1977 NFL Championship Series (Australia)

1977 NFL Championship SeriesNFL Ardath Cup

Tournament details
Dates| 20 March – 26 July 1977
Teams| 22
Venue(s)| 5 (in 3 host cities)
Final positions
Champions| Norwood (3rd title)
Runners-up| East Perth
Tournament statistics
Matches played| 21
Attendance| 64,818 (3,087 per match)

<- 1976

1978 ->

International football competition

The 1977 NFL Championship Series was the 2nd edition of the NFL Night Series, an NFL-organised national club Australian rules football tournament between the leading clubs from the SANFL, the WANFL, the VFA and State Representative Teams.[1]

Following the success of the 1976 competition, the 1977 edition was originally planned to be a full-scale national competition that would feature all the VFL, SANFL and WANFL teams plus representative teams from Tasmania, Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT. But in late 1976, the VFL announced they were withdrawing from the national competition to form their own rival night series, the VFL Night Series.

Following this decision, the NFL decided to replaces the VFL teams with the top four VFA teams from the previous season, a surprising move considering the VFA was expelled from the ANFC in 1970.

## Qualified Teams

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

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Enter in Round 2
Sturt | Double Blues  | SANFL | Winners of the 1976 South Australian National Football League | 6th (Previous: 1968, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1976)
Port Adelaide | Magpies  | SANFL | Runners-Up in the 1976 South Australian National Football League | 6th (Previous: 1890, 1910, 1913, 1914, 1976)
Glenelg | Tigers  | SANFL | Third Place in the 1976 South Australian National Football League | 3rd (Previous: 1973, 1976)
Norwood | Redlegs  | SANFL | Fourth Place in the 1976 South Australian National Football League | 5th (Previous: 1888, 1907, 1975, 1976)
Perth | Demons  | WANFL | Winners of the 1976 Western Australian National Football League | 1st
East Perth | Royals  | WANFL | Runners-Up in the 1976 Western Australian National Football League | 2nd (Previous: 1972)
South Fremantle | Bulldogs  | WANFL | Third Place in the 1976 Western Australian National Football League | 2nd (Previous: 1976)
Port Melbourne | Boroughs  | VFA | Winners of the 1976 Victorian Football Association Premiership | 1st
Queensland | Maroons  | QAFL | State Representative Team  | 1st
Tasmania | Devils  | TANFL | State Representative Team  | 2nd (Previous: 1974)
Enter in Round 1
West Adelaide | Bloods  | SANFL | Fifth Place in the 1976 South Australian National Football League | 4th (Previous: 1908, 1909, 1911)
Central District | Bulldogs  | SANFL | Sixth Place in the 1976 South Australian National Football League | 1st
South Adelaide | Panthers  | SANFL | Seventh Place in the 1976 South Australian National Football League | 3rd (Previous: 1893, 1896)
North Adelaide | Roosters  | SANFL | Eighth Place in the 1976 South Australian National Football League | 3rd (Previous: 1971, 1972)
West Perth | Falcons  | WANFL | Fourth Place in the 1976 Western Australian National Football League | 3rd (Previous: 1975, 1976)
East Fremantle | Sharks  | WANFL | Fifth Place in the 1976 Western Australian National Football League | 2nd (Previous: 1974)
Claremont | Tigers  | WANFL | Sixth Place in the 1976 Western Australian National Football League | 1st
Dandenong | Redlegs  | VFA | Runners-Up in the 1976 Victorian Football Association Premiership | 1st
Preston | Bullants  | VFA | Third Place in the 1976 Victorian Football Association Premiership | 1st
Caulfield | Bears  | VFA | Fourth Place in the 1976 Victorian Football Association Premiership | 1st
Australian Capital Territory | Rams  | ACTAFL | State Representative Team  | 1st
New South Wales | Blues  | NSWAFL | State Representative Team  | 1st

1 Includes previous appearances in the Championship of Australia.

## Venues

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Adelaide | Perth | Melbourne

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Norwood Oval | Leederville Oval | Lathlain Park | Claremont Oval | Lake Oval
Capacity: 22,000 | Capacity: 25,000 | Capacity: 20,000 | Capacity: 15,000 | Capacity: 20,000
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## Knockout stage

