Photo Gallery

In an early example of their marketing genius, in the late 60's North Melbourne ran a stall at the Royal Melbourne Show, selling 'Footy Showbags' (30c got you 10 items ranging from a ruler and chewing gum to a 'flying saucer').  North players manned the stand, and stars from other clubs also came along to sell the bags and sign autographs.  As you can see from the pic, they pulled in some big names:

Caption:
IN THE PICTURE: Daryl O'Brien (North), Ted Whitten (Footscray), Ron Barassi (Carlton) and John Dugdale (North) pack bags at the North Melbourne Ground in readiness for the show.

Further publicity for the North showbags was gained by a bizzare newspaper article - "O'Brien's No Fireman" - which describes how a van taking them to the showgrounds caught fire. It says DOB tried to put it out by running to a puddle and scooping up water in his hands several times, only to have the water drain away as he dashed back to the blaze.

Unfortunately, DOB has told me the story was highly exaggerated by the club, to make good newspaper copy.