Kangaroos Football Club

Encyclopedia : K : KA : KAN : Kangaroos Football Club

North Melbourne Football Club

Full name	North Melbourne Football Club
Nickname	The Kangaroos
Strip	Blue and White Vertically striped Jumper, with Blue Shorts and Blue Socks
Founded	1869
Sport	Australian rules football
League	Australian Football League
Ground	Telstra Dome, Manuka Oval and the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Club song	'Join in the Chorus'
President/Chair	Graham Duff
Coach	Dean Laidley
Captain	Adam Simpson

The North Melbourne Football Club, trading as the Kangaroos, and informally known as the Shinboners or the Kangaroos Football Club plays Australian rules football 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 or Manuka Oval.

Club history

Having missed admission in both 1897 and 1907 due to financial weakness, a reputation for hooliganism and similar territory to Essendon they were finally invited to join the VFL in 1925. Being one of the last Melbourne based clubs to be admitted to the league and without premiership success, North Melbourne struggled to gain new supporters, as most had existing loyalties to other clubs.

A club starved of success until Ron Barassi was appointed coach in 1974. His ruthless and inspiring coaching methods brought success in his second (1975) and fourth (1977) years as coach.

The club had its greatest on-field success of any decade in the 1990s, with a simple game plan known as "Pagans Paddock" devised by ruthless coach Dennis Pagan implemented around star forward Wayne Carey.

The club is often described with continued financial hardship and a lack of support. The club has been subject to several merger attempts. Seeking new markets, the "North Melbourne" has been officially dropped from the logo. During the Sydney Swans successful 1999 season, North Melbourne played home games in Sydney with a view of becoming a second team in New South Wales. The experiment was not successful, with crowds averaging 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 have been playing 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 in Melbourne.

The 21st Century

In the 2005 season, the Kangaroos fought back making it to 5th on the ladder and in doing so silencing all the critics who had labelled the club and new coach Dean Laidley as 'ineffective' and 'useless'. Unfortunately, these critics returned when in the 1st Elimination Final, the Kangaroos lost by 92 points to reigning Premiers Port Adelaide. Their poor start to the 2006 season hasn't helped.

2006 in fact shapes as a turning season 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. Those who follow the club closely have more reason for optimism, being more familiar with the talents of many emerging youngsters, such as Daniel Harris, David Hale and Jesse Smith to name a few.

Membership Base

Year	Members	Finishing position²
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	22,854¹	14th¹

¹(as at 31 May, 2006) ²following finals matches

Shinboner Spirit

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, the Kangaroos finishing 5th after being tipped for the wooden spoon by many well respected football writers. 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.

2006 Squad

8 Daniel Wells

32 Eddie Sansbury

Kangaroos Team of the Century

Premierships

• 1975
• 1977
• 1996
• 1999

Records

Games Record

• Wayne Schimmelbusch 306 (1973-87)

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)

Individual Awards

See Syd Barker Medal

• Noel Teasdale 1965
• Keith Greig 1973, 1974
• Malcolm Blight 1978
• Ross Glendinning 1983

• Wayne Carey 1995, 1998
• Corey McKernan 1996

• Glenn Archer 1996
• Shannon Grant 1999

• Mick Martyn (1995)
• Wayne Carey (1998)

• Doug Wade (1972)
• Malcolm Blight (1982)
• John Longmire (1990)

• Daniel Wells (2004)
• Matthew Larkin (1988)

• Winston Abraham (1998)
• Brett Allison (1992)

• Byron Pickett (1998)

Club Jumpers

These are the current 2006 jumper designs. The club's current sponsors are Mazda, Primus Telecom and Reebok.

See also

• Fitzroy-North Melbourne Kangaroos Football Club

External links

• [Official Website of the Kangaroos]
• [Shinboner Spirit Fansite]
• [Full Points Footy History of the Kangaroos Football Club]
• [The Searching Kangaroo - Unofficial Fan Forum and sponsors of Joel Perry in Season 2006]
• [Club Footy Jumpers]

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.