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### Round 1

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20 March 1977  | Claremont | 85-53 | South Adelaide | Claremont Oval, Perth |

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| 13.7 (85)  |  | 8.5 (53)  | Attendance: 5,195

27 March 1977  | Dandenong | 92-83 | Central District | Lake Oval, Melbourne |

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| 14.8 (92)  |  | 11.17 (83)  | Attendance: 2,500

5 April 1977  | West Perth | 116-65 | North Adelaide | Leederville Oval, Perth |

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| 16.20 (116)  |  | 9.11 (65)  | Attendance: 2,000 (estimate)

5 April 1977  | Preston | 100-73 | New South Wales | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 15.10 (100)  |  | 11.7 (73)  | Attendance: 500 (estimate)

12 April 1977  | West Adelaide | 63-93 | East Fremantle | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 9.9 (63)  |  | 14.9 (93)  | Attendance: 1,500

19 April 1977  | Caulfield | 76-95 | Australian Capital Territory | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 11.10 (76)  |  | 14.11 (95)  | Attendance: 250

### Round 2

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26 April 1977  | South Fremantle | 92-89 | Tasmania | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 13.14 (92)  |  | 13.11 (89)  | Attendance: 1,000 (estimate)

3 May 1977  | Sturt | 131-45 | Claremont | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 18.23 (131)  |  | 7.3 (45)  | Attendance: 3,073

10 May 1977  | Norwood | 125-59 | Australian Capital Territory | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 18.17 (125)  |  | 8.11 (59)  | Attendance: 2,000

17 May 1977  | Port Melbourne | 111-80 | Queensland | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 17.9 (111)  |  | 12.8 (80)  | Attendance: 500

24 May 1977  | East Fremantle | 125-56 | Preston | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 18.17 (125)  |  | 7.14 (56)  | Attendance: 600 (estimate)

31 May 1977  | Perth | 140-87 | Glenelg | Lathlain Park, Perth |

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| 21.14 (140)  |  | 13.9 (87)  | Attendance: 5,000

31 May 1977  | Port Adelaide | 168-27 | West Perth | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 25.18 (168)  |  | 4.3 (27)  | Attendance: 3,000 (estimate)

7 June 1977  | East Perth | 54-43 | Dandenong | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 7.12 (54)  |  | 6.7 (43)  | Attendance: 1,500 (estimate)

### Quarter-finals

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QF #1 14 June 1977  | Sturt | 125-68 | South Fremantle | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 19.11(125)  |  | 9.14 (68)  | Attendance: 3,000

QF #2 21 June 1977  | Norwood | 152-82 | Port Melbourne | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 23.14 (152)  |  | 12.10 (82)  | Attendance: 2,500

QF #3 28 June 1977  | East Fremantle | 98-73 | Perth | Leederville Oval, Perth |

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| 14.14 (98)  |  | 11.7 (73)  | Attendance: 3,500

QF #4 5 July 1977  | Port Adelaide | 84-86 | East Perth | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 13.6 (84)  |  | 13.8 (86)  | Attendance: 3,000 (estimate)

### Semi-finals

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SF #1 12 July 1977  | Norwood | 113-57 | Sturt | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 17.11 (113)  |  | 8.9 (57)  | Attendance: 8,000

SF #2 19 July 1977  | East Perth | 85-29 | East Fremantle | Leederville Oval, Perth |

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| 12.13 (85)  |  | 3.11 (29)  | Attendance: 4,000 (estimate)

### NFL Championship Series final

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Final  26 July 1977  | Norwood | 69-61 | East Perth | Norwood Oval, Adelaide |

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| 3.0 (18)
6.2 (38)
8.3 (51)
10.9 (69)  |  | 2.1 (13)
4.4 (28)
8.7 (55)
9.7 (61)  | Attendance: 12,000
Umpires: Peter Mead

|  | Goals |
Button, Michalanney 2
Gallagher, Gregg, Woodcock, Rosser, Adler, Von Bertouch 1  |  | Spencer 3
Arnold 2
Otway, Verstegen, Stewart, Hamilton 1  |

## References

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1. ^ David Eastman. "1977 NFL Ardath Cup".

* 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