Sport is cruel. There's no easy way to put it. For every joyous, electric, high, there are the soul-destroying, heartbreaking lows.
For the few lucky fans, there's no better feeling than witnessing your team lift the trophy and claiming competition bragging rights. But for many more -- watching on from the dark, cold sidelines -- witnessing your team succumb to yet another loss or another missed finals series, it can be a miserable place to find yourself.
But for every heartbreaking final loss or quarterfinal exit, there are fans who are suffering much, much worse fates. Think trophy droughts lasting decades and never-ending wooden spoons.
Our Misery Index brings to light those teams across Australia that have endured some truly heartbreaking times.
Take note, in our quest to find the most miserable fan bases in Australia we narrowed our search to just domestic competitions, that means the Socceroos and the Wallabies won't be featuring -- there's no need to remind Wallabies fans how miserable their existence is. Competition longevity has also been taken into consideration ruling out the likes of the NRLW, AFLW and Super Rugby women's.
Read on for as we share the pain of some of Australia's long-suffering fan bases.
It ain't easy being green but it's even harder being red in the A-League Women.
Adelaide United have, historically, taken being bad to new lows. Their 34-game winless streak is still the league record, stretching across three years. For two consecutive seasons they did not win a single game. They would have picked up the first five wooden spoons in W-League history if not for a Newcastle Jets team that lost one more game than they did in 2009.
While the team eventually picked up a solitary win in 2011-12 to break the winless streak, it certainly wasn't the turning point. A handful of victories each season kept them languishing towards the bottom of the table.
They appeared to finally turn a corner at the start of the 2020s, agonisingly missing out on finals by goal difference 2020-21 before finally breaking through for a maiden finals appearance in the following season. However, the new dawn was more of a false start. The Reds lost their first and, to date, only finals game against Melbourne Victory.
Rather than build on that high, they dropped right back down into mediocrity finishing eighth (out of 11) and then dead last (out of 12) in the next two seasons. In fact, in the 40 games since that breakthrough final appearance, they have won only nine.
Hope can't hurt you if you don't have any to begin with.
Can you smell what the Blues are cooking? How about two and a half decades of mediocrity? And maybe that's being generous.
Carlton fans will boast about their club's joint record 16 premierships, but what they will conveniently leave out is that the last of those flags came way back in 1995. The Blues finished runner-up to North Melbourne in 1999 and have not been back to the Big Dance since. That's 25 years and counting. In that time, EVERY other team, except expansion club Gold Coast, has played in at least one Grand Final. That has to sting if you're a Blues fan.
Over the last 24 years, Carlton has had just five seasons in which they've won more games than they've lost. They've also collected a league-high five wooden spoons in that time, reflecting the dark days of the club where fans expected them to lose week after week. There's been the infamous salary cap scandal, a plethora of wasted top end draft picks (and yes, they've had plenty), and no fewer than seven coaches shown the exit after lacklustre results.
With that said, things have trended in a positive direction over the past few years, and the Blues, led by dual Brownlow Medal winner Patrick Cripps and coach Michael Voss, finally appear to be a side capable of challenging in September. That was, of course, before the club was plagued by injury in the back half of this season and fell from second to eighth in the blink of an eye.
But that Carlton misery was nothing compared to when Brisbane kicked 70 points to their nil in this year's humiliating elimination final at the Gabba. Maybe there's more misery in store for this side, after all.
Well. Where do we start? How about the good. Essendon are one of the storied AFL clubs with a glittering history. A record 16 Premierships and a star-studded list of some of the games great players and coaches. Now the bad. That's all in the era of sepia tinged, square TVs, and no internet. The 21st century Bombers are bad. Not wooden spoon, laughing stock bad. Something much worse. Irrelevant bad.
Over 7,000 days since a finals win. The biggest doping scandal in Australian sports history. Haven't finished higher than 7th in 21 seasons. A succession of ineffective big name players taking a final chunk of super. Coaching merry-go-rounds. False dawns. The Essendon Edge. September off.
Since the Bombers last won a finals match in 2004, they have had seven coaches, five CEOs, five Presidents, six captains and only one constant. Mediocrity. Every stirring Anzac Day or heart stopping Saturday night win over a rival has more often than not been followed by a miserable capitulation. Every run of terrific swashbuckling early season wins, followed by the team falling apart in the depths of winter when the pressure is on.
The post doping ban wooden spoon season (2017) should have been the springboard for Essendon to rebuild. Approach the future with clarity, start afresh and reset the culture, the expectations and go back to basics. Instead the team of returning vets with a sprinkle of youth finished 7th, got smoked in the finals, and the club doubled down the following year adding Smith, Saad and Stringer for five draft picks. Essendon have failed to finish above 8th ever since. The supporter base -- one of the competitions largest -- deserves better.
