The

wooden spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) A wooden spoon is an award that is given to an individual or team that has come last in a competition. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous e ...

is the imaginary and ironic "award" which is said to be won by the team finishing in last place in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

. No physical wooden spoon award exists, other than those brought by opposition fans to taunt struggling teams, nor is such an award officially sanctioned by the VFL/AFL. However, most betting agencies will take wagers on the wooden spoon.

Criteria

The team which finishes on the bottom of the ladder wins the wooden spoon. This is determined by: * Fewest premiership points (four points for a win, two points for a draw) * Lowest percentage (the ratio of points for to points against if on same numbers of points) No countback exists if teams finish equal on points but with a different number of wins.

1901–1907

From 1901 to 1907, the VFL season was set up such that each team played fourteen regular season games: two games against each opponent. Based upon regular season ladder positions, teams were divided into pools A (1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th) and B (2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th), and each team played the opponents from its pool once each in the "sectional round." Following the sectional round, the results of these matches were added to the ladder to give a final ladder based on seventeen matches per team. As such, the wooden spooner is considered to be the team which finishes last after all seventeen matches. The three sectional games changed the outcome of the wooden spoon twice in the seven seasons of this format: in 1905, St Kilda beat

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

in their last game, relegating

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

to last, and in 1907,

Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

won all three of their games, relegating

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League United King ...

to last.

1916

In the 1916, only four teams (

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

, Collingwood,

and

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

) competed due to World War I. Fitzroy finished last after the home-and-away season with a record of 2–9–1 (10 pts), and Richmond finished third with a record of 5–7–0 (20 pts). All four teams competed in the finals under the amended ''Argus'' system in place at the time. Richmond lost their Semi-Final and finished in overall last place as the lowest placed Semi-Final loser, while Fitzroy won their Semi-Final, the Final and the Grand Final to win the premiership. This has created uncertainty to some extent regarding which club won the 1916 wooden spoon: by analogy with the

minor Minor may refer to: * Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities. ** A person who has not reached the age of majority * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Music theory *Minor chord ** Barb ...

and major premierships, it could be said that Fitzroy won the "minor wooden spoon" and Richmond won the "major wooden spoon". In this regard, the official ''AFL Season Guide'' recognises Richmond as the wooden spooners for the 1916 VFL season, while the ''Football Record'' in 1917–1923 listed the four clubs' positions for 1916 as Fitzroy, Carlton, Collingwood and Richmond.

Wooden spoons by season

Wooden spoons by club

Bold indicates clubs currently playing in the AFL.

Longest wooden spoon droughts

Note: These are a ranking of ''streaks'', not a ranking of biggest streaks by ''club''.

Active wooden spoon droughts

AFL Women's

References and Notes

External links

AFL Wooden Spoon Awardees
{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Football League wooden spoons Wooden spoons Wooden spoons