A wooden spoon is a mock or real award, usually given to an individual or team which has come last in a competition, but sometimes also to runners-up. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous events. The term is of British origin and has spread to other Commonwealth countries.

Wooden spoon at the University of Cambridge

The wooden spoon was presented originally at the University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

 as a kind of booby prize

Booby prize

A booby prize is a joke prize usually given in recognition of a terrible performance or last-place finish. A person who finishes last, for example, may get a booby prize such as a worthless coin. Booby prizes are sometimes humorously and jokingly coveted as an object of pride.Booby prizes, however,...

 awarded by the students to the man who achieved the lowest exam marks but still earned a third-class degree (a junior optime) in the Mathematical Tripos

Cambridge Mathematical Tripos

The Mathematical Tripos is the taught mathematics course at the University of Cambridge. It is the oldest Tripos that is examined in Cambridge.-Origin:...

. The term "wooden spoon" or simply "the spoon" was also applied to the recipient, and the prize became quite notorious:
The spoons themselves, actually made of wood, grew increasingly large, and in latter years measured up to 1.5 metres long. By tradition they were dangled in a teasing way from the upstairs balcony in the Senate House

Senate House (University of Cambridge)

The Senate House of the University of Cambridge is now used mainly for degree ceremonies. It was formerly also used for meetings of the Council of the Senate...

, in front of the recipient as he came before the Vice-Chancellor to receive his degree, at least until 1875 when such a practice was specifically banned by the University.

The lowest placed students earning a second-class (senior optime) or first-class degree (wrangler) were sometimes known as the "silver spoon" and "golden spoon" respectively. In contrast, the highest-scoring male student was named the "senior wrangler". Students unfortunate enough to place below the wooden spoon, by achieving only an Ordinary degree, were given a variety of names depending on their number. In the 1860s about three-quarters of the roughly 400 candidates did not score enough to be awarded honours, and were known as poll men.

The custom dates back at least to the late 18th century, being recorded in 1803, and continued until 1909. From 1910 onwards the results have been given in alphabetical rather than score order, and so it is now impossible to tell who has come last, unless there is only one person in the lowest class.

The last wooden spoon

The last wooden spoon was awarded to Cuthbert Lempriere Holthouse, an oarsman of the Lady Margaret Boat Club

Lady Margaret Boat Club

The Lady Margaret Boat Club , is the rowing club for members of St John's College, Cambridge, England. The club is named after Lady Margaret Beaufort, foundress of the College.- History :...

 of St. John's College, Cambridge in 1909 at the graduation ceremony in the University's Senate House. The handle is shaped like an oar and inscribed with an epigram in Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 which may be translated as follows:

In Honours Mathematical

This is the very last of all

The Wooden Spoons which you see here

O you who see it, shed a tear

Alternatively:

This wooden object is the last souvenir of the competitive examinations in mathematics. Look upon it, and weep.

The last spoon to be awarded is now in the possession of St. John's College, and another is kept at Selwyn College

Selwyn College, Cambridge

Selwyn College is a constituent college in the University of Cambridge in England, United Kingdom.The college was founded by the Selwyn Memorial Committee in memory of the Rt Reverend George Selwyn , who rowed on the Cambridge crew in the first Varsity Boat Race in 1829, and went on to become the...

 library. From June 8, 2009 to June 26, 2009, St. John's College held an exhibition of the five surviving wooden spoons in College hands, from St. John's (the last one, dating from 1909), Selwyn's (dating from 1906), Queens'

Queens' College, Cambridge

Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou , and refounded in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville...

, King's

King's College, Cambridge

King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....

 and Corpus Christi's

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

Corpus Christi College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is notable as the only college founded by Cambridge townspeople: it was established in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary...

 in its library to mark the centenary of the "awarding" of the last spoon of all. There are five known wooden spoons in private hands.

Association football

The Major League Soccer Wooden Spoon is an unofficial annual award given to the Major League Soccer

Major League Soccer

Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...

 team with the worst regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system, much like the AFL Wooden Spoon in the Australian Football League

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

.

While MLS is similar to other North American sport leagues in that no relegation system is instituted, fans wanted a way to stir up the interests at the foot of the table by recognizing the bottom team(s) in a domestic soccer format: the team(s) that scored the least points in league play over the regular season. To this end, the Wooden Spoon was created and is to be awarded following the 2008 season

2008 Major League Soccer season

The 2008 Major League Soccer season was the 13th season in league history. The season began on March 29 and ended with MLS Cup 2008, on November 23 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California.-Changes from the 2007 season:...

. It was retroactively awarded to the worst teams in the previous season as well.

Since the 2000 season, the system of awarding points in the MLS is the same as the international standard, three points for a win, one for a draw, and no points for a loss. In the event of an end-of-season tie in total accumulated points, the win-loss record of head-to-head matchups between the tied teams is used as the first tiebreaker, goal difference

Goal difference

In sports such as ice hockey and association football, goal difference is often the first tiebreaker used to rank teams which finish a league competition with an equal number of points....

 as the second, and the total number of goals scored as the third.

Should these measures fail to resolve the tie, the fourth breaker takes the previous methods and applies them only to away games, the fifth does the same for games played at home, the sixth awards the title to the team with the fewest disciplinary points, and, failing that, the seventh and final tiebreaker is a coin toss. These are standard MLS regulations for breaking ties in point totals.

Winners of the Wooden Spoon

Year	Winners	Records W-L-T (SoW)	Points	Runners-up	Records W-L-T (SoW)	Points
1996	Colorado Rapids Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver suburb of Commerce City, Colorado which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league...	11-21 (2)	29	New England Revolution New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional association football club based in Foxborough, Massachusetts which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada...	15-17 (6)	33
1997	San Jose Clash San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes professional soccer team is located in the San Jose, California, United States suburb of Santa Clara, and participates in Major League Soccer , the top level soccer league in the United States and Canada....	12-20 (3)	30	MetroStars	13-19 (2)	35
1998	New England Revolution New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional association football club based in Foxborough, Massachusetts which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada...	11-21 (2)	29	Kansas City Wizards	12-20 (2)	32
1999	MetroStars	7-25 (3)	15	Kansas City Wizards	8-24 (2)	20
2000	San Jose Earthquakes San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes professional soccer team is located in the San Jose, California, United States suburb of Santa Clara, and participates in Major League Soccer , the top level soccer league in the United States and Canada....	7-17-8	29	D.C. United D.C. United D.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league since its inception, in 1996.Over the...	8-18-6	30
2001	Tampa Bay Mutiny Tampa Bay Mutiny The Tampa Bay Mutiny was a charter franchise of Major League Soccer active from 1996 - 2001. They initially played in Tampa Stadium and were immediately successful, winning the first MLS Supporters' Shield behind MLS MVP Carlos Valderrama and high-scoring forward Roy Lassiter, whose 27 goals in...	4-21-2	14	Colorado Rapids Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver suburb of Commerce City, Colorado which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league...	5-13-8	23
2002	D.C. United D.C. United D.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league since its inception, in 1996.Over the...	9-14-5	32	MetroStars	11-15-2	35
2003	Dallas Burn FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States of America and Canada...	6-19-5	23	Los Angeles Galaxy Los Angeles Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional soccer team, based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California, which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, and the league's second...	9-12-9	36
2004	Chicago Fire	8-13-9 *	33	New England Revolution New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional association football club based in Foxborough, Massachusetts which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada...	8-13-9 *	33
2005	C.D. Chivas USA C.D. Chivas USA Club Deportivo Chivas USA is an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California that competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States of America and Canada....	4-22-6	18	Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake is an American professional soccer club based in Sandy, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. The team competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. They currently play their home games at Rio Tinto Stadium. Real Salt Lake won...	5-22-5	20
2006	Columbus Crew Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada...	8-15-9	33	Kansas City Wizards	10-14-8	38
2007 2007 Major League Soccer season The 2007 Major League Soccer season was the 12th season in league history. The season began on April 7 and concluded with MLS Cup 2007 on November 18, 2007 at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C.....	Toronto FC Toronto FC Toronto FC is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto, Ontario which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada....	6-17-7	25	Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake is an American professional soccer club based in Sandy, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. The team competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. They currently play their home games at Rio Tinto Stadium. Real Salt Lake won...	6-15-9	27
2008 2008 Major League Soccer season The 2008 Major League Soccer season was the 13th season in league history. The season began on March 29 and ended with MLS Cup 2008, on November 23 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California.-Changes from the 2007 season:...	San Jose Earthquakes San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes professional soccer team is located in the San Jose, California, United States suburb of Santa Clara, and participates in Major League Soccer , the top level soccer league in the United States and Canada....	8-13-9 **	33	Los Angeles Galaxy Los Angeles Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional soccer team, based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California, which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, and the league's second...	8-13-9 **	33
2009 2009 Major League Soccer season The 2009 Major League Soccer season was the 14th season of Major League Soccer. The season began on March 19 and ended with Real Salt Lake winning the MLS Cup 2009, on November 22 at Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington-Changes from the 2008 season:...	New York Red Bulls	5-19-6	21	San Jose Earthquakes San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes professional soccer team is located in the San Jose, California, United States suburb of Santa Clara, and participates in Major League Soccer , the top level soccer league in the United States and Canada....	7-14-9	30
2010 2010 Major League Soccer season The 2010 Major League Soccer season was the 98th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 32nd with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada, and the 15th in MLS history. It began on March 25 at Seattle's Qwest Field with Seattle Sounders FC defeating the expansion...	D.C. United D.C. United D.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league since its inception, in 1996.Over the...	6-20-4	22	C.D. Chivas USA C.D. Chivas USA Club Deportivo Chivas USA is an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California that competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States of America and Canada....	8-18-4	28
2011 2011 Major League Soccer season The 2011 Major League Soccer season was the 99th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 33rd with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada, and the 16th season of Major League Soccer. The season marked the arrival of two new league clubs, Portland Timbers and Vancouver...	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	6-18-10 ***	28	New England Revolution New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional association football club based in Foxborough, Massachusetts which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada...	5-16-13 ***	28

