Wooden Spoons

When I worked in radio in rural North Central Kansas, we broadcast a daily sports interview program, and one of the things we did on Fridays during football season was pick winners of five games that were to be played that weekend. There were six or seven of us. We kept standings and everything, even had a end-of-season event where we celebrated the champion.

Something else we did was give the last-place finisher a spatula. The idea was mine, a derivative of the wooden spoon concept that is known in the Australian Football League. All I did was go get one from housewares at the nearby grocery store. I wasn't very good at picking games, so I usually wound up keeping the spatula in my office at work.

It was good, clean fun had by good people. Plus it helped fill an interview slot on Fridays.

So I thought I'd look into the wooden spoon history in the AFL. The side that finishes last on the ladder during the season gets the wooden spoon. It's not a recognized thing by the league, but it's a very common topic of discussion.

The wooden spoon custom apparently has its origins in academia in the late 1700s. Students at the University of Cambridge awarded the 'prize' to whomever got the lowest test scores but still earned a third-class degree. I haven't seen anything about how the concept migrated to Australia. Perhaps it connects to Britain's colonization of Australia which began in 1787.

Last year Essendon won last year's "award," their fifth but their first since 1933. That's impressive, but not as noteworthy as Carlton's wooden spoon drought that saw the Blues stay out of the basement for 105 years, picking up their first one in 2002. The bad thing for them is they've picked up three more since then.

The wooden spoon leaders are St. Kilda, with 27 last-place finishes, with their most recent one coming in 2014.

It looks like five wins is the magic number-- win that many and you should, *should* avoid it, at least nowadays, since the most recent five-win side to finish dead last was Brisbane in 1999. Every team has at least one spoon with the exception of newer clubs Adelaide which joined the AFL in 1990, and Port Adelaide, which began league play in 1997.

It also appears that us Yanks have latched onto the wooden spoon thing, as in Major League Soccer (MLS) the team with the fewest points at the end of the season takes one home. Chicago Fire won the inaugural spoon in 2015.

2017 Fixture and History

We're still a little over two months away from the start of the 2017 AFL home and away season. Just as they did last season, Richmond meets Carlton in the first match to be played. It's always an exciting time, as every team is excited about the future. Richmond tries to rebound after missing the playoffs for the first time since 2012, and Carlton looks to take another step forward after taking some lumps over the last few years.

In 2015 Richmond put together a long winning streak in order to get into the playoffs after a slow start. With a win-loss record of 15-7, the Tigers lost to North Melbourne in an elimination final. Carlton had a rough time of it, sacking coach Mick Malthouse midseason and taking the wooden spoon after finishing in last position on the ladder.

With that as a background, Richmond beat the Blues 92-83 in the 2016 opener. Neither team made the eight last year, as the Tigers slid to 13th on the ladder. The Blues and their new coaching staff started out 5-5 but a nine-game losing streak sent things spiraling out of control. They finished with seven wins, stayed out of the bottom four and finished just behind the Tigers in 14th position.

The history of these two sides goes way back. The Tigers began play in the Tasmanian Football League in 1879 and joined the VFA (Victorian Football Association) in 1885. Carlton was a founding member of the VFA in 1864 and jumped to the newly-formed Victorian Football League in 1897, while Richmond joined the VFL in 1908. This may help explain why the Blues have played other teams more often than they've played Richmond.

Carlton has played five other teams more often than the 216 matchups with the Tigers while Richmond has played the Blues more than any other opponent in the competition. Carlton leads the all-time series 125-89-2, so this really seems like an interesting tilt to get the season going.

A cursory look back at the last few years sees that the AFL doesn't seem to place a priority on two particular sides playing every season opener. Collingwood/Fremantle started 2014 and Adelaide met Essendon in 2013. However this is the third straight time Blues/Tigers has had the honors.