The 1976 NFL Championship Series was the 1st edition of the NFL Night Series, a national club Australian rules football tournament organised by the National Football League (NFL) between the leading clubs from the VFL, the SANFL and the WANFL.
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 and, as with those earlier tournaments, the games were (mostly) played in Adelaide.
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 TeamNicknameLeagueQualificationParticipation (bold indicates winners)1North MelbourneKangaroosVFLWinners of the 1975 Victorian Football League2nd HawthornHawksVFLRunners-Up in the 1975 Victorian Football League2nd RichmondTigersVFLThird Place in the 1975 Victorian Football League4th CarltonBluesVFLFourth Place in the 1975 Victorian Football League7th FootscrayBulldogsVFLSeventh Place in the 1975 Victorian Football League21stNorwoodRedlegsSANFLWinners of the 1975 South Australian National Football League4th GlenelgTigersSANFLRunners-Up in the 1975 South Australian National Football League2nd Port AdelaideMagpiesSANFLThird Place in the 1975 South Australian National Football League5th SturtDouble BluesSANFLFourth Place in the 1975 South Australian National Football League5th West PerthFalconsWANFLWinners of the 1975 Western Australian National Football League2nd South FremantleBulldogsWANFLRunners-Up in the 1975 Western Australian National Football League1stSwan DistrictsSwansWANFLThird Place in the 1975 Western Australian National Football League1st 1 Includes previous appearances in the Championship of Australia. 2 Replaced Collingwood and St Kilda who both declined to participate.
Venues Adelaide Perth Norwood Oval Football Park Subiaco Oval Capacity: 22,000 Capacity: 67,000 Capacity: 53,000
Group stage
Group A
TeamPldWDLPFPA%PtsGlenelg2200161130123.88Richmond2101185126146.84Swan Districts200211820856.70
Group B
TeamPldWDLPFPA%PtsNorth Melbourne2200191113169.08 Port Adelaide210113415089.34 Footscray200216920184.10
Group C
TeamPldWDLPFPA%PtsHawthorn220020299204.08 Sturt210114615892.44West Perth200210920054.50
Group D
TeamPldWDLPFPA%PtsNorwood2200231110210.08 Carlton2101188169111.24South Fremantle20029329431.60
Knockout stage
Semi-finals
NFL Championship Series final
References