• * Chicago lost the season series to New England with one win, two losses and one draw.

• ** San Jose lost the California Clasico
  California Clasico
  The California Clasico is a soccer rivalry between two Major League Soccer teams, the Los Angeles Galaxy and the San Jose Earthquakes, which existed from 1996 to 2005 and was resumed in 2008. This rivalry originated from the historical Northern California vs...
  
   that season with one win and two losses. http://la.galaxy.mlsnet.com/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20081026&content_id=199258&vkey=news_lag&fext=.jsp&team=t106
• *** Vancouver lost the season series to New England with zero wins, one loss, and one draw.
• Updated as of October 22, 2011

The Wooden Spoon's rebounds

A few Wooden Spoon winners have actually achieved remarkable turn-around after a bad regular season campaign, notable instances were:

• 1996
  Major League Soccer 1996 season
  - Stadiums :-Conference standings:-Overall standings:* - CONCACAF Champions' Cup berths awarded to the participants of MLS Cup 1996 -Playoff bracket:* Best of Three series winners will advance.-Conference semifinals:...
  
   winners Colorado Rapids
  Colorado Rapids
  The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver suburb of Commerce City, Colorado which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league...
  
   improved to 4th in the Western Conference (7th out of 10) with 38 points, and reached the MLS Cup
  MLS Cup
  The MLS Cup is the championship match of Major League Soccer, the highest tier of professional soccer in the United States and Canada. As the final match of the MLS Cup playoffs, the winner is crowned the season champion in the same manner as other North American sports leagues...
  
   final in the next season.

• 1999
  Major League Soccer 1999 season
  The 1999 Major League Soccer season was the 4th season in the league's history. This was the last season which used the 35 yard line shootout rule to resolve tied games.-MLS Cup Playoffs:*Best of Three series winner will advance.-Final standings:...
  
   winners MetroStars finished last overall with 15 points. In the next season, they finished 1st in the Eastern Conference (3rd out of 12) with 54 points, and reached the Eastern Conference playoff final.

• 2000
  Major League Soccer 2000 season
  -Final standings:*Top eight teams with the highest points clinch play-off berth, regardless of conference.s = Supporters Shieldx = Clinched Playoff berth.- Overall :Source:...
  
   winners San Jose Earthquakes
  San Jose Earthquakes
  The San Jose Earthquakes professional soccer team is located in the San Jose, California, United States suburb of Santa Clara, and participates in Major League Soccer , the top level soccer league in the United States and Canada....
  
   improved to 2nd in the Western Conference (4th out of 12) with 45 points, and won the MLS Cup
  MLS Cup
  The MLS Cup is the championship match of Major League Soccer, the highest tier of professional soccer in the United States and Canada. As the final match of the MLS Cup playoffs, the winner is crowned the season champion in the same manner as other North American sports leagues...
  
   in the next season.

• 2004
  Major League Soccer 2004 season
  This is a summary of the 2004 Major League Soccer season, which culminated with D.C. United winning its fourth MLS Cup championship.The biggest news in the beginning of the season was the signing of 14-year-old prodigy Freddy Adu, who made his debut as a substitute in United's season opener and...
  
   winners Chicago Fire finished last overall with 33 points. In the next season, they improved to 4th out of 10 (albeit only 3rd in the much more competitive Eastern Conference) with 49 points, and reached the Eastern Conference playoff final.

• 2005
  Major League Soccer 2005 season
  The 2005 Major League Soccer season was the tenth season of MLS, which began on April 2, 2005, and concluded on November 13, 2005 with a second MLS Cup victory for the Los Angeles Galaxy.-Changes from 2004 Season:...
  
   winners C.D. Chivas USA
  C.D. Chivas USA
  Club Deportivo Chivas USA is an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California that competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States of America and Canada....
  
   finished last overall with 18 points. In the next season, they more than doubled their points total with 43 points, and reached the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, having finished 3rd in the Western Conference (6th out of 12). In 2007, they improved even further by finishing as Supporters' Shield Runners-up with 53 points (almost tripled their 2005 total) and won the Western Conference.

• 2006 winners Columbus Crew
  Columbus Crew
  The Columbus Crew is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada...
  
   finished last overall with 33 points. In the next season, they improved slightly with 37 points, but four other teams finished with fewer points than them. In 2008
  2008 Major League Soccer season
  The 2008 Major League Soccer season was the 13th season in league history. The season began on March 29 and ended with MLS Cup 2008, on November 23 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California.-Changes from the 2007 season:...
  
  , they finished with 57 points and won the Supporters' Shield as well as the MLS Cup.

• 2009
  2009 Major League Soccer season
  The 2009 Major League Soccer season was the 14th season of Major League Soccer. The season began on March 19 and ended with Real Salt Lake winning the MLS Cup 2009, on November 22 at Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington-Changes from the 2008 season:...
  
   winners New York Red Bulls finished first in the Eastern Conference with 51 points on a record of 15-9-6 in 2010
  2010 Major League Soccer season
  The 2010 Major League Soccer season was the 98th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 32nd with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada, and the 15th in MLS history. It began on March 25 at Seattle's Qwest Field with Seattle Sounders FC defeating the expansion...
  
  ; the win and points totals far exceeded the previous season's total (21 points on a record of 5-19-6.)

Other significant recoveries

The following teams, though didn't finish exactly last, had recoveries worthy of note as well:

• In 1999
  Major League Soccer 1999 season
  The 1999 Major League Soccer season was the 4th season in the league's history. This was the last season which used the 35 yard line shootout rule to resolve tied games.-MLS Cup Playoffs:*Best of Three series winner will advance.-Final standings:...
  
