1977 NFL Championship Series (Australia)

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.

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 replace 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 TeamNicknameLeagueQualificationParticipation (bold indicates winners)1Enter in Round 2SturtDouble BluesSANFLWinners of the 1976 South Australian National Football League6th Port AdelaideMagpiesSANFLRunners-Up in the 1976 South Australian National Football League6th GlenelgTigersSANFLThird Place in the 1976 South Australian National Football League3rd NorwoodRedlegsSANFLFourth Place in the 1976 South Australian National Football League5th PerthDemonsWANFLWinners of the 1976 Western Australian National Football League1stEast PerthRoyalsWANFLRunners-Up in the 1976 Western Australian National Football League2nd South FremantleBulldogsWANFLThird Place in the 1976 Western Australian National Football League2nd Port MelbourneBoroughsVFAWinners of the 1976 Victorian Football Association Premiership1stQueenslandMaroonsQAFLState Representative Team1stTasmaniaDevilsTANFLState Representative Team2nd Enter in Round 1West AdelaideBloodsSANFLFifth Place in the 1976 South Australian National Football League4th Central DistrictBulldogsSANFLSixth Place in the 1976 South Australian National Football League1stSouth AdelaidePanthersSANFLSeventh Place in the 1976 South Australian National Football League3rd North AdelaideRoostersSANFLEighth Place in the 1976 South Australian National Football League3rd West PerthFalconsWANFLFourth Place in the 1976 Western Australian National Football League3rd East FremantleSharksWANFLFifth Place in the 1976 Western Australian National Football League2nd ClaremontTigersWANFLSixth Place in the 1976 Western Australian National Football League1stDandenongRedlegsVFARunners-Up in the 1976 Victorian Football Association Premiership1stPrestonBullantsVFAThird Place in the 1976 Victorian Football Association Premiership1stCaulfieldBearsVFAFourth Place in the 1976 Victorian Football Association Premiership1stAustralian Capital TerritoryRamsACTAFL State Representative Team1stNew South WalesBluesNSWAFLState Representative Team1st 1 Includes previous appearances in the Championship of Australia.

Venues AdelaidePerthMelbourne 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

Knockout stage

Round 1

Round 2

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

NFL Championship Series final

References