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Information AboutNorth Melbourne Football Club |
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 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 VFA winning the premiership in 1903, 1904, 1910, 1914, 1915 and 1918. 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 are currently experimenting with the possibility of playing several home games at either Manuka Oval in Canberra or at Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast where support is growing for the AFL while maintaining their home in Melbourne. In the near future, there are plans for the Kangaroos to move to either one of these locations. THE 21ST CENTURY Since the Kangaroos Grand Final Win in 1999, the club has slowly slumped, leading to the resignation of former coach Denis Pagan, and the appointment of 1996 premiership player Dean Laidley to the position of Senior 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 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 80 points to reigning Premiers Port Adelaide . Their poor start to the 2006 season hasn't helped. 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. 2006 SQUAD KANGAROOS TEAM OF THE CENTURY
Premierships
Records Games Record
Leading Goalkickers
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS Best And Fairest :See Syd Barker Medal Brownlow Medal winners
Leigh Matthews Trophy winners
Norm Smith Medal winners
Michael Tuck Medal winners
Coleman Medal winners
Goal Of The Year winners
Mark Of The Year winners
Rising Star winners
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
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