  , Kansas City Wizards finished last in the Western Conference (11th out of 12) with 20 points. In the next season, they won the Supporters' Shield and the MLS Cup
  MLS Cup
  The MLS Cup is the championship match of Major League Soccer, the highest tier of professional soccer in the United States and Canada. As the final match of the MLS Cup playoffs, the winner is crowned the season champion in the same manner as other North American sports leagues...
  
  .

• In 2000
  Major League Soccer 2000 season
  -Final standings:*Top eight teams with the highest points clinch play-off berth, regardless of conference.s = Supporters Shieldx = Clinched Playoff berth.- Overall :Source:...
  
  , Miami Fusion F.C. finished 2nd last in the Eastern Conference (8th out of 12) with 41 points. In the next season, they improved to 53 points, and won the Supporters' Shield.

• In 2002
  Major League Soccer 2002 season
  The 2002 Major League Soccer season was the league's 7th of competition. On January 8, 2002, after only four years in existence, the Miami Fusion F.C. ceased operations due to low attendance and a unfavorable stadium deal, and the Tampa Bay Mutiny also ceased operations due to the lack of local...
  
  , Chicago Fire finished 8th out of 10 overall (albeit still good for 3rd in the Eastern Conference) with 37 points. In the next season, they improved to 53 points, and won the Supporters' Shield.

• In 2003
  Major League Soccer 2003 season
  -Changes From 2002:* Instead of a best-of-three series, the MLS Cup Playoffs changed their format so that the quarterfinal fixtures would be a home and away aggregate over two matches, the team with the higher seed would have the home game in the second leg. The two semifinals became one match...
  
  , Columbus Crew
  Columbus Crew
  The Columbus Crew is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada...
  
   finished last in the Eastern Conference (8th out of 10) with 38 points. In the next season, they improved to 49 points, and won the Supporters' Shield.

• In 2004
  Major League Soccer 2004 season
  This is a summary of the 2004 Major League Soccer season, which culminated with D.C. United winning its fourth MLS Cup championship.The biggest news in the beginning of the season was the signing of 14-year-old prodigy Freddy Adu, who made his debut as a substitute in United's season opener and...
  
  , New England Revolution
  New England Revolution
  The New England Revolution is an American professional association football club based in Foxborough, Massachusetts which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada...
  
   finished joint-last with 33 points as well (tied with last-placed Chicago Fire). In the next season, they finished 1st in the Eastern Conference (2nd out of 12) with 59 points, and reached the MLS Cup
  MLS Cup
  The MLS Cup is the championship match of Major League Soccer, the highest tier of professional soccer in the United States and Canada. As the final match of the MLS Cup playoffs, the winner is crowned the season champion in the same manner as other North American sports leagues...
  
   final.

• In 2004
  Major League Soccer 2004 season
  This is a summary of the 2004 Major League Soccer season, which culminated with D.C. United winning its fourth MLS Cup championship.The biggest news in the beginning of the season was the signing of 14-year-old prodigy Freddy Adu, who made his debut as a substitute in United's season opener and...
  
  , San Jose Earthquakes
  San Jose Earthquakes
  The San Jose Earthquakes professional soccer team is located in the San Jose, California, United States suburb of Santa Clara, and participates in Major League Soccer , the top level soccer league in the United States and Canada....
  
   finished 2nd last in the Western Conference (7th out of 10) with 38 points. In the next season, they improved to 64 points, and won the Supporters' Shield.

• In 2005
  Major League Soccer 2005 season
  The 2005 Major League Soccer season was the tenth season of MLS, which began on April 2, 2005, and concluded on November 13, 2005 with a second MLS Cup victory for the Los Angeles Galaxy.-Changes from 2004 Season:...
  
  , Real Salt Lake
  Real Salt Lake
  Real Salt Lake is an American professional soccer club based in Sandy, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. The team competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. They currently play their home games at Rio Tinto Stadium. Real Salt Lake won...
  
   finished 2nd last overall with 20 points. In the next season, they almost doubled their points total with 39 points, though that was still not enough to make the playoff for the first time in franchise history, having finished last in the Western Conference (10th out of 12).

• In 2007
  2007 Major League Soccer season
  The 2007 Major League Soccer season was the 12th season in league history. The season began on April 7 and concluded with MLS Cup 2007 on November 18, 2007 at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C.....
  
   Real Salt Lake
  Real Salt Lake
  Real Salt Lake is an American professional soccer club based in Sandy, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. The team competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. They currently play their home games at Rio Tinto Stadium. Real Salt Lake won...
  
   finished 2nd last overall with 27 points. The next season they improved to 40 points, third place in the Western Conference, and made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals before bowing out in the playoffs.

• In 2008
  2008 Major League Soccer season
  The 2008 Major League Soccer season was the 13th season in league history. The season began on March 29 and ended with MLS Cup 2008, on November 23 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California.-Changes from the 2007 season:...
  
  , Los Angeles Galaxy
  Los Angeles Galaxy
  The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional soccer team, based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California, which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, and the league's second...
  
   finished 2nd last overall with 33 points. In the next season they improved to 48 points, were first overall in the West, and went on to lose the 2009 MLS Cup to Real Salt Lake
  Real Salt Lake
  Real Salt Lake is an American professional soccer club based in Sandy, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. The team competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. They currently play their home games at Rio Tinto Stadium. Real Salt Lake won...
  
   on penalty kicks.

Number of Wooden Spoons by club

3: San Jose Earthquakes

San Jose Earthquakes

The San Jose Earthquakes professional soccer team is located in the San Jose, California, United States suburb of Santa Clara, and participates in Major League Soccer , the top level soccer league in the United States and Canada....

2: New York Red Bulls, D.C. United

D.C. United

D.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league since its inception, in 1996.Over the...

1: Colorado Rapids

Colorado Rapids

The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver suburb of Commerce City, Colorado which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league...

, New England Revolution

New England Revolution

The New England Revolution is an American professional association football club based in Foxborough, Massachusetts which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada...

, Tampa Bay Mutiny

Tampa Bay Mutiny

The Tampa Bay Mutiny was a charter franchise of Major League Soccer active from 1996 - 2001. They initially played in Tampa Stadium and were immediately successful, winning the first MLS Supporters' Shield behind MLS MVP Carlos Valderrama and high-scoring forward Roy Lassiter, whose 27 goals in...

 (defunct), FC Dallas

FC Dallas

FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States of America and Canada...

, Chicago Fire, C.D. Chivas USA

C.D. Chivas USA

Club Deportivo Chivas USA is an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California that competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States of America and Canada....

, Columbus Crew

Columbus Crew

The Columbus Crew is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada...

, Toronto FC

Toronto FC

Toronto FC is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto, Ontario which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada....

, Vancouver Whitecaps FC

0: Houston Dynamo

Houston Dynamo

The Houston Dynamo is an American professional soccer club, based in Houston, Texas, that plays in Major League Soccer, the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. Founded in 2005 as Houston 1836, the team name was renamed to Houston Dynamo following protests from Hispanic...

, Los Angeles Galaxy

Los Angeles Galaxy

The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional soccer team, based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California, which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, and the league's second...

, Miami Fusion F.C. (defunct), Philadelphia Union, Portland Timbers

Portland Timbers

Portland Timbers may refer to any of four distinct professional soccer teams:*Portland Timbers, a Major League Soccer expansion team that began playing in 2011....

, Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake is an American professional soccer club based in Sandy, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. The team competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. They currently play their home games at Rio Tinto Stadium. Real Salt Lake won...

, Seattle Sounders FC

Seattle Sounders FC

Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional soccer club based in Seattle, Washington. The club competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. Sounders FC was established in November 2007 as a MLS expansion team, making it the 15th team in...