If you thought being a fan of one underperforming team was hard, try being a fan of all three franchise teams!
Before talk of Tasmania joining AFL men's, the GWS Giants were the competition's "baby," and with that status came some nice perks; extra salary cap allowances for the first five seasons and twenty first-round draft picks, none lower than selection number fourteen between 2011 and 2014. From 2011 to 2023, that total amounts to forty first-round picks (the most of any team during this time frame), yet they are still striving for premiership success. Some would say it's a wasted list...
GWS's first finals berth in 2016 was one to remember, but also one to forget, after they quickly threw away their opportunity against the Western Bulldogs in the preliminary final.
In the years that followed, six more finals seasons, three preliminary final losses, and a Grand Final appearance. A one-point victory against AFL powerhouse Collingwood got the Giants to the final Saturday in September in 2019. What followed was a day most clubs would rather forget, but it remains one of the Giants' greatest achievements to date. An 89-point thumping at the hands of the Richmond Tigers is still the closest the Giants have come to winning it all.
Unlike their male counterparts, the GWS Giants are a foundation team of the AFLW. In the words of their cross-town rival coach, Scott Gowans, they are the "worst performing of the inaugural teams," and unfortunately, the stats don't lie. Having played a total of 72 games across their seven-year history, they have only registered 25 wins and never more than four in a season. Out of all the inaugural teams, the Giants remain the only side yet to feature in a final.
Not to compare siblings, but so far, in the Sydney Swans' short AFLW history, they have played 27 games, made two finals appearances, and registered seven wins, one of those in a final.
Things haven't fared much better for their netball team either with the GIANTS, under the tutelage of one of the world's best coaches Julie Fitzgerald, failing to win a title despite two grand final appearances, two minor premierships and an abundance of star power.
The early years promised so much but have since failed to deliver, finishing with the wooden spoon in 2024, and more losses than wins in 2023 and 2020.
Being a fan of the orange and charcoal has never been easy.
-- Isadora McLeay
Illawarra Hawks: Boom and bust
The Hawks have a long history in the NBL. The only remaining team to have competed in every season since the League's inception in 1979, the Hawks have had ownership changes, name changes, venue changes and big-name American imports, but in that time they've only ever won one title.
Boom and bust is a great way to describe the Hawks. They started strongly reaching their first final in 1984 before they had their best finish in 1987 where they finished third. The following year they'd become the Illawarra Hawks and move to the Entertainment Centre, before 2000/01 would mark their best season ever, after they won their maiden and so far only NBL title.
Despite a return to the grand final series in 2004/05 it would be 23 years of heartbreak.
In 2009 the "Save the Hawks" campaign would be established after the ownership declared the team couldn't fund their inclusion in the revamped league. They'd be saved thanks to the commitment of the community, and they'd continue to make a mark on the competition, but the elusive title would remain out of reach before the 2014/15 season when they'd really bottom out and finish the season dead last with a 6-22 record.
Major sponsors have come and gone, with the threat of insolvency always hanging above their heads as they entered voluntary administration twice over a decade.
Big time names would also make their appearance including Kirk Penney, AJ Ogilvy, C.J Burton and Kevin Lisch, before LaMelo Ball would announce his signing in what would be a short-lived venture for the young American player who never reached his potential.
It's been a long 40 or so years for the Hawks and there's been plenty of promise with very little to show for it.
-- Brittany Mitchell
Melbourne Stars: A team of stars that was never a star team
It's a close-run thing as to whether crosstown rivals Melbourne Renegades (three wooden spoons in the last five seasons) should take this spot, or whether both clubs could be included, but Renegades do at least have a title to their name courtesy of their extraordinary victory, incidentally over Stars, in 2018-19. Quite how Stars lost that match from 93 without loss in the 13th over chasing 146 remains a mystery. They were back in the final the following season but fell short against Sydney Sixers
With the MCG as their home ground, the legacy of Shane Warne and overseas names such as Kevin Pietersen and Lasith Malinga in the early years, they have often been viewed as the glamour club of the BBL. However, they remain, along with Hobart Hurricanes, one of the two teams yet to win a BBL title. A fact that perhaps makes them a little unlucky to be in this list is that across the first six seasons of the competition they never failed to reach the semifinals. On the flip side, those repeated near-misses add to their tale for long-suffering supporters.
