Shinboner spirit

Though its origin is disputed, the Shinboner Spirit is a term which originated in butcher shops that were close to Arden Street Oval, when the North Melbourne Football Club was formed. 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 VFL 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. It was most arguably 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. The performance's standing as classic "shinboner spirit" was later called into question however, as Swans trainer Wally Jackson tragically suffered a massive heart attack and died on the boundary line during the third term, and was worked on by paramedics in view of Swans players.

1996 season was the perfect example of the Shinboner spirit, in which the club went onto win the Centenary premiership despite merger talks off the field.

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.

Another example of the Shinboner spirit occurred in 2007. After being tipped to finished last by many people, they finished 4th after the home and away season, and ended up defying the odds with a comfortable win over clear favourites Hawthorn in the semi-final. North Melbourne would ultimately finish 3rd that year.Ex-North Melbourne Football Club coach Denis Pagan used to evoke the cliché of Shinboner tradition to improve player performance:

"Pagan's much-loved Shinboner Spirit was a phrase that often had the cynics rolling their eyes, but which reinforced over and over the impression that the Roos would never offer anything less than an honest contest. "

The Kangaroos are indeed a shin-boner team of massive proportions, this is proven by their dedication to their creed (AFL).

In a recent press conference Dean Laidley commented on his interpretation of the Shinboner Spirit, "...I like to bone shins, shiny shin bones, dedication and trepidation are what I think the Shinboner Spirit is all about"