Editing North Melbourne Football Club (section)

==="Shinboner spirit"===
{{More citations needed|section|date=August 2018}}
{{blockquote|At clubs with bigger memberships, their supporters only touch their colours, but at North we have the Shinboner spirit. North people can touch that spirit – they are the real Shinboners, they are the club.|Ron Joseph}}

North Melbourne has a proud history as a working-class, inner-city club.<ref name="nmfc.com.au"/> Reflecting the suburb of North Melbourne's lower socio-economic status in the 19th and early 20th century, the team has always been one of the smaller and less wealthy clubs, relying on the mateship and grit of its players and membership to succeed.

'Shinboner spirit' refers to North's reputation of fighting against the odds and not asking for hand-outs. North's fans like to compare this to the (generally richer) clubs like Essendon and Carlton, which through their wealthier patronage and corresponding improved player catchments and ability to pay players more, were generally more successful in the pre–salary cap era.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-719023400 | title=The football solution: How Richmond's premiership can save Australia }}</ref> The term persists to the modern day despite North Melbourne having switched its official nickname from the Shinboners to the Kangaroos in the 1950s.

Because it relates to the club's original nickname, Shinboner spirit is often associated with the complete history of the club. In 2005, to celebrate the club's 80th anniversary of senior competition in the VFL and the 30th anniversary of its first VFL premiership, the Kangaroos held a "Shinboner Spirit" gala event attended by almost the entire surviving players.{{citation needed|date=August 2018}} In the awards ceremony, the key Shinboners of the past 80 years were acknowledged, and [[Glenn Archer]] was named the "Shinboner of the Century".