Venues
| Adelaide | Melbourne | Perth | Brisbane |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norwood Oval | Lake Oval | Subiaco Oval | Brisbane Cricket Ground |
| Capacity: 22,000 | Capacity: 20,000 | Capacity: 53,000 | Capacity: 35,000 |
 |  |  |  |
| NFL Escort Cup | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Dates | 25 April – 25 July 1978 |
| Teams | 16 |
| Venue(s) | 4 (in 4 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | South Adelaide (1st title) |
| Runners-up | Glenelg |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 15 |
| Attendance | 52,529 (3,502 per match) |
The 1978 NFL Championship Series was the third 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]
The 1978 NFL edition continued on a similar basis to the previous season with the VFL again running their own Night Series at VFL Park. However, the first signs of a breakaway appeared with the Tasmanian Representative Side choosing to participate in both the NFL and VFL competitions – making them the first non-VFL team to play in the VFL Night Series.
| Adelaide | Melbourne | Perth | Brisbane |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norwood Oval | Lake Oval | Subiaco Oval | Brisbane Cricket Ground |
| Capacity: 22,000 | Capacity: 20,000 | Capacity: 53,000 | Capacity: 35,000 |
| | | | |
| 25 April 1978 | Perth | 94-76 | West Adelaide | Subiaco Oval, Perth | |
| 14.10 (94) | 11.10 (76) | Attendance: 4,678 |
| 2 May 1978 | Norwood | 138-87 | East Fremantle | Norwood Oval, Adelaide | |
| 21.12 (138) | 13.9 (87) | Attendance: 4,500 (estimate) |
| 7 May 1978 | Queensland | 105-83 | Tasmania | Brisbane Cricket Ground, Brisbane | |
| 16.9 (105) | 12.11 (83) | Attendance: 10,000 |
| 9 May 1978 | Port Melbourne | 92-46 | New South Wales | Lake Oval, Melbourne | |
| 12.20 (92) | 7.4 (46) | Attendance: 3,682 |
| 16 May 1978 | South Adelaide | 87-56 | Port Adelaide | Norwood Oval, Adelaide | |
| 12.15 (87) | 7.14 (56) | Attendance: 2,000 (estimate) |
| 23 May 1978 | Sandringham | 82-78 | Australian Capital Territory | Lake Oval, Melbourne | |
| 12.10 (82) | 12.6 (78) | Attendance: 2,680 |
| 30 May 1978 | Glenelg | 71-69 | West Perth | Norwood Oval, Adelaide | |
| 10.11 (71) | 10.9 (69) | Attendance: 1,500 (estimate) |
| 6 June 1978 | Coburg | 71-49 | East Perth | Lake Oval, Melbourne | |
| 10.11 (71) | 7.7 (49) | Attendance: 1,280 |
| QF #1 13 June 1978 | Perth | 106-93 | Norwood | Subiaco Oval, Perth | |
| 16.10 (106) | 14.9 (93) | Attendance: 2,209 |
| QF #2 20 June 1978 | Port Melbourne | 96-60 | Queensland | Lake Oval, Melbourne | |
| 13.18 (96) | 9.6 (60) | Attendance: 3,000 |
| QF #3 27 June 1978 | Glenelg | 101-84 | Coburg | Norwood Oval, Adelaide | |
| 15.11 (101) | 13.6 (84) | Attendance: 2,500 (estimate) |
| QF #4 4 July 1978 | Sandringham | 35-94 | South Adelaide | Lake Oval, Melbourne | |
| 5.5 (35) | 14.10 (94) | Attendance: 1,000 |
| SF #1 11 July 1978 | Glenelg | 92-70 | Perth | Norwood Oval, Adelaide | |
| 13.14 (92) | 10.10 (70) | Attendance: 2,500 (estimate) |
| SF #2 18 July 1978 | Port Melbourne | 63-68 | South Adelaide | Lake Oval, Melbourne | |
| 9.9 (63) | 9.14 (68) | Attendance: 2,000 |
| Final 25 July 1978 | South Adelaide | 63-26 | Glenelg | Norwood Oval, Adelaide | |
| 3.0 (18) 4.2 (26) 5.3 (33) 9.9 (63) | 1.3 (9) 2.6 (18) 2.7 (19) 3.8 (26) | Attendance: 9,000 Umpires: Peter Mead | |||
| Goals | |||||
| Ruscuklic, Hateley, Lyons 2 Harradine, Keam, Schneebichler 1 | Rady, McFarlane, Cornes 1 |
Allen James Aylett OBE is a former Australian rules football player and administrator. He was the chairman/president of the North Melbourne Football Club during the 1970s (1971–1976) and then again from 2001–2005. In between, he had been the chairman of the then Victorian Football League (VFL) which is now known as the Australian Football League from 1977 to 1984. Worked as a dentist throughout his entire career until his retirement at 81 years old.