The last four seasons have been difficult, particularly the COVID summers when the squad was often ravaged by illness. They have missed the playoffs each time, including a bottom-place finish two years ago, although they were in the mix last summer. Some of their recruitment needs to be questioned given the vast number of overseas players they have cycled through in recent seasons, even if that is partly the nature of the challenges the tournament has faced in securing leading names for long periods.
Yet the fact players from the club have twice held the highest individual score is a reminder of what is possible: in 2019-2020 Marcus Stoinis smashed 147 off 79 balls and two years later Glenn Maxwell went past it with an astonishing 154 off 64. Maxwell gave up the captaincy after last season and will hope to help secure that elusive title before his career is done.
-- Andrew McGlashan
NSW Waratahs: Otherwise known as the 'HorrorTahs'
"Everyone loves to death ride the Waratahs," then coach Darren Coleman told ESPN earlier this year ahead of what would become his last season in charge of the club after his team finished dead last in Super Rugby Pacific.
One of the biggest teams in Super Rugby and based in the heartland of rugby in Australia, the 'HorrorTahs' as they're not so affectionately known, have been the perpetual underachievers since the code turned professional in 1996. While they finally broke their duck in 2014 to claim their first Super Rugby title, it's otherwise been heartbreak.
It took six years for the club to even reach the finals when they were hammered 51-10 by long-time rivals the Brumbies, while they also hold the record for the worst scoreline in Super Rugby history -- a 96-10 capitulation against the Crusaders also in 2002.
Poor results became such the norm in the 2010s the Waratahs were booed off the pitch by their own fanbase multiple times, something etched in the minds of many Tahs fans.
It soon resulted in the coaching carousel that would see three coaches in three years, a carousel that has since started back up after the franchise failed to win a match in 2021 and just saw and end to Coleman's time at the Tahs after they won just two games in 2024.
It's not for a lack of talent either, with some of the biggest names in the game including Phil Waugh, Berrick Barnes, Matt Burke, Lote Tuqiri, Phil Kearns and Matt Dunning all failing to secure any silverware and, in some instances, being a part of some of the most diabolical results the club has seen.
We can't forget either the many off-field dramas that have dogged the club including Israel Folau's eventual contract termination, Tolu Latu's drink driving scandal and Wendell Sailor's infamous exit.
With another new coach, and heavy recruitment this offseason, the hope and excitement has begun to build again, no doubt, only to end in tears yet again.
-- Brittany Mitchell
Parramatta Eels: The glory of the 80s is long forgotten
For those of us who lived through it and those who still enjoy the music of the time, the 80s were a magical decade. For Parramatta Eels fans they were the best of times, literally the very best of times. The Eels won three straight NSWRL premierships from 1981 to 1983, lost the 1984 grand final narrowly, before adding another title in 1986 for good measure. In the history of the club, they have won just those four titles.
The Eels were formed in 1947, giving the post-war booming region surrounding Parramatta their own first grade rugby league club. It wasn't until 1976 that they were able to make a grand final, where they were beaten by the Sea Eagles, who were also formed in 1947 and who collected the third of what is eight premierships today. The following year the Eels made the grand final again and were soundly beaten 22-0 by the Dragons.
Before and beyond the joy of the 80s, there has only ever been misery for Eels fans.
In 2001 they took out the minor premiership, winning three more games than the team that finished second. They won through to the grand final with ease, where they were massive favourites to defeat the Knights, who had finished the season in third. In front of 90,414 fans the Eels were blown off the park in the first half, wandering off for oranges down 24-0. They fought back in the second half to score 24 points of their own, while only allowing the Knights to score 6. Unfortunately, mathematics was against them on the night and Eels fans headed home with a familiar feeling of misery.
In 2009 the Eels powered into the finals, on the back of the brilliance of fullback Jarryd Hayne. They made it through to the grand final where they succumbed to might of the Melbourne Storm. The following year the title was one of two stripped from the Storm after it was found that their might had been powered by systematic salary cap cheating. Adding to the insult for Eels fans, the stripped titles were left vacant, and not handed to the runners-up.
In 2016 the Eels won the Auckland Nines, only to have that title stripped as part of the punishment for their own "if you can't beat them, join them" salary cap breaches.
2022 was the next time the Eels were able to make it into the grand final. This time they faced the Panthers, who were in the midst of building an incredible dynasty. The Eels were cannon fodder as the Panthers ran out 28-10 victors after leading 18-0 at halftime.
The trophy cabinet would remain empty, apart from the four titles from the 80s, and an unenviable 14 wooden spoons picked up along the way.
