Longest losing streaks?

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nonch

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Myrtleford (Ovens and Murray FL) won its first match in three and a half season on the weekend, ending its losing streak at 62 matches.

Just wondering if anyone knows where that would rank among all time losing streaks?
 
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St Kilda didn't win a game during normal time until - correct me if I'm wrong somebody with better stats - their 77th game of VFL football.

The one match they did win was on a protest against Melbourne in Round 1, 1901 after the match had originally finished as a draw, they then went on to lose every game for the rest of that year and until R12 the next year when they beat Carlton.

The win over Melbourne was fine for a W in the record books but not much help for poor Ted Hall who had a career record of 1-72, the only win being the Melbourne game. So Ted never got to celebrate victory properly in 73 career matches.

Not surprisingly four of the worst five career records of players with over 50 games are from St Kilda in that era http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/alltime/misc_players.html#02
 

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emuboy

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The Bendigo Diggers VFL team won its only game for the year over the Murray Kangaroos in the second half of 2000 - and failed to win at all in 2001 & 2002, before they were replaced in the competition by the Bendigo Bombers from 2003.

I am not sure how many games in succession they lost, but would have been over 40.
 

SA1NTER

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In the VFL/AFL University lost the most matches with 52 games in a row. St. Kilda lost 48 matches from R1 1897 until that match against Melbourne, that we rightfully won after that mid-week protest. Melbourne had kicked a behind after the three quarter time siren had been rung.
 

emuboy

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How bout the longest losing streaks in the AFL era?

In the AFL from 1990 onwards, the longest losing streaks have been:

26 games - Sydney Swans - Beat the Brisbane Bears in Round 8 1992, then lost every game from Round 9 1992 to Round 12 1993, breaking the duck against Melbourne in Round 13 for their only win of the year. Ironically, the Demons had easily beaten the top team & eventual premier Essendon the previous week.

21 games - Fitzroy Lions - Upset the Adelaide Crows at Football Park in Round 8 1995, then had to wait until Round 8 1996 to win their last ever match over the Fremantle Dockers at the Western Oval.

18 games - Fremantle Dockers - After coming from behind to beat the Eagles in the "Demolition Derby" in Round 21, 2000 the Dockers did not taste victory again until Round 18 2001, when they came from behind to upset Hawthorn.


Some long losing streaks in the semi-professional state leagues in the last 20 years:

Sturt (SANFL) - Lost the last 4 games of 1994, all 22 games in 1995 and the first 2 games of 1996, before finally the Double Blues finally broke a 28 game losing run at the expense of West Adelaide.

Peel Thunder (WAFL) - Lost 26 games in a row from mid 1997 to late 1998. It then lost another 28 games in a row when it failed to win any more games in 1998, lost every match in 1999 (most of them absolute floggings) and the opening 2 games of 2000. Peel had another shocking run several years later, losing 20 matches in a row from late 2002 before breaking through for their only win of the 2003 season in the second last round of that season.

Coburg (VFA/L) - The Lions (as they were known back then) lost 30 games in a row from late 1992 to mid 1994.

Bendigo Diggers (VFL) - Did not win another game after beating the Murray Kangaroos late in 2000, going winless in 2001 & 2002 and were replaced by the Bendigo Diggers from 2003 onwards.
 
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St Kilda didn't win a game during normal time until - correct me if I'm wrong somebody with better stats - their 77th game of VFL football.

The one match they did win was on a protest against Melbourne in Round 1, 1901 after the match had originally finished as a draw, they then went on to lose every game for the rest of that year and until R12 the next year when they beat Carlton.

The win over Melbourne was fine for a W in the record books but not much help for poor Ted Hall who had a career record of 1-72, the only win being the Melbourne game. So Ted never got to celebrate victory properly in 73 career matches.

Not surprisingly four of the worst five career records of players with over 50 games are from St Kilda in that era http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/alltime/misc_players.html#02

WRONG, Super! The only win for Ted Hall came in the Carlton vs. St.Kilda game. He didn't play in Round 1, 1900. Proof of purchase: http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/games/1901/031519010713.html
 
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Even though its not the VFL or any other football code, we can all agree that Caltech University (California Institute of Technology), a school based in Pasadena, California, has the world record longest losing streak. The Beavers won a Conference game on January 23, 1985 against La Vernce 48-47. Since that day, the Beavers, most of whom didn't even go to high school, lost three hundred and ten consecutive matches before finally, FINALLY, FINALLY winning a match against Occidental 46-45 (They had trailed 45-37 with 4:20 to go but managed a nine-point burst to win) on February 22, 2011.
 

emuboy

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Even though its not the VFL or any other football code, we can all agree that Caltech University (California Institute of Technology), a school based in Pasadena, California, has the world record longest losing streak. The Beavers won a Conference game on January 23, 1985 against La Vernce 48-47. Since that day, the Beavers, most of whom didn't even go to high school, lost three hundred and ten consecutive matches before finally, FINALLY, FINALLY winning a match against Occidental 46-45 (They had trailed 45-37 with 4:20 to go but managed a nine-point burst to win) on February 22, 2011.

That's the University where Leonard, Sheldon, Howard & Raj work in the TV Show The Big Bang Theory.

I somehow doubt the inclusion of any of those four guys in the team would improve their prospects!
 
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Ron The Bear

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Current player streaks:
Alex Rance, 15 consecutive losses, 18 matches without a win
Mitch Duncan, 8 consecutive wins
Leigh Brown, 19 consecutive matches without a loss
Matthew Pavlich, 239 consective matches without a draw (Chris Tarrant 236)
Lance Franklin, 19 consecutive matches scoring one or more goals
Darren Glass, 73 consecutive matches without scoring a goal
 

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emuboy

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^^^^ Some interesting stats on losing streaks by players in the last three posts.

A few more:

Lester Kelly represented University 40 times from 1912-14 without playing in a single victory. He holds the record for a the most games by an AFL/VFL player to have never played in a winning team.

Fitzroy's Jeff Hogg played in 33 losing matches to finish his career, the last of which was Fitzroy's final game in Round 22 1996. The luckless Hogg, who had transferred from Richmond at the end of 1993, last played in a winning team in Round 13 1994 when Fitzroy upset Hawthorn, but did not play in the Lions win over the Swans later that season; and was also absent from Fitzroy's 2 victories in 1995 & their only win in 1996 over the Fremantle Dockers.

Robert Neill played for St Kilda in the 1997 Grand Final, but none of the few matches he played for the Saints that year had been victories - including the Grand Final, when the Saints were thrashed by Adelaide.
 

benji2

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I'm sure it's been mentioned somewhere on this forum before but Glenelg lost its first 56 games in the SANFL, spanning the entire 1921-24 seasons, before beating the reigning premiers West Torrens in the opening round of 1925.

South Adelaide lost 26 in a row during 1987-88.

And Callington (now called the United Eagles) won its first game in 3 years last weekend over another notorious struggler, Sedan, by about 20 pts from memory
 
Club head-to-head winning and losing streaks can be interesting to look at. Some of the more amazing ones I'm aware of:

-Collingwood won their first 29 games against Hawthorn, and 57 of their first 60 (95%!) against them.

-Carlton won their first 25 against Hawthorn, and 46 of their first 49 against them.

-Carlton won their first 24 against Richmond.

-Geelong won their first 23 against North Melbourne.

-Hawthorn had a few huge streaks against teams in the 70s and 80s....22 in a row against Melbourne from 1973-84 and 20 in a row against St Kilda from 1979-89.

- Melbourne 20 in a row against North from 1953-65

The last time a winning of streak of 20 or more games for one team over another existed was in 1992- St Kilda's victory over Essendon in Round 1, 1992 was their first over Essendon since 1980, ending a streak of 20 consecutive losses against the Bombers.

An interesting stat is that since the end of beginning of 1984, Richmond have won just 8 of 44 games against Geelong. Not since Colllingwood's first 35 years of owning Hawthorn has one side had such a long-running, indeed almost generational, hold over another.

Another interesting fact, St Kilda has beaten Carlton 47 times. Twelve of those 47 victories came in their long winning streak of 12 between 2002 and 2009. So, aside from those eight seasons, St Kilda has defeated Carlton just 35 times.
 

RogersResults

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Club head-to-head winning and losing streaks can be interesting to look at. Some of the more amazing ones I'm aware of:

-Collingwood won their first 29 games against Hawthorn, and 57 of their first 60 (95%!) against them.

-Carlton won their first 25 against Hawthorn, and 46 of their first 49 against them.

-Carlton won their first 24 against Richmond.

-Geelong won their first 23 against North Melbourne.

-Hawthorn had a few huge streaks against teams in the 70s and 80s....22 in a row against Melbourne from 1973-84 and 20 in a row against St Kilda from 1979-89.

- Melbourne 20 in a row against North from 1953-65

The last time a winning of streak of 20 or more games for one team over another existed was in 1992- St Kilda's victory over Essendon in Round 1, 1992 was their first over Essendon since 1980, ending a streak of 20 consecutive losses against the Bombers.

An interesting stat is that since the end of beginning of 1984, Richmond have won just 8 of 44 games against Geelong. Not since Colllingwood's first 35 years of owning Hawthorn has one side had such a long-running, indeed almost generational, hold over another.

Another interesting fact, St Kilda has beaten Carlton 47 times. Twelve of those 47 victories came in their long winning streak of 12 between 2002 and 2009. So, aside from those eight seasons, St Kilda has defeated Carlton just 35 times.

A full list of teams that took 6 or more encounters before opening the account against an opponent is here.

It took Hawthorn 64 matches v Carlton before they defeated the Blues in consecutive matches. List of other teams that had trouble defeating an opponent in consecutive matches for the first time is here.
 

mianfei

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Some more from the state competitions:

  • Perth in the WAFL lost 20 in a row before in the last game of 2000 breaking through for their only win against Swan Districts
    • ironically Swan Districts had been the last team to lose to them, and Perth kicked 18-12 (120) in both games
  • Woodville in the SANFL lost 21 in a row in 1981-1982
  • Subiaco in the WAFL lost their first 16 of 1982
 

VFA1877

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In the VFA the short lived Melbourne City club went for its entire existence without winning a game. Their losing streak was 36 games in the 1912 and 1913 seasons.
 

mianfei

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-Geelong won their first 23 against North Melbourne.
Geelong actually lost North's very first VFL game in what was to that point one of the greatest upsets in VFL history, then did not lost again to them until the last round of 1939 - in a round that was postponed because of the amazingly appalling weather of August 1939, which featured the most rainy days and highest cloudiness of any month in Melbourne's recorded history.
In the VFA the short lived Melbourne City club went for its entire existence without winning a game. Their losing streak was 36 games in the 1912 and 1913 seasons.
The history of them I saw seemed rather lenient towards Hawthorn's early years in the VFL, when the club simply was too poor to have any chance of competing seriously and was dominated by a noncompetitive culture of marianismo that precluded local people from helping them as was alreayd happening to the rich clubs.

Also, why were Melbourne City formed and why did the VFA accept them so easily? Did they seriously expect them to do much better??
 

The Passenger

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That's the University where Leonard, Sheldon, Howard & Raj work in the TV Show The Big Bang Theory.

I somehow doubt the inclusion of any of those four guys in the team would improve their prospects!

maybe it would improve the team :-/ lol
 

VFA1877

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Also, why were Melbourne City formed and why did the VFA accept them so easily? Did they seriously expect them to do much better??

I remember seeing somewhere that Melbourne City was formed as part of a desire of the VFA to have a centrally based team (unfortunately I can't put my finger on the source). The team played its home games at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground. It would seem that the lack of a local suburban supporter case stymied their ability to field a competitive team.
 

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