| AFC Escort Championships | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Dates | 2 March – 3 July 1979 |
| Teams | 23 |
| Venue(s) | 7 (in 5 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Collingwood (1st title) |
| Runners-up | Hawthorn |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 22 |
| Attendance | 156,625 (7,119 per match) |
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. [1]
In June 1978 the VFL announced their plans to form a new company to oversee a night series that would be broadcast nationally and Australian Football Championships Pty. Ltd. was incorporated on 28 July 1978 to run a rival national night competition, in opposition to the NFL Night Series. By October 1978, The VFL were joined by the WAFL, TANFL, NSWAFL and ACTAFL in the joint venture and transferred from NFL Night Series to the AFC Night Series. However, the SANFL rejected the VFL's overtures, choosing to remain aligned with the NFL instead. They were joined by the VFA and QAFL in a greatly-reduced NFL Series.
| Team | Nickname | League | Qualification | Participation (bold indicates winners) 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enter in Round 2 | ||||
| Hawthorn | Hawks | VFL | Winners of the 1978 Victorian Football League | 3rd (Previous: 1971, 1976 ) |
| North Melbourne | Kangaroos | VFL | Runners-up in the 1978 Victorian Football League | 3rd (Previous: 1975, 1976) |
| Collingwood | Magpies | VFL | Third place in the 1978 Victorian Football League | 3rd (Previous: 1896, 1910) |
| Carlton | Blues | VFL | Fourth place in the 1978 Victorian Football League | 8th (Previous: 1907, 1908, 1914, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1976) |
| Geelong | Cats | VFL | Fifth place in the 1978 Victorian Football League | 1st |
| East Perth | Royals | WANFL | Winners of the 1978 Western Australian National Football League | 3rd (Previous: 1972, 1977, 1978) |
| Perth | Demons | WANFL | Runners-up in the 1978 Western Australian National Football League | 3rd (Previous: 1977, 1978) |
| South Fremantle | Bulldogs | WANFL | Third place in the 1978 Western Australian National Football League | 3rd (Previous: 1976, 1977) |
| Australian Capital Territory | Rams | ACTAFL | State Representative Team | 3rd (Previous: 1977, 1978) |
| Enter in Round 1 | ||||
| St Kilda | Saints | VFL | Sixth place in the 1978 Victorian Football League | 1st |
| Richmond | Tigers | VFL | Seventh place in the 1978 Victorian Football League | 5th (Previous: 1969, 1973, 1974, 1976) |
| South Melbourne | Swans | VFL | Eighth place in the 1978 Victorian Football League | 4th (Previous: 1888, 1890, 1909) |
| Fitzroy | Lions | VFL | Ninth place in the 1978 Victorian Football League | 2nd (Previous: 1913) |
| Essendon | Bombers | VFL | Tenth place in the 1978 Victorian Football League | 3rd (Previous: 1893, 1911) |
| Footscray | Bulldogs | VFL | Eleventh Place in the 1978 Victorian Football League | 2nd (Previous: 1976) |
| Melbourne | Demons | VFL | Twelfth Place in the 1978 Victorian Football League | 1st |
| West Perth | Falcons | WANFL | Fourth place in the 1978 Western Australian National Football League | 5th (Previous: 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978) |
| Claremont | Tigers | WANFL | Fifth place in the 1978 Western Australian National Football League | 2nd (Previous: 1977) |
| East Fremantle | Sharks | WANFL | Sixth place in the 1978 Western Australian National Football League | 4th (Previous: 1974, 1977, 1978) |
| Subiaco | Lions | WANFL | Seventh place 1978 Western Australian National Football League | 2nd (Previous: 1973) |
| Swan Districts | Swans | WANFL | Eighth place in the 1978 Western Australian National Football League | 2nd (Previous: 1976) |
| New South Wales | Blues | NSWAFL | State Representative Team | 3rd (Previous: 1977, 1978) |