-- Darren Arthur
Perth Glory men's: Besart Berisha continues to haunt
A proud, successful club in the dying days of the NSL with championships in 2003 and 2004, Perth Glory was supposed to navigate the new A-League better than anyone else. They had the history and knew how to win. But those in purple haven't reached the same heights. In fact, they're the only remaining foundation club that doesn't have an A-League championship to its name.
That doesn't mean they haven't come close to claiming the championship trophy.
A trip to Queensland to take on Ange Postecoglou's Brisbane Roar in a grand final ended in heartbreak after a controversial penalty (don't mention Besart Berisha out west) was awarded and converted. The 2018-19 season seemed like Glory's year when they finished top of the table only to fall to Sydney FC in front of their home fans on penalties; Andrew Redmayne's wiggling and a failed Panenka no doubt haunting Glory fans.
Since that heartbreak, Glory have tumbled down the ladder with a sixth-placed finish, two ninth-placed finishes and a pair of wooden spoons.
Coaches have come and gone, all promising a rebuild and brighter days ahead and all failing. Throw in the team almost being sold to a dodgy crypto exchange with more red flags than an afternoon in Pamplona, and the announcement of a new buyer which was terminated mere days before the formal takeover was set to take place, and it's easy to see why fans in the west have had a hard run.
-- Marissa Lordanic
Perth Lynx: Rebranding, financial woes and plenty of losses
Could you imagine the amount of dust that could accumulate after 32 years? You only need to look into the Perth Lynx's trophy cabinet to find out.
For 36 years the red and black have called Bendat Basketball Centre home and in that time there's been just one WNBL title, seven grand final appearances, five ownership changes and three rebrands from the Breakers, the West Coast Waves and back to Perth Lynx.
It's never been smooth sailing for the Lynx. After debuting in WNBL in 1988 they withdrew from the competition halfway through their second season. They would come back, strongly, reaching the WNBL finals every year between 1991 and 2000 with three grand final appearances, but 1992 would be the only year they'd win the title.
The 21st century didn't bring any better fortune for the side with the owners handing back the license in 2001 and the players told the club would fold. The team would continue to play but players would pay their own gym memberships and they'd regularly travel on game days or take midnight flights to save money. Between 2010 to 2015 the team would earn three wooden spoons and in 2013-14 would end the season with a 1-23 record. In the 14 seasons from 2001-15 they would never make a finals appearance. Grim times indeed.
Fate took a turn from 2015 though when the Perth Wildcats took over the team license with the Lynx branding returning and their first finals appearance since 2000. They've since reached the finals in all but two seasons and had three grand final appearances. A trophy, however, still eludes them.
-- Brittany Mitchell
Queensland Firebirds: A seven-year downfall
With three premierships to their name and four straight grand finals in the 2010s, it may seem unfair that the Firebirds find themselves on this list, but the 20 years before and the seven years since has seen a very barren trophy case.
Since 2016 performances haven't been up to standard for the once dominant Firebirds, think blowout losses -- including conceding a record 97 points to the Fever in 2023 -- one semifinal, zero grand final appearances, wooden spoons, and plenty of off-court drama.
Before their struggles in Super Netball, or their triumph in the ANZ Championship, there was the Commonwealth Bank trophy in which the Firebirds was an inaugural club and never once reached the grand final. Only once did they come close with a semifinal in 2006 otherwise it was a decade of mediocrity.
There's been no end to the talent in the group either including Donnell Wallam, Kim Ravaillion, Gabi Simpson, Gretel Tippett and Romelda Aiken, but things simply haven't clicked since the launch of Super Netball and it's left a once proud Firebirds army searching for answers.
The coaching carousel hasn't provided them. First it was Megan Anderson, an inexperienced coach who was handed the reins for the 2021 season only to be unceremoniously dumped after two seasons, before former player and another inexperienced coach Bec Bulley was brought in. She hardly faired better, parting ways from the club before the season even ended. Her assistant stepped down just five days later. It saw four coaches in just four years from Roselee Jencke to Megan Anderson, to Bulley then Brown.
The club has also failed to escape the headlines with the team brought into question after they used the only Indigenous player in the competition Jemma Mi Mi to promote Indigenous Round, but then not play her. Their non-apology only further angered their fan base.
-- Brittany Mitchell
St Kilda Saints: 57 years since reaching heaven
"Why can't you swim at St Kilda beach? Because it only has one flag."
It's a joke as old as time, or 58 years to be exact, and it's one that has torn Saints fans apart. Not out of anger to those telling it, but frustration of just how bad they've been for so long.
It's widely known that St Kilda have comfortably collected the most wooden spoons in VFL/AFL history, nearly doubling their closest competitor in North Melbourne. While a number of these came through the early to mid-1900's, before the age of drafts and salary caps, it's an uncomfortable number that has been added to in the modern age.