, Sporting Kansas City

Team	Titles	Runners-up
San Jose Earthquakes San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes professional soccer team is located in the San Jose, California, United States suburb of Santa Clara, and participates in Major League Soccer , the top level soccer league in the United States and Canada....	3 (1997, 2000, 2008 2008 Major League Soccer season The 2008 Major League Soccer season was the 13th season in league history. The season began on March 29 and ended with MLS Cup 2008, on November 23 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California.-Changes from the 2007 season:... )	1 (2009 2009 Major League Soccer season The 2009 Major League Soccer season was the 14th season of Major League Soccer. The season began on March 19 and ended with Real Salt Lake winning the MLS Cup 2009, on November 22 at Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington-Changes from the 2008 season:... )
New York Red Bulls	2 (1999, 2009 2009 Major League Soccer season The 2009 Major League Soccer season was the 14th season of Major League Soccer. The season began on March 19 and ended with Real Salt Lake winning the MLS Cup 2009, on November 22 at Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington-Changes from the 2008 season:... )	2 (1997, 2002)
D.C. United D.C. United D.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league since its inception, in 1996.Over the...	2 (2002, 2010 2010 Major League Soccer season The 2010 Major League Soccer season was the 98th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 32nd with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada, and the 15th in MLS history. It began on March 25 at Seattle's Qwest Field with Seattle Sounders FC defeating the expansion... )	1 (2000)
New England Revolution New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional association football club based in Foxborough, Massachusetts which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada...	1 (1998)	3 (1996, 2004, 2011 2011 Major League Soccer season The 2011 Major League Soccer season was the 99th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 33rd with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada, and the 16th season of Major League Soccer. The season marked the arrival of two new league clubs, Portland Timbers and Vancouver... )
Colorado Rapids Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver suburb of Commerce City, Colorado which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league...	1 (1996)	1 (2001)
C.D. Chivas USA C.D. Chivas USA Club Deportivo Chivas USA is an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California that competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States of America and Canada....	1 (2005)	1 (2010 2010 Major League Soccer season The 2010 Major League Soccer season was the 98th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 32nd with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada, and the 15th in MLS history. It began on March 25 at Seattle's Qwest Field with Seattle Sounders FC defeating the expansion... )
Vancouver Whitecaps FC	1 (2011 2011 Major League Soccer season The 2011 Major League Soccer season was the 99th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 33rd with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada, and the 16th season of Major League Soccer. The season marked the arrival of two new league clubs, Portland Timbers and Vancouver... )	-
Toronto FC Toronto FC Toronto FC is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto, Ontario which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada....	1 (2007 2007 Major League Soccer season The 2007 Major League Soccer season was the 12th season in league history. The season began on April 7 and concluded with MLS Cup 2007 on November 18, 2007 at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C..... )	-
Columbus Crew Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada...	1 (2006)	-
Chicago Fire	1 (2004)	-
FC Dallas FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States of America and Canada...	1 (2003)	-
Tampa Bay Mutiny Tampa Bay Mutiny The Tampa Bay Mutiny was a charter franchise of Major League Soccer active from 1996 - 2001. They initially played in Tampa Stadium and were immediately successful, winning the first MLS Supporters' Shield behind MLS MVP Carlos Valderrama and high-scoring forward Roy Lassiter, whose 27 goals in...	1 (2001)	-
Sporting Kansas City	-	3 (1998, 1999, 2006)
Los Angeles Galaxy Los Angeles Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional soccer team, based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California, which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, and the league's second...	-	2 (2003, 2008 2008 Major League Soccer season The 2008 Major League Soccer season was the 13th season in league history. The season began on March 29 and ended with MLS Cup 2008, on November 23 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California.-Changes from the 2007 season:... )
Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake is an American professional soccer club based in Sandy, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. The team competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. They currently play their home games at Rio Tinto Stadium. Real Salt Lake won...	-	2 (2005, 2007 2007 Major League Soccer season The 2007 Major League Soccer season was the 12th season in league history. The season began on April 7 and concluded with MLS Cup 2007 on November 18, 2007 at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C..... )
Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo The Houston Dynamo is an American professional soccer club, based in Houston, Texas, that plays in Major League Soccer, the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. Founded in 2005 as Houston 1836, the team name was renamed to Houston Dynamo following protests from Hispanic...	-	-
Miami Fusion F.C.	-	-
Philadelphia Union	-	-
Portland Timbers Portland Timbers Portland Timbers may refer to any of four distinct professional soccer teams:*Portland Timbers, a Major League Soccer expansion team that began playing in 2011....	-	-
Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional soccer club based in Seattle, Washington. The club competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. Sounders FC was established in November 2007 as a MLS expansion team, making it the 15th team in...	-	-

Rowing

"Spoons" are awarded to Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

 and Cambridge rowing crews who are bumped down every day of the Bumps race

Bumps race

A bumps race is a form of rowing race in which a number of boats chase each other in single file, each boat attempting to catch and "bump" the boat in front without being caught by the boat behind....

s, or to the boat finishing bottom of the river, something usually to be avoided. In theory, such a crew is allowed to paint a wooden spoon in their club colours and write their names on it as a trophy of their "achievement": this is rarely done but occasionally done by the less serious "beer boats" in the May (summer) Races.

Rugby Union

How the Cambridge wooden spoon idea came to be used in rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 is not exactly known, but in the early years of what is now the Six Nations Championship

Six Nations Championship

The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....

 there were many Cambridge graduates playing, so they may have attempted to preserve the concept after the last one was awarded in 1909. It is certain, in any case, that the tradition first arose in Cambridge and rugby adopted and perpetuated the tradition. In 1894 the South Wales Daily Post remarked that within the Home Nations Championships the 'Ireland

Ireland national rugby union team

The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...

-Wales

Wales national rugby union team

The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...

 match has been to decide which team should be recipient of the ignominious Wooden Spoon'; one of the earliest mentions of the term within rugby union.

The Wooden Spoon is awarded to the team who finishes at the bottom of the table in the RBS 6 Nations

Six Nations Championship

The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....

 held every year between Wales, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and England. No physical wooden spoon

Wooden spoon

A wooden spoon is a spoon made from wood, commonly used in food preparation.- History :The word spoon derives from an ancient word meaning a chip of wood or horn carved from a larger piece. Wooden spoons were easy to carve and thus inexpensive, making them common throughout history.The Iron Age...

 exists or has ever existed in the case of rugby, however.

Such is the stigma of the award that the 'winners' will sometimes claim that the Wooden Spoon should only be held by those who win no games at all, but this achievement is properly known as a whitewash

Whitewash (sport)

A whitewash is an informal term in sport describing a game or series in which the losing person or team fails to score.A whitewash may be in a single game where the loser fails to score any points or goals, or in a series where the loser fails to win a game...

.