| Tasmania | Devils | TANFL | State Representative Team | 4th (Previous: 1974, 1977, 1978) |
| Melbourne | Perth | Sydney | Hobart | Canberra | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waverley Park | Perth Oval | Subiaco Oval | Leederville Oval | Sydney Showground | North Hobart Oval | Phillip Oval |
| Capacity: 72,000 | Capacity: 27,000 | Capacity: 53,000 | Capacity: 25,000 | Capacity: 40,000 | Capacity: 26,000 | Capacity: 15,000 |
 |  |  |  |  | ||
| 2 March 1979 | South Melbourne | 93–55 | West Perth | Waverley Park, Melbourne | |
| 13.5 (93) | 7.13 (55) | Attendance: 6,815 |
| 4 March 1979 | Swan Districts | 122–160 | Essendon | Perth Oval, Perth | |
| 18.14 (122) | 21.14 (160) | Attendance: 5,000 (estimate) |
| 9 March 1979 | Richmond | 150–66 | Subiaco | Waverley Park, Melbourne | |
| 22.18 (150) | 9.12 (66) | Attendance: 5,808 |
| 11 March 1979 | New South Wales | 77–133 | Fitzroy | Sydney Showground, Sydney | |
| 11.11 (77) | 20.13 (133) | Attendance: 3,000 (estimate) |
| 16 March 1979 | St Kilda | 82–114 | East Fremantle | Waverley Park, Melbourne | |
| 12.10 (82) | 16.18 (114) | Attendance: 4,894 |
| 18 March 1979 | Tasmania | 60–125 | Footscray | North Hobart Oval, Hobart | |
| 9.6 (60) | 19.11 (125) | Attendance: 7,243 |
| 25 March 1979 | Claremont | 111–96 | Melbourne | Leederville Oval, Perth | |
| 17.9 (111) | 15.6 (96) | Attendance: 4,500 (estimate) |
| 23 March 1979 | South Melbourne | 109–61 | South Fremantle | Waverley Park, Melbourne | |
| 16.13 (109) | 8.13 (61) | Attendance: 3,000 |
| 25 March 1979 | Australian Capital Territory | 52–162 | North Melbourne | Phillip Oval, Canberra | |
| 7.10 (52) | 24.18 (162) | Attendance: 8,300 |
| 27 March 1979 | Collingwood | 89–47 | Essendon | Waverley Park, Melbourne | |
| 12.7 (89) | 6.11 (47) | Attendance: 8,813 |
| 3 April 1979 | Geelong | 77–51 | Richmond | Waverley Park, Melbourne | |
| 10.17 (77) | 6.15 (51) | Attendance: 4,885 |
| 10 April 1979 | Fitzroy | 90–78 | Carlton | Waverley Park, Melbourne | |
| 12.18 (90) | 11.12 (78) | Attendance: 5,160 |
| 24 April 1979 | Footscray | 59–63 | East Perth | Waverley Park, Melbourne | |
| 8.11 (59) | 9.9 (63) | Attendance: 4,338 |
| 1 May 1979 | Perth | 89–75 | East Fremantle | Subiaco Oval, Perth | |
| 13.11 (89) | 11.9 (75) | Attendance: 3,000 |
| 1 May 1979 | Hawthorn | 114–93 | Claremont | Waverley Park, Melbourne | |
| 16.18 (114) | 14.9 (93) | Attendance: 3,730 |
| QF #1 8 May 1979 | Collingwood | 102–51 | South Melbourne | Waverley Park, Melbourne | |
| 15.12 (102) | 7.9 (51) | Attendance: 6,796 |
| QF #2 15 May 1979 | Fitzroy | 60–55 | Geelong | Waverley Park, Melbourne | |
| 9.6 (60) | 7.13 (55) | Attendance: 7,119 |
| QF #3 22 May 1979 | East Perth | 87–67 | Perth | Waverley Park, Melbourne | |
| 13.9 (87) | 11.1 (67) | Attendance: 2,583 |
| QF #4 29 May 1979 | Hawthorn | 52–50 | North Melbourne | Waverley Park, Melbourne | |
| 7.10 (52) | 6.14 (50) | Attendance: 7,456 |
| SF #1 5 June 1979 | Collingwood | 116–49 | Fitzroy | Waverley Park, Melbourne | |
| 17.14 (116) | 4.7 (31) | Attendance: 12,389 |
| SF #2 19 June 1979 | Hawthorn | 67–31 | East Perth | Waverley Park, Melbourne | |
| 9.13 (67) | 4.7 (31) | Attendance: 4,073 |
| Final 3 July 1979 | Collingwood | 80–52 | Hawthorn | Waverley Park, Melbourne | |
| 2.1 (13) 5.1 (31) 9.7 (61) 12.8 (80) | 3.4 (22) 4.7 (31) 6.8 (44) 7.10 (52) | Attendance: 37,753 Umpires: Cameron, Deller | |||
| Goals | |||||
| Austen 4 Banks, Davis 2 Wearmouth, Brewer, Valli, Anderson 1 | Hendrie 2 Goss, Goad, Eade, Wilkinson, Turner 1 |
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, West 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.
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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, West 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.
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