The List of Australian Football League pre-season and night series premiers is a complete chronological listing of the winners of the Victorian Football League (VFL) and Australian Football League (AFL) pre-season and night series competitions. Although it spans three different competitions, the premierships are considered historically equivalent.
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional 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. The league was founded as the Victorian Football League (VFL) as a breakaway from the previous Victorian Football Association (VFA), with its inaugural season commencing in 1897. Originally comprising only teams based in the Australian state of Victoria, the competition's name was changed to the Australian Football League for the 1990 season, after expanding to other states throughout the 1980s.
Contents
- Consolation Night series (Lake Oval) winners 1956–1971
- Most Consolation Night Series (Lake Oval) wins 1956–1971
- Night series winners 1977–1987
- Most night series wins 1977–1987
- Pre-season cup winners 1988–2013
- Most pre-season cup competition wins 1988–2013
- Total pre-season and night series wins
- Back-to-back night/pre-season winners
- Double premiership teams
- See also
- References
From 1956 to 1971, the first VFL Night Series was a consolation knock-out competition held in September at the Lake Oval in Albert Park amongst the eight teams who failed to reach the finals in the VFL premiership season, apart from 1957, when all twelve teams competed. [1]
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. The competition 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.
Albert Park is an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's central business district. Its local government area is the City of Port Phillip.
There were no official VFL night series held during the 1972 to 1976 seasons, however in 1976 the National Football League (the national governing body at the time) held their own night series mid-week during the season, known as the NFL Wills Cup. In 1977, the VFL revived their own night series, also held mid-week during the season and televised on Channel 7 to rival the NFL series that was shown on Channel 10. [2] Whilst the 1977 series only featured the twelve VFL teams, between 1978 and 1986 a selection of teams from the SANFL, WAFL and representative teams from Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania also competed. [3] This became known as the Australian Football Championships Night Series and ran until 1987.
The Seven Network is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia. Channel Seven head office is based in Sydney.
Network 10 is an Australian commercial television network. One of five national free-to-air networks, 10's owned-and-operated stations can be found in the state capital cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to regional areas of the country. The network is owned by Ten Network Holdings, a subsidiary of CBS Studios International.
The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL, is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the governing body for the sport of Australian rules football in South Australia.
With the national expansion of the VFL to include teams from Western Australia and Queensland the 1987 series was restricted to only the 14 VFL teams and commenced during the pre-season period, but was completed mid-week between rounds 5 and 6 of the 1987 VFL season. [4]
The 1987 Victorian Football League season was the 91st season of the elite Australian rules football competition. Two new clubs joined the competition in 1987, West Coast Eagles and the Brisbane Bears.
From 1988 until 2013, the competition was played in its entirety before the premiership season began and is competed for by only the VFL or AFL teams (the VFL was renamed the AFL in 1990), and became the Australian Football League pre-season competition. The preseason competition was abandoned in 2014, and replaced with discrete practice matches.
The Australian Football League pre-season competition, known during its history by a variety of sponsored names and most recently as the AFL Pre-season Challenge, was an annual Australian rules football tournament held amongst Australian Football League (AFL) senior clubs prior to the premiership season between 1988 and 2013. The pre-season competition culminated annually in a Grand Final and pre-season premier.