RBS 6 Nations Wooden Spoon

Recipients of the Wooden Spoon in the 21st century

#	Team	Spoons	Years
1	Italy Italy national rugby union team The Italy national rugby union team represent the nation of Italy in the sport of rugby union. The team is also known as the Azzurri . Italy have been playing international rugby since the late 1920s, and since 2000 compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland,...	9	2000 2000 Six Nations Championship The 2000 Six Nations Championship was the first series of the Six Nations Championship, following the inclusion of Italy into the Five Nations championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the hundred-and-sixth series of the northern hemisphere... , 2001 2001 Six Nations Championship The 2001 Six Nations Championship was the second series of the Six Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the hundred-and-seventh series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. The tournament was marred by an outbreak of... *, 2002 2002 Six Nations Championship The 2002 Six Nations Championship was the third series of the Six Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the hundred-and-eighth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship... *, 2005 2005 Six Nations Championship The 2005 RBS 6 Nations Championship was the sixth series of the Six Nations Championship to be held since the competition expanded in 2000 to include Italy... *, 2006 2006 Six Nations Championship The 2006 RBS 6 Nations Championship was the seventh series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship to be held since the competition expanded in 2000 to include Italy... *, 2008 2008 Six Nations Championship The 2008 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2008 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the ninth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the 114th... , 2009 2009 Six Nations Championship The 2009 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2009 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the tenth Six Nations Championship, an annual rugby union competition contested by the six major Northern Hemisphere rugby union national teams... *, 2010 2010 Six Nations Championship The 2010 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2010 RBS 6 Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 11th series of the Six Nations Championship, an annual rugby union competition between the six major Northern Hemisphere rugby union national teams... , 2011 2011 Six Nations Championship The 2011 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2011 RBS 6 Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 12th series of the Six Nations Championship. The annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship was contested by England, France, Ireland, Italy,...
2	Scotland Scotland national rugby union team The Scotland national rugby union team represent Scotland in international rugby union. Rugby union in Scotland is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union. The Scotland rugby union team is currently ranked eighth in the IRB World Rankings as of 19 September 2011...	2	2004 2004 Six Nations Championship The 2004 Six Nations Championship was the fifth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship to be held since the competition expanded in 2000 to include Italy. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the hundred-and-tenth series of the northern... *, 2007 2007 Six Nations Championship The 2007 RBS 6 Nations Championship was the eighth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the 113th series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship...
3	Wales Wales national rugby union team The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...	1	2003 2003 Six Nations Championship The 2003 Six Nations Championship was the fourth series of the Six Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the hundred-and-ninth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship... *

(*) Whitewash

In 1983, a group of English rugby union supporters, while drinking in a Dublin bar and commiserating over England's award of the Wooden Spoon in the then Five nations championship for that year, decided to form a charity. It was named the Wooden Spoon Society

Wooden Spoon Society

Wooden Spoon is a children's charity founded in 1983, when the England rugby team received the Wooden Spoon in the 5 Nations. Spoon is dedicated to helping children and young people who are disadvantaged physically, mentally or socially by using sport as a method of improving lives while...

and raises funds for disadvantaged children in the UK and Ireland. Today (2011) it is recognised as the official charity of British and Irish rugby. It has a small central office, over 40 voluntary regional committees, 10,000 social members, and has distributed over £16m and helped over 500,000 children and young people.

Australian and New Zealand sports

The term is commonly used in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n and New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 sporting competitions, most notably in the major Australian rules, association and rugby football leagues (such as the NRL

National Rugby League

The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...

, ITM Cup, the AFL

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

 and the A-League

A-League

The A-League is the top Australasian professional football league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia , it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company...

) and the to refer to the club positioned last on the league table at the end of a season.

Matches played between teams near or at the bottom of the ladder are sometimes dubbed by the media as a "wooden spoon battle", especially if held near the end of a regular season.

1916 Wooden Spoon

In the war-time VFL

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

 season of 1916, only four teams competed. Fitzroy finished last after the home-and-away season with a record of two wins, nine losses and one draw (2–9–1), and Richmond finished third with a record of 5–7–0. Fitzroy then won three consecutive finals games to claim the premiership, with Richmond shifting into overall last place as the lowest placed semi-final loser. There is hence some uncertainty regarding which team won the wooden spoon in that season.

One side of the debate says that since Fitzroy performed most poorly during the bulk of the season, they deserved the ignominy of the spoon. Conversely, official AFL rankings today will order teams according to their finals finishing order when considering the allocation of draft picks – had a draft existed in 1916, Richmond would have been officially recorded as the overall bottom team, and received the first pick as consolation.

The other consideration is the final winning records. After the finals had finished, Fitzroy's final record was 5–9–1 from fifteen games, with a winning percentage of 36.7%, and Richmond's final record was 5–8–0 from thirteen games, with a winning percentage of 38.4%. So, Fitzroy won more games, and Richmond had a better winning percentage.

The VFL/AFL has never sanctioned a wooden spoon award, so there is no way to categorically state which team "officially" won it. There is an argument to state that both teams lay claim to the 1916 spoon, and this is reflected in the table below. The entire confusing situation is now a regular Melburnian trivia night question.

Records and trivia

• Of the original VFL teams, who began in 1897, Carlton
  Carlton Football Club
  The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
  
   managed to avoid the wooden spoon the longest, finally claiming the spoon in 2002 after 106 seasons. Collingwood
  Collingwood Football Club
  The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
  
   took the second-longest, claiming it in 1976. Prior to that, the question of who would receive it first was one of the factors that contributed to the traditional Carlton
  Carlton Football Club
  The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
  
  -Collingwood
  Collingwood Football Club
  The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
  
   rivalry.
• Essendon
  Essendon Football Club
  The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
  
   (1907–1908, six position improvement) and Collingwood
  Collingwood Football Club
  The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
  
   (1976–1977, ten positions) are the only teams to have received the wooden spoon in one season and proceeded to the Grand Final the next season. No team has yet earned the spoon and then won the Grand Final the following season.
• Melbourne, Brisbane and West Coast
  West Coast Eagles
  The West Coast Eagles are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League. The club is based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and played its first games in the 1987 season. Its current home ground is Subiaco Oval...
  
   jointly hold the record for the best recovery from a wooden spoon by number of positions, with a twelve-position improvement; Melbourne finished 16th in 1997 and rose to 4th in 1998. Brisbane finished 16th in 1998 and rose to 4th in 1999 under Leigh Matthews
  Leigh Matthews
  Leigh Raymond "Lethal Leigh" Matthews AM is a former player and coach of Australian rules football. He played for Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League from 1969 to 1985, coached Collingwood from 1986–1995, and coached the Brisbane Lions from 1999 to 2008...
  
  . West Coast finished 16th in 2010 and rose to 4th in 2011 under John Worsfold
  John Worsfold
  John Worsfold is a former Australian rules footballer who represented in the West Australian Football League and the West Coast Eagles in the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League . He also represented Western Australia in State of Origin matches...
  
  .
• Carlton
  Carlton Football Club
  The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
  
   is the only team to have won the pre-season series
  Australian Football League pre-season competition
  The Australian Football League pre-season competition, which is known at present as the NAB Cup, is a competition held before the beginning of the Australian Football League premiership season...
  
   and gone on to receive the wooden spoon in the season proper, in 2005.
• Of all the original teams from 1897, the Essendon Football Club
  Essendon Football Club
  The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
  
   currently holds the longest wooden spoon "drought", having not won it since 1933.

AFL Wooden Spoons

Current AFL clubs are shown in bold.

#	Team	Spoons	Years
1	St Kilda 1897–	26	1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1904, 1909, 1910, 1920, 1924, 1943, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1977, 1979, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 2000
2	North Melbourne / Kangaroos North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world...  1925–	13	1926, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1940, 1956, 1961, 1968, 1970, 1972
3	Melbourne Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....  1897–	12	1905, 1906, 1919, 1923, 1951, 1969, 1974, 1978, 1981, 1997, 2008, 2009
4	Hawthorn Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League . The club, founded in 1902, is the youngest of the Victorian-based teams in the AFL. The team play in Brown & Gold vertically striped guernseys...  1925–	11	1925, 1927, 1928, 1932, 1941, 1942, 1946, 1949, 1950, 1953, 1965
4	South Melbourne / Sydney Swans Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney...  1897–	11	1903, 1922, 1938, 1939, 1962, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1992, 1993, 1994
6	Fitzroy Fitzroy Football Club The Fitzroy Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League on its inception in 1897...  1897–1996	8*	(1916*), 1936, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1980, 1995, 1996
7	Richmond Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...  1908–	7*	(1916*), 1917, 1960, 1987, 1989, 2004, 2007
8	Geelong Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...  1897–	5	1908, 1915, 1944, 1957, 1958
9	Footscray / Western Bulldogs Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...  1925–	4	1959, 1967, 1982, 2003
9	Essendon Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...  1897–	4	1907, 1918, 1921, 1933
9	University 1908–1914	4	1911, 1912, 1913, 1914
12	Carlton Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...  1897–	3	2002, 2005, 2006
12	Brisbane Bears Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Bears was an Australian rules football club and the first Queensland-based club in the Victorian Football League . The club played its first match in 1987, but struggled on and off the field until it made the finals for the first time in 1995...  1987–1996	2	1990, 1991
14	Collingwood Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...  1897–	2	1976, 1999
15	West Coast Eagles West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League. The club is based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and played its first games in the 1987 season. Its current home ground is Subiaco Oval...  1987–	1	2010
15	Fremantle Fremantle Football Club The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed The Dockers, is an Australian rules football team which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in the port city of Fremantle at the mouth of the Swan River in Western Australia...  1995–	1	2001
15	Brisbane Lions Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...  1997–	1	1998
18	Gold Coast 2011–	1	2011
19	Adelaide 1991–	Nil
19	Port Adelaide Port Adelaide Football Club The Port Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, which plays in the Australian Football League and the South Australian National Football League...  1997–	Nil

