
- 1982 Ross Glendinning
- 1981 David Dench
- 1980 Keith Greig
- 1979 Gary Dempsey
- 1978 Malcolm Blight
- 1977 David Dench
- 1976 David Dench
- 1975 Barry Davis
- 1974 John Rantall
- 1973 Barry Davis
- 1972 Ken Montgomery
- 1971 David Dench
- 1970 Barry Cable
- 1969 Sam Kekovich
- 1968 John Dugdale
- 1967 Laurie Dwyer
- 1966 Noel Teasdale
- 1965 Noel Teasdale
- 1964 Noel Teasdale
- 1963 Noel Teasdale
- 1962 Bill Serong
- 1961 Laurie Dwyer
- 1960 Allen Aylett
- 1959 Allen Aylett
- 1958 Allen Aylett
- 1957 Brian Martyn
- 1956 Jack Edwards
- 1955 Bob Brooker
- 1954 John Brady
- 1953 Jack O’Halloran
- 1952 Jock McCorkell
- 1951 Jock Spencer
- 1950 Les Foote
- 1949 Les Foote
- 1948 Dally O’Brien
- 1947 Keith McKenzie
- 1946 Don Condon
- 1945 Les Foote
- 1944 Alan Crawford
- 1943 Don Kemp
- 1942 Jack Allister
- 1941 George Kennedy & Bill Findlay
- 1940 Jim Adamson
- 1939 Sid Dyer
- 1938 Jock Cordner
- 1937 Wally Carter
- See Syd Barker Medal
[edit] Brownlow Medal winners
- Noel Teasdale (1965)
- Keith Greig (1973, 1974)
- Malcolm Blight (1978)
- Ross Glendinning (1983)
[edit] Leigh Matthews Trophy winners
- Wayne Carey (1995, 1998)
- Corey McKernan (1996)
[edit] Norm Smith Medal winners
- Glenn Archer (1996)
- Shannon Grant (1999)
[edit] Jock McHale Medal winners
- Ron Barassi (1975, 1977)
- Denis Pagan (1996, 1999)
[edit] Michael Tuck Medal winners
- Mick Martyn (1995)
- Wayne Carey (1998)
[edit] Coleman Medal winners
- Doug Wade (1972) 103 Goals
- Malcolm Blight (1982) 103 Goals
- John Longmire (1990) 98 Goals
[edit] Goal of the Year winners
- Matthew Larkin (1988)
- Daniel Wells (2004)
[edit] Mark of the Year winners
- Brett Allison (1992)
- Winston Abraham (1998)
[edit] Rising Star winners
- Byron Pickett (1998)
[edit] Club jumpers
These are the current 2006 jumper designs. The club's current sponsors are Mazda, Primus Telecom and Reebok.
| Front | Jumper and Description | Back |
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Home The traditional North Melbourne jumper has blue and white vertical stripes. Blue or White Shorts. |
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Away The away jumper which is also used in home games is all blue with a white kangaroo incoporated onto it. This is the most common uniform and is always used with white shorts. |
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Clash The Clash jumper is rarely seen; it is an inverted version of the away jumper. |
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[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official Website of the Kangaroos
- Shinboner Spirit Fansite
- Full Points Footy History of the North Melbourne Football Club
- Club Footy Jumpers
| Clubs in the Australian Football League |
 Adelaide Crows |  Brisbane Lions |  Carlton |  Collingwood |  Essendon |  Fremantle |  Geelong |  Hawthorn Melbourne |  North Melbourne |  Port Adelaide |  Richmond |  St. Kilda |  Sydney Swans |  West Coast Eagles |  Western BulldogsFormer clubs:  Brisbane Bears |  Fitzroy |  University |
