It was crunch-time and the AFL was stepping up its push to send North to the Gold Coast.

Having failed to convince recently retired champion Glenn Archer to endorse the relocation, league CEO Andrew Demetriou turned his attention to North’s shareholders. 

One of those, Peter De Rauch, says he was pressured to sell his shares, but refused to cave-in despite labelling AFL leaders, ‘bullies’.

“We have evidence of Andrew (Demetriou) and Mike (Fitzpatrick) sort of being bullies, and saying this is how you do it ... attack, attack, attack," De Rauch said in a new documentary ‘Keeping North South’, to be aired on Fox Footy and North’s website from Tuesday night. 

Club stalwart and former director Ron Joseph shared De Rauch’s feelings and didn’t hold back during filming. 

"If the North Melbourne members knew some of the things that the AFL did and some of the things that the (former Kangaroos chairman Graham) Duff board did in trying to get North Melbourne out of Arden St, they would have brought the bloody house down," Joseph sensationally proclaimed. 

With a $100 million offer on the table, then chairman James Brayshaw knew a decision had to be made ahead of a members’ meeting at Dallas Brooks Hall in east Melbourne on December 6, 2007.

"That Dallas Brooks Hall thing was happening that night, so I had a view ... we can't go there without a definitive answer," Brayshaw said.

"North Melbourne people are wonderful, unique, they didn't want to see their club not exist, and neither did I. 

"I just said (to the board) ... 'why don't we just put it to a vote?' There was silence ... it wasn't until that moment that I ever contemplated becoming chairman."   

Former director Fulvio Inserra remembers the vote fondly.

“We basically did a vote around the board table,” he recalled. 

“It just happened to start on my left and it went around the table and by the time it got back around to me, it was three-all. 

"It is still an honour to this day to say I had the chance to be a part of the history of the club to stay in Melbourne."

Keeping North South will air on Fox Footy on Tuesday night at 9pm. It will also be available on NMFC.com.au.