(*) See explanation of 1916 wooden spoon above.

Australian rugby league (NSWRL/ARL/SL/NRL)

• The Bulldogs finished last in 2002 because the NRL deducted 37 competition points for gross salary cap breaches; without the penalty, South Sydney would have received the wooden spoon. In 2008 however, the Bulldogs won the wooden spoon after winning only five games for that season, its first last placing for winning the least number of games since 1964.
• The Melbourne Storm
  Melbourne Storm
  The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....
  
   finished last in 2010 because the NRL deducted eight premiership points and barred them from receiving premiership points for the rest of the season for gross long-term salary-cap breaches; without the penalty, North Queensland would have received the wooden spoon.
• Manly-Warringah
  Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
  The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership, the premier rugby league competition of Australasia...
  
   have never won the wooden spoon since their inception in 1947; the closest they have come was in 2003 when they finished 14th. In fact, they currently have the longest wooden spoon drought of any foundation team.
• Of the other original clubs, Balmain had a longer wooden spoon drought (63 years), from 1911–74. St George had played 61 seasons without finishing last, and the joint venture between St George and Illawarra have had a further 11 seasons without a last placing.
• The closest Wests Tigers
  Wests Tigers
  The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's mid-western suburbs. They have competed in the National Rugby League since they were formed at the end of the 1999 season as a joint-venture club between the Balmain Tigers and the Western Suburbs...
  
   came to winning the spoon was in 2002, when it finished 13th because of the Bulldogs' salary cap scandal (see above). Without the penalty, they would have finished 14th.
• After a 2005 game between the St George Illawarra Dragons
  St George Illawarra Dragons
  The St George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing the St. George and Illawarra regions. They have competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 as a joint venture between Sydney's historic St. George Dragons club and 1982 expansion club, the...
  
   and the Newcastle Knights, Newcastle captain Andrew Johns
  Andrew Johns
  Andrew Gary "Joey" Johns is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s who is considered by many to be the greatest player of all time. He was heralded as the world's best halfback for a number of years...
  
   was "presented" with the wooden spoon by an Oki Jubilee Stadium
  Oki Jubilee Stadium
  Jubilee Oval is one of two home stadiums used by the St. George Illawarra Dragons team, a rugby league club that plays in Australasia's National Rugby League. The R2K entity was instrumental in ensuring that NRL matches were played at Kogarah from 2003 onwards...
  
   spectator. The following day Reg Reagan (a.k.a. Matthew Johns
  Matthew Johns
  Matthew Johns is an Australian rugby league football commentator and former professional player...
  
  ) presented him with the spoon on his way to a successful brief stint with the Warrington Wolves
  Warrington Wolves
  Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league football club based in Warrington, England that competes in Super League. They play at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2003....
  
  .
• A picture in a The Daily Telegraph
  The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
  The Daily Telegraph is an Australian tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Nationwide News, part of News Corporation.The Tele, as it is also known, was founded in 1879. From 1936 to 1972, it was owned by Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press. That year it was sold to...
  
  article in 2005 depicts then-Rabbitohs captain Ashley Harrison
  Ashley Harrison
  Ashley Harrison is an Australian professional rugby league footballer for the Gold Coast Titans of the NRL...
  
   holding the spoon; the spoon was inserted thanks to some digital media magic.
• Season 2009 saw the Sydney Roosters
  Sydney Roosters
  The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League and is one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Australian rugby league history, having won twelve New South Wales Rugby League...
  
   finish with the wooden spoon for the first time since 1966, when it failed to win a match all season. The Roosters won five games in 2009. Interestingly, they made a huge rebound to make the 2010 NRL Grand Final
  2010 NRL Grand Final
  The 2010 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2010 NRL season. Played on Sunday, 3 October at Sydney's ANZ Stadium, the match was contested by the St. George Illawarra Dragons and the Sydney Roosters. It was the first time the two sides met in a grand final. They...
  
   the following year, only to lose to the St George Illawarra Dragons
  St George Illawarra Dragons
  The St George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing the St. George and Illawarra regions. They have competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 as a joint venture between Sydney's historic St. George Dragons club and 1982 expansion club, the...
  
  .

The tallies of wooden spoon winning teams at the top level of rugby league in Australia.

