1976 NFL Championship Series (Australia)

1976 NFL Championship SeriesNFL Wills Cup

Tournament details
Dates| 17 May - 17 August 1976
Teams| 12
Venue(s)| 3 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions| Hawthorn (2nd title)
Runners-up| North Melbourne
Tournament statistics
Matches played| 15
Attendance| 106,214 (7,081 per match)

<- 1975 (Championship of Australia)

1977 ->

International football competition

The 1976 NFL Championship Series was the 1st edition of the NFL Night Series, an NFL-organised national club Australian rules football tournament between the leading clubs from the VFL, the SANFL and the WANFL.[1]

It replaced the Championship of Australia tournament that been contested between the champion clubs of the VFL, the SANFL, the WANFL and the Tasmanian State Premiership between 1972 and 1975.

The 1976 NFL Night Series was planned as a forerunner to a full-scale national competition in 1977 that would feature all the VFL, SANFL and WANFL teams plus representative teams from Tasmania, Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT.

Ultimately, the 1976 competition would be the only one to feature the VFL clubs - the Victorian League chose to break away in 1977 and run a rival competition, the VFL Night Series.

## Qualified Teams

[edit]

Team  | Nickname  | League  | Qualification  | Participation (bold indicates winners)1

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North Melbourne | Kangaroos  | VFL | Winners of the 1975 Victorian Football League | 2nd (Previous: 1975)
Hawthorn | Hawks  | VFL | Runners-Up in the 1975 Victorian Football League | 2nd (Previous: 1971)
Richmond | Tigers  | VFL | Third Place in the 1975 Victorian Football League | 4th (Previous: 1969, 1973, 1974)
Carlton | Blues  | VFL | Fourth Place in the 1975 Victorian Football League | 7th (Previous: 1907, 1908, 1914, 1968, 1970, 1972)
Footscray | Bulldogs  | VFL | Seventh Place in the 1975 Victorian Football League2 | 1st
Norwood | Redlegs  | SANFL | Winners of the 1975 South Australian National Football League | 4th (Previous: 1888, 1907, 1975)
Glenelg | Tigers  | SANFL | Runners-Up in the 1975 South Australian National Football League | 2nd (Previous: 1973)
Port Adelaide | Magpies  | SANFL | Third Place in the 1975 South Australian National Football League | 5th (Previous: 1890, 1910, 1913, 1914)
Sturt | Double Blues  | SANFL | Fourth Place in the 1975 South Australian National Football League | 5th (Previous: 1968, 1969, 1970, 1974)
West Perth | Falcons  | WANFL | Winners of the 1975 Western Australian National Football League | 2nd (Previous: 1975)
South Fremantle | Bulldogs  | WANFL | Runners-Up in the 1975 Western Australian National Football League | 1st
Swan Districts | Swans  | WANFL | Third Place in the 1975 Western Australian National Football League | 1st

1 Includes previous appearances in the Championship of Australia.

2 Replaced Collingwood and St Kilda who both declined to participate.

## Venues

[edit]

Adelaide | Perth

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Norwood Oval | Football Park | Subiaco Oval
Capacity: 22,000 | Capacity: 67,000 | Capacity: 53,000
|  |

## Group stage

[edit]

### Group A

[edit]

Team  | Pld  | W  | D  | L  | PF  | PA  | %  | Pts

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Glenelg | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 161 | 130 | 123.8 | 8
Richmond | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 185 | 126 | 146.8 | 4
Swan Districts | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 118 | 208 | 56.7 | 0
17 May 1976  | Glenelg | 76-62 | Richmond | Football Park, Adelaide |

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| 11.10 (76)  |  | 9.8 (62)  | Attendance: 13,693

12 June 1976  | Swan Districts | 68-85 | Glenelg | Subiaco Oval, Perth |

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| 10.8 (68)  |  | 11.19 (85)  | Attendance: 10,876

29 June 1976  | Richmond | 123-50 | Swan Districts | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 18.15 (123)  |  | 7.8 (50)  | Attendance: 400

### Group B

[edit]

Team  | Pld  | W  | D  | L  | PF  | PA  | %  | Pts

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North Melbourne | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 191 | 113 | 169.0 | 8
Port Adelaide | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 134 | 150 | 89.3 | 4
Footscray | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 169 | 201 | 84.1 | 0
1 June 1976  | Port Adelaide | 97-63 | Footscray | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 14.13 (97)  |  | 9.9 (63)  | Attendance: 5,818

15 June 1976  | North Melbourne | 87-37 | Port Adelaide | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 12.15 (87)  |  | 5.7 (37)  | Attendance: 9,000

13 July 1976  | North Melbourne | 104-76 | Footscray | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 16.8 (104)  |  | 11.10 (76)  | Attendance: 2,081

### Group C

[edit]

Team  | Pld  | W  | D  | L  | PF  | PA  | %  | Pts

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Hawthorn | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 202 | 99 | 204.0 | 8
Sturt | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 146 | 158 | 92.4 | 4
West Perth | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 109 | 200 | 54.5 | 0
7 June 1976  | West Perth | 46-107 | Hawthorn | Subiaco Oval, Perth |

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| 7.4 (46)  |  | 15.17 (107)  | Attendance: 9,860

14 June 1976  | Sturt | 93-63 | West Perth | Football Park, Adelaide |

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| 14.9 (93)  |  | 9.9 (63)  | Attendance: 12,777

6 July 1976  | Sturt | 53-95 | Hawthorn | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 8.5 (53)  |  | 13.17 (95)  | Attendance: 8,839

### Group D

[edit]

Team  | Pld  | W  | D  | L  | PF  | PA  | %  | Pts

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Norwood | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 231 | 110 | 210.0 | 8
Carlton | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 188 | 169 | 111.2 | 4
South Fremantle | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 93 | 294 | 31.6 | 0
8 June 1976  | Carlton | 148-23 | South Fremantle | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 22.16 (148)  |  | 3.5 (23)  | Attendance: 1,500

22 June 1976  | Norwood | 146-40 | Carlton | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 22.14 (146)  |  | 5.10 (40)  | Attendance: 7,500

20 July 1976  | Norwood | 85-70 | South Fremantle | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 11.19 (85)  |  | 10.10 (70)  | Attendance: 3,250

## Knockout stage

[edit]

### Semi-finals

[edit]

SF #1 27 July 1976  | Hawthorn | 82-56 | Glenelg | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 11.16 (82)  |  | 8.8 (56)  | Attendance: 8,086

SF #2 3 August 1976  | North Melbourne | 53-35 | Norwood | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 8.5 (53)  |  | 5.5 (35)  | Attendance: 5,160

### NFL Championship Series final

[edit]

Final  17 August 1976  | Hawthorn | 89-41 | North Melbourne | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 3.6 (24)
5.7 (37)
7.13 (55)
12.17 (89)  | Report | 1.1 (7)
1.4 (10)
4.8 (32)
5.11 (41)  | Attendance: 7,374
Umpires: Peter Mead

|  | Goals |
M Moncrieff 4
A Goad 3
G Ablett, D Scott 2
L Matthews 1  |  | S Kekovich, M Blight 2
P Feltham 1  |

## References

[edit]

1. ^ David Eastman. "1976 NFL Wills Cup". Retrieved 12 November 2016.

* v
* t
* e

NFL Night Series

Bodies|

* National Football League

Seasons|

* 1976
* 1977
* 1978
* 1979

Winners|

* Hawthorn
* Norwood
* South Adelaide

Australian rules football in Australia
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template