Brent Harvey, often known by his nickname "Boomer", is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He holds the record for most matches played by an individual in VFL/AFL history, breaking Michael Tuck's previous VFL/AFL record in 2016 with a total of 432 games played.
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent and only fully professional men's competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the game. Originally known as the Victorian Football League (VFL), it was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition from the Victorian Football Association (VFA), with its inaugural season commencing the following year. The VFL, aiming to become a national competition, began expanding beyond Victoria to other Australian states in the 1980s, and changed its name to the AFL in 1990.
The Australian National Football Council (ANFC) was the national governing body for Australian rules football in Australia from 1906 until 1995. The council was a body of delegates representing each of the sport's individual state leagues which controlled football in their states. The council was the owner of the laws of the game and managed interstate administrative and football matters. Its function was superseded by the AFL Commission.
The Championship of Australia was an Australian rules football tournament which was contested between football clubs from the Victorian, South Australian, Western Australian and Tasmanian football leagues. The Championship took place three times in the 19th century and then from 1907 to 1914 with the exception of 1912 and every year from 1968 to 1975. All but two of the Championships were played in Adelaide and all of them occurred after the respective league seasons had ended. The 1975 Championship of Australia was the last edition of the competition with the 1976 NFL Championship replacing the format, albeit for only one year with VFL clubs.
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.
The 1980 Escort Championships was an Australian rules football knock out tournament held between March and July 1980. The tournament was organised by Australian Football Championships, and was contested by teams from the Victorian Football League, South Australian National Football League and West Australian Football League, and the representative teams from New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory. The tournament was won by North Melbourne, who defeated Collingwood in the Grand Final.
The NFL Night Series was an Australian rules football tournament which was contested annually from 1976 until 1979. The tournament, played concurrently with the premiership season, was contested at different times by football clubs from the Victorian, South Australian, Western Australian and Queensland football leagues, and was operated by the National Football League, which was the national administrative body for the sport.
The Victorian Football League night series, also known during its history by a variety of sponsored names, was an Australian rules football tournament held annually between 1956 and 1971, and again on three occasions in the late 1970's and 1980's. For most years the series was a consolation series, played on weekday nights each September as a knock-out tournament amongst teams which failed to reach the Victorian Football League finals.
The Australian Football Championships (AFC) night series, known during its history by a variety of sponsored names, was an Australian rules football tournament held annually between 1979 and 1986. The competition was a knock-out competition featuring clubs from the Victorian Football League, South Australian National Football League, West Australian Football League and state representative teams from the minor states, and matches were played primarily on weekday nights concurrently with the respective leagues' premiership seasons.
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.
The 1979 NFL Championship Series was the 4th edition of the NFL Night Series, an NFL-organised national club Australian rules football tournament between the leading clubs from the SANFL, the VFA and QAFL.
The 1979 Australian Football Championships Night Series was the 1st edition of the AFC Night Series, a VFL-organised national club Australian rules football tournament between the leading clubs from the VFL, the WANFL and State Representative Teams.
The 1981 Australian Football Championships Night Series was the 3rd edition of the AFC Night Series, a VFL-organised national club Australian rules football tournament between the leading clubs from the VFL, the SANFL, the WAFL and State Representative Teams.
The 1983 Australian Football Championships Night Series was the 5th edition of the AFC Night Series, a VFL-organised national club Australian rules football tournament between the leading clubs from the VFL, the SANFL, the WAFL and State Representative Teams.
The 1984 Australian Football Championships Night Series was the 6th edition of the AFC Night Series, a VFL-organised national club Australian rules football tournament between the leading clubs from the VFL, the SANFL, the WAFL and State Representative Teams.
The 1985 Australian Football Championships Night Series was the 7th edition of the AFC Night Series, a VFL-organised national club Australian rules football tournament between the leading clubs from the VFL, the SANFL, the WAFL and State Representative Teams.
The 1986 Australian Football Championships Night Series was the 8th edition of the AFC Night Series, a VFL-organised national club Australian rules football tournament between the leading clubs from the VFL and the SANFL.
The 1987 Victorian Football League Night Series was the 19th edition of the VFL Night Series, a Victorian Football League (VFL)-organised Australian rules football tournament between the clubs from the VFL.