	Team	No.	SP	Years
1	Western Suburbs Magpies Western Suburbs Magpies The Western Suburbs Magpies are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly referred to, were one of the nine foundation clubs of the first New South Wales Rugby League competition in Australia...	17	92	1909, 1910, 1912, 1913, 1916, 1933, 1940, 1942, 1953, 1955, 1971, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1998, 1999
2	Parramatta Eels Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, with their First Grade side playing their first season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League...	11	63	1947, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1970, 1972
3	University	10	18	1921, 1923, 1927, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937
4	North Sydney Bears North Sydney Bears The North Sydney Bears are an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. They currently compete in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 92 years of top-grade competition. The Bears are based on...	9	92	1915, 1917, 1919, 1932, 1941, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1979
5	Newtown Jets Newtown Jets The Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, a suburb of Sydney's inner west. They currently compete in the NSWRL Premier League competition, having left the top grade after the 1983 NSWRFL season...	8	76	1924, 1925, 1928, 1939, 1968, 1976, 1977, 1978
6	South Sydney Rabbitohs South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in Redfern, a suburb of South-central Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital...	8	100	1945, 1946, 1962, 1975, 1990, 2003, 2004, 2006
7	Canterbury Bulldogs Canterbury Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership, as well as New South Wales Rugby League junior competitions...	5	75	1943, 1944, 1964, 2002*, 2008
8	Sydney Roosters Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League and is one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Australian rugby league history, having won twelve New South Wales Rugby League...	5	102	1949, 1963, 1965, 1966, 2009
8	Balmain Tigers Balmain Tigers The Balmain Tigers are a rugby league football club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in the history of the premiership, with eleven titles...	4	92	1911, 1974, 1981, 1994
8	Penrith Panthers Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership, the top rugby league football competition in Australasia. For the 2012 NRL season they will be coached by Ivan...	4	43	1973, 1980, 2001, 2007
12	Gold Coast Chargers Gold Coast Chargers Gold Coast were a professional Rugby league football club which played in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership from 1988 to 1994, the Australian Rugby League premiership from 1995 to 1997, and the National Rugby League premiership in 1998...	3	11	1991, 1992, 1993
12	Annandale	3	11	1914, 1918, 1920
12	North Queensland Cowboys North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, Queensland. They compete in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership...	3	15	1995, 1997 (SL), 2000
12	Illawarra Steelers Illawarra Steelers The Illawarra Steelers are an Australian rugby league football club based in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales. The club competed in Australia's top-level Rugby League competition from 1982, when they, along with the Canberra Raiders, were admitted into the then New South Wales Rugby Football...	3	17	1985, 1986, 1989
12	St. George Dragons St. George Dragons The St George Dragons was an Australian Rugby league football club in St George, Sydney, New South Wales that played in Australia's top-level Rugby league competition from New South Wales Rugby Football League in 1921 until 1998; in 1999 they formed a joint venture with the Illawarra Steelers,...	3	78	1922, 1926, 1938
17	South Queensland Crushers South Queensland Crushers The South Queensland Crushers were an Australian rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. In 1992 it was decided that the team would be admitted into the New South Wales Rugby League competition, along with three other teams, as part of the League's expansion plans for professional...	2	3	1996, 1997
17	Cronulla Sharks Cronulla Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are Australian professional Rugby league team based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales...	2	43	1967, 1969
19	Cumberland	1	1	1908
19	Melbourne Storm Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....	1	12	2010*
19	Newcastle Knights Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership...	1	22	2005
19	Canberra Raiders Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership since 1982...	1	28	1982
23	Gold Coast Titans Gold Coast Titans Gold Coast Titans are an Australian professional rugby league football club, based in the Gold Coast, Queensland. The club competes in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership. It is the newest of the sixteen clubs in the league, having commenced its...	1	3	2011
24	Hunter Mariners Hunter Mariners The Hunter Mariners were an Australian rugby league club based in the Hunter Valley region's largest city, Newcastle. Hunter was formed in mid 1995 and was later disbanded at the end of 1997. The club was formed because of the Super League war, which was the rivalry between the traditional...	0	1
25	Adelaide Rams Adelaide Rams The Adelaide Rams were an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The team was formed in 1995 for the planned rebel Super League competition, which eventually ran parallel to the rival Australian Rugby League competition in 1997...	0	2
26	Newcastle Rebels Newcastle Rebels Newcastle were a rugby league team who played in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership from 1908–1909, one of the nine foundation clubs. After the formation of several clubs in January 1908, members of the NSWRFL came to Newcastle to hold talks with the local footballing community...	0	2
27	Northern Eagles Northern Eagles The Northern Eagles were a rugby league team, that competed in the National Rugby League between 2000 and 2002. The club was formed during the rationalisation process of the NRL by the merger of the North Sydney Bears and the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in 2000...	0	3
28	Western Reds	0	3
29	Wests Tigers Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's mid-western suburbs. They have competed in the National Rugby League since they were formed at the end of the 1999 season as a joint-venture club between the Balmain Tigers and the Western Suburbs...	0	10
30	St George Illawarra Dragons St George Illawarra Dragons The St George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing the St. George and Illawarra regions. They have competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 as a joint venture between Sydney's historic St. George Dragons club and 1982 expansion club, the...	0	11
31	New Zealand Warriors New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership and are the League's only team from outside Australia...	0	15
32	Brisbane Broncos Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the city of Brisbane, the capital of the state of Queensland. Founded in 1988, the Broncos play in Australasia's elite competition, the National Rugby League premiership. They have won six premierships and two...	0	22
33	Glebe	0	22
34	Manly Sea Eagles	0	60
SP denotes seasons played

National Youth Competition (Toyota Cup) wooden spoons

	Team	No.	SP	Years
1	North Queensland Cowboys North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, Queensland. They compete in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership...	1	4	2008
1	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	1	4	2009
1	Parramatta Eels Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, with their First Grade side playing their first season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League...	1	4	2010
1	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership, the premier rugby league competition of Australasia...	1	4	2011
2	Brisbane Broncos Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the city of Brisbane, the capital of the state of Queensland. Founded in 1988, the Broncos play in Australasia's elite competition, the National Rugby League premiership. They have won six premierships and two...	0	4
2	Canberra Raiders Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership since 1982...	0	4
2	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	0	4
2	Gold Coast Titans Gold Coast Titans Gold Coast Titans are an Australian professional rugby league football club, based in the Gold Coast, Queensland. The club competes in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership. It is the newest of the sixteen clubs in the league, having commenced its...	0	4
2	Melbourne Storm Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....	0	4
2	New Zealand Warriors New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership and are the League's only team from outside Australia...	0	4
2	Newcastle Knights Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership...	0	4
2	Penrith Panthers Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership, the top rugby league football competition in Australasia. For the 2012 NRL season they will be coached by Ivan...	0	4
2	South Sydney Rabbitohs South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in Redfern, a suburb of South-central Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital...	0	4
2	St. George Illawarra Dragons	0	4
2	Sydney Roosters Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League and is one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Australian rugby league history, having won twelve New South Wales Rugby League...	0	4
2	Wests Tigers Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's mid-western suburbs. They have competed in the National Rugby League since they were formed at the end of the 1999 season as a joint-venture club between the Balmain Tigers and the Western Suburbs...	0	4
SP denotes seasons played

Australian Association Football (A-League)

• New Zealand Knights FC
  New Zealand Knights FC
  This page details the history of the club. For information on seasons and results see New Zealand Knights seasons 2005-06 and 2006-07New Zealand Knights Football Club were the only professional football club in New Zealand before they became defunct...
  
   has a 100% success rate at winning the A-League
  A-League
  The A-League is the top Australasian professional football league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia , it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company...
  
   wooden spoon. During their two season stint in the A-League from 2005 to 2007 they finished bottom of the ladder on both occasions and managed to score only 25 points.
• New Zealand Football clubs were awarded the first three A-League wooden spoons. It wasn't until Newcastle United Jets FC finished bottom of the ladder at the end of the 2008-09 A-League Season that an Australian team was awarded the wooden spoon.
• Newcastle United Jets FC experienced the biggest drop in form after becoming A-League Champions after winning the 2008 A-League Grand Final
  A-League Grand Final 2008
  The 2008 A-League Grand Final took place at Sydney Football Stadium in Sydney, Australia on 24 February 2008. It was the first A-League Grand Final played at a neutral home ground, due to Bluetongue Stadium being deemed by the FFA to not have a sufficient capacity to hold the centrepiece of the...
  
   and then going on to win the wooden spoon in the next season.

Current clubs shown in bold.

#	Team	Spoons	Seasons	Years
1	New Zealand Knights New Zealand Knights FC This page details the history of the club. For information on seasons and results see New Zealand Knights seasons 2005-06 and 2006-07New Zealand Knights Football Club were the only professional football club in New Zealand before they became defunct...	2	2	2005-06, 2006–07
2	North Queenslad Fury North Queensland Fury FC North Queensland Fury FC were a professional football club based in Townsville, Queensland, Australia, which competed in the A-League. North Queensland played its home fixtures at Dairy Farmers Stadium. The club was closed on 1 March 2011, due to financial instability.-History:A Townsville bid was...	1	2	2010-11
3	Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix FC Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. The club competes in the Football Federation of Australia A-League. Ricki Herbert has been the coach since the club's inception to the A-League in July 2007. The current club captain is...	1	4	2007-08
4	Newcastle Jets	1	6	2008-09
4	Adelaide United Adelaide United FC Adelaide United Football Club is a professional football club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. It currently participates in the A-League as the sole team from the state of South Australia. Adelaide is one of the most successful clubs in the A-League. The club's home ground is...	1	6	2009-10
5	Melbourne Heart Melbourne Heart FC Melbourne Heart FC is an Australian professional football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 2008, the club has competed in the A-League, the highest division of football in Australia, since its inaugural 2010–2011 season. It is the twelfth club to have played in the league...	0	1
6	Gold Coast United	0	2
8	Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners FC Central Coast Mariners Football Club is a professional football club based on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. They participate in the A-League and are one of three teams from the state of New South Wales playing in the competition...	0	6
8	Brisbane Roar	0	6
8	Melbourne Victory	0	6
8	Perth Glory Perth Glory FC Perth Glory Football Club is a professional football club in Perth, Western Australia, Australia, competing in Australia's top football competition the A-League. Perth Glory is one of only three clubs to survive from the now defunct National Soccer League...	0	6
8	Sydney FC Sydney FC Sydney FC is a professional football club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and competes in the country's premier football competition, the A-League...	0	6

The wooden spoon in British ice hockey

The wooden spoon has also become a tradition amongst the supporters of British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

.

