VFL Night Series

This article is about the consolation night series held between 1956 and 1971. For the pre-season/mid-season competition known as the night series and featuring VFL clubs between 1977 and 1987, see Australian Football Championships Night Series.
Victorian Football League Night Series
Sport Australian rules football
Founded 1956
Ceased 1971
No. of teams 8
Country Australia
Venue(s) South Melbourne Cricket Ground
Most titles Footscray
(4 premierships)
Related
competitions
Victorian Football League

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.

History

The Night Premiership was first established in 1956, contested in September as a three round knock-out tournament amongst the eight VFL teams who did not make the final four, based on a similar post-season night competition which had been established in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) in 1954.[1] All games were played at the South Melbourne Cricket Ground, which was the only ground equipped to host night games. Despite the fact that not all VFL teams participated, the first season's average crowd was 20,000 for the seven matches played, and a crowd of 33,120 watched the first night Grand Final.

The series was expanded in 1957 to include all twelve teams. The four teams which contested the VFL finals entered the Night Series after their VFL premiership season was finished, resulting in the night series running more than two weeks beyond the end of the day premiership. This was ultimately not successful, and the VFL elected to return to the original format in 1958, and remained under this format until 1971.

Interest in the night series, particularly among the clubs, began to reduce in the late 1960s as the home-and-away season was extended from eighteen rounds to twