Woodville Football Club

Woodville Football Club was an Australian rules football club that competed in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) from 1964 to 1990, when it merged in 1991 with the West Torrens Football Club to form the Woodville-West Torrens Eagles. Based in the western suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia, Woodville derived its name from the suburb it was located in. The club's lack of success was unparalleled in the VFL or WAFL with the club receiving 9 wooden spoons, including 6 times in succession 1980-1985, in 27 years whilst only making the finals 3 times without a grand final appearance. Club history There are newspaper references to a Woodville Football Club dating back to the 19th century, when Woodville and Adelaide were the only teams, but the modern club was formed in 1938 to play in local amateur competitions. In 1959 the existing SANFL clubs agreed to submissions from Woodville and Central District to expand the competition from eight to ten teams on the proviso they enter the SANFL reserves competition on a five-year apprenticeship before gaining admission to the league competition in 1964. The team was then known as the "Woodville Woodpeckers".