SHINBONERS

To continue my fixation with the Australian Rules Football. The "Kangaroos" were until recently named after their Melbourne suburb of origin "North Melbourne (The dropping of the suburb name was in the name of the never ending supporter drive). North Melbourne was/is a working class suburb and the 1996 census (bottom of post) shows an interesting ethnic, working class mix:

However to the dedicated supporter the kangaroos or North Melbourne will always be "THE SHINBONERS"

Although lost in the mists of time, it is generally believed that the name "Shinboners" nickname came from two possible origins:

1. From the days when many of the players worked at the local abattoirs and spent their days separating meat from shinbones and local butchers used to decorate their windows with the bones.

2. Or possibly the name may have been due to the Irish population playing hurley at the football ground, using their hurley sticks with little regard for their opponent's shins.

It doesn't really matter, in my wild erractic fancy, I wish they had kept the name and there I would see the supporters waving the shinbones above their heads at away matches..grin

North Melbourne

North Melbourne sprang up during the 1850's goldrush. Located on the goldfields road, the suburb's first businesses and residents served the steady flow of traffic headed between the city centre and the fossicking districts and in 1925 North Melbourne joined the VFL (Victorian Football League). In their first game the Shinboners defeated Geelong by 8 points.

Postcode: 3051
Where: 2 kilometres north of the city
Population: 8417
Born in: Australia 48%
Vietnam 8%
China 6%
UK 4%
Italy 2%
Hong Kong 2%
Religion: Christian 50%
Buddhist 6%
Islam 3%
Jewish 0.1%
Language: 53% speak only English