It's not as though the Saints have lingered at the bottom of the ladder for their entire existence, and in fact, have featured at the pointy end of the season a number of times since their first and only premiership in 1966. But at times, it's the hope that kills you.
They finished as minor premiers in both 1997 and 2009, before falling short to Adelaide and Geelong in the Grand Final respectively. They then followed that up with the rare distinction of playing and not winning three Grand Finals in two years, with a draw and subsequent loss in the replay to Collingwood in 2010. Add to that the preliminary final losses in 1970, 1972, 2004, 2005 and 2008, and it's just grim viewing.
Take into account the superstars that have featured for the Saints over the years, such as two-time Brownlow Medallist Robert Harvey and five-time All Australian Nick Riewoldt, and you start to wonder how Saints fans can possibly bare seeing the talent that has walked through the doors at Moorabbin leave without the ultimate silverware.
It always seems to be something that curses the Saints, whether it be a cruel bounce in the final moments or the lack of goal-line technology in the year of 2009, and many diehard fans will repeat that sentiment.
Curse or not, St Kilda fans know misery, and are patiently waiting for the moment they can finally hit the surf safely.
-- Jarryd Thomas
Western Force: the team that was axed only to be brought back again
Decade long title droughts may be hard, but surely nothing beats your team being unceremoniously axed from the competition and sent off into the sporting wilderness!
It's bad enough the Western Force and their fans are constantly forgotten about in the national rugby conversation with the eastern seaboard rugby mafia running the game since it launched in the country, but for Force fans the real insult came in 2017 when it was decided the franchise would no longer even take part in Super Rugby.
Finally given a place in the tri-nation club tournament, the Force joined Super Rugby in 2006 to much fanfare and delight, but the happiness didn't last with the side struggling to get on the board through their first season before they were slugged a $110,000 fine by Rugby Australia for breaching contracting protocols.
While the stars were brought in -- think Matt Giteau, James O'Connor, David Pocock, Nick Cummins and later Kurtley Beale -- there were still 10 long years of disappointment with the side never once qualifying for the playoffs, before they hit a new low when they were booted from the competition altogether.
Banished, the Force continued to exist thanks to the backing of billionaire Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest, but it was hardly a lively existence as they competed in the billionaire's own competition Global Rapid Rugby, which was wrapped up inside two years amid the start of the COVID pandemic.
One of the few to benefit from the pandemic, though, the Force was welcomed -- almost begged to come -- back to Super Rugby AU in 2021 and then the newly created Super Rugby Pacific competition in 2022. It's hardly been sunshine and daisies since though, with the Force still without a single finals appearance and the axe seemingly never far from their head.
At least they've got a billionaire backer though, right?
-- Brittany Mitchell
Wests Tigers: the perpetual wooden spooners
It takes a special type of team to win three wooden spoons. Ladies and gentlemen, your Wests Tigers!
The 2000 joint venture between proud old clubs Balmain and Wests has been a curious club. Constantly in the headlines, constantly attracting good crowds, big name players. And almost constantly being rubbish.
Just three finals appearances in their history. A glorious and unlikely 2005 Premiership, and a pair of heartbreaking finals defeats with a really good team in 2010 and 2011. Since then? Nothing. Nadda. Doughnuts. For a while the Tiges had a mortgage on 9th spot. A good team, but not quite good enough. Talisman came and went and came again (Hi Benji, Robbie and Sheensy!). Big money was spent. Some of it wisely. Most of it terribly. Hope often rests on the shoulders of the bright young things -- Teddy, Brooks, Moses, Bula. Or the big name signings -- Anasta, Blair, Koroisau and soon Luai. Let they drift away, to achieve success elsewhere, or into a content and happy retirement.
Coaches have revolved. The Sheens magic wore off. Mick Potter and Jason Taylor came and went. Ivan Cleary took us all on the bus! Then drove it back to Penrith. Madge came in. Swore a lot. Lost 65% of his games. And now we're on Benji. The prodigal son. But one with the lowest winning ratio for a full time coach in the club's history.
There's been as much action in the boardroom as on the field. The split ownership model is fractious at best. As Wests and Balmain have argued over most things. The club also has more leaks than a watering can. They are the darling of the media, as there's always, always "Trouble at the Tigers".
And yet come Sunday afternoon, in the sunlight at Leichhardt, 15,000 will pack the old place, shoulder to shoulder on the hill, and you think, there's nowhere I'd rather be. Now, can we just get a win now and then?
-- Stuart Randall