The tradition began in 1999 after a less than successful inaugural season for the London Knights

London Knights (UK)

London Knights were an English ice hockey team based in London. They first played in the UK's Ice Hockey Superleague in September 1998 and finally folded in April 2003....

, who had collected just ten wins and finished comfortably bottom of the Superleague

Ice Hockey Superleague

The Ice Hockey Superleague was a professional ice hockey league in the United Kingdom between 1996 and 2003. Formed in 1995, it replaced the Premier Division of the British Hockey League, it was the highest level of ice hockey competition in the United Kingdom...

. A group of London fans subsequently purchased a large wooden spoon in order to mark this fact which was proudly displayed amongst their supporters at the Play-Off Finals weekend in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

.

Twelve months later the spoon returned to the Finals weekend, when it was given to a supporter of the Newcastle Riverkings, who had won just eleven times in forty-two games and had finished bottom of the Superleague by sixteen points. The tradition was born, each year at the Finals weekend the spoon is presented by the previous recipient to a supporter of the club which finished bottom of the league. That supporter is then entrusted with its safe keeping for the following twelve months and must bring it to the following Finals weekend in order to pass it on to a fan of the next club to have the 'honour' of receiving the reward. The tradition continued after the Superleague disbanded and was replaced by the Elite Ice Hockey League

Elite Ice Hockey League

Several competitions fall under the jurisdiction of the Elite League. In 2006–07, the EIHL ran a total of four competitions: the league, playoffs, Challenge Cup and Knockout Cup. The league consists of a single division, each team playing three home games and three away games against the other...

 in 2003.

The Wooden Spoon is almost entirely a tradition amongst fans, though in 2005, Basingstoke Bison

Basingstoke Bison

The Basingstoke Bison are an English Ice Hockey club from Basingstoke. They currently compete in the English Premier Ice Hockey League and have previously been members of the Ice Hockey Superleague and its successor the Elite Ice Hockey League- History :...

 head coach Mark Bernard accepted it on behalf of his team. The Spoon has had engraved onto it the name of each of its recipient clubs and remarkably has never been lost or misplaced and found its way back to the Finals weekend every year.

Rather ominously, only three of the eight recipient clubs so far continue to exist and only the two most recent 'winners' continue to play ice hockey in the country's highest league.

• 1998–99 – London Knights
  London Knights
  The London Knights are a junior ice hockey team from London, Ontario, Canada, playing in the Ontario Hockey League, one of the leagues of the Canadian Hockey League.-Early days–1968:...
  
   – The Knights won the play-off final the following season, but ceased operations in 2003 following the sale and closure of their London Arena
  London Arena
  The London Arena was an indoor arena and exhibition centre, on the Isle of Dogs, in East London, England...
  
   home.
• 1999-00 – Newcastle Riverkings – The Riverkings franchise was sold and the new owners renamed the club the Jesters.
• 2000–01 – Newcastle Jesters
  Newcastle Jesters
  The Newcastle Jesters were an ice hockey franchise based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. The team were members of the Ice Hockey Superleague and played their home games at the Telewest Arena .-Single Season of Jesters :...
  
   – The Jester played only a single season. After the 2000–01 season, it was revealed that the club had large debts and were barred from signing players until these were settled. The club folded midway through the 2001–02 season having not been able to fulfil a single fixture.
• 2001–02 – Manchester Storm
  Manchester Storm
  The Manchester Storm were an ice hockey team from Manchester, England. The team formed in 1995, playing their home games at the then newly built Nynex Arena . Storm won the British Hockey League Division One in their first season, watched by an average crowd of 6,342...
  
   – Despite holding the attendance record for an ice hockey game in the United Kingdom at 17,245, falling crowds left the club unable to pay the costs of hiring their MEN Arena home. The club folded shortly after the 2002–03 season began.
• 2002–03 – Bracknell Bees
  Bracknell Bees
  The Bracknell Bees are an ice hockey team from Bracknell, Berkshire, UK.-Early years:The Bracknell Bees were formed in 1987, under the ownership of John Nike OBE. Bees began life in the Heineken League Division Two, under the leadership of former Durham Wasps and Nottingham Panthers forward, Jamie...
  
   – The Bees transferred into the British National League
  British National League
  The British National League is a defunct second-level professional ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Although no formal promotion and relegation existed during its period of existence, it was considered to have a standard below that of the Ice Hockey Superleague and above that of the...
  
   following the collapse of the Superleague, transferring again to the English Premier Ice Hockey League
  English Premier Ice Hockey League
  The English Premier Ice Hockey League commonly abbreviated to EPIHL, or simply EPL, is a senior ice hockey league in England, and is run and administered by the English Ice Hockey Association...
  
   in 2005.
• 2003–04 – London Racers
  London Racers
  The London Racers was a British ice hockey club based in London, England formerly members of the Elite Ice Hockey League. Although founded in 2003, it claimed to be a successor of the Harringay Racers club established in 1936. Due to a lack of suitable ice facility the club suspended its team...
  
   – Played for only two full seasons before ceasing operations in 2005 due to safety concerns surrounding their Lee Valley Ice Centre
  Lee Valley Ice Centre
  The Lee Valley Ice Centre is situated in the Lee Valley Regional Park in London, England. Figure Skating, ice hockeyand public skating sessions are all available at Lee Valley Ice Centre.- Ice hockey :...
  
   home.
• 2004–05 – Basingstoke Bison
  Basingstoke Bison
  The Basingstoke Bison are an English Ice Hockey club from Basingstoke. They currently compete in the English Premier Ice Hockey League and have previously been members of the Ice Hockey Superleague and its successor the Elite Ice Hockey League- History :...
  
   – Founder members of the EIHL, have struggled to compete with bigger clubs but are committed to remaining part of the EIHL.
• 2005–06 – Edinburgh Capitals
  Edinburgh Capitals
  The Edinburgh Capitals are a Scottish ice hockey club, playing in the UK-wide Elite Ice Hockey League.They are based in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh...
  
   – Transferred to the EIHL from the British National League following its collapse in 2005. The club had a difficult start to their first EIHL, picking up only a small number of wins. Despite an excellent second half of the season, the Capitals' early season form saw them finish bottom.

The Ready Steady Cook wooden spoon

The BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

's cookery gameshow Ready Steady Cook

Ready Steady Cook

Ready Steady Cook was a BBC daytime TV cooking programme it first debuted on 24 October 1994 and the last edition was broadcast on the 2 February 2010. The programme was hosted by Fern Britton from 1994 until 2000 when celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott became the new host...

gives a decorated wooden spoon to its losing participants (there are two contestants on each show).

See also

• County Championship Wooden Spoons
• Lanterne rouge
  Lanterne rouge
  The Lanterne Rouge is the competitor in last place in a cycling race such as the Tour de France. The phrase comes from the French "Red Lantern" and refers to the red lantern hung on the caboose of a railway train, which conductors would look for in order to make sure none of the couplings had...
  
  — the last finisher in a cycling race

External links

• Japanese Students at Cambridge University in the Meiji Era, 1868–1912: Pioneers for the Modernization of Japan http://www.dhs.kyutech.ac.jp/~ruxton/hatenkou.html , by Noboru Koyama, translated by Ian Ruxton, (Lulu Press, September 2004, ISBN 1-4116-1256-6). This book contains detailed information regarding the Cambridge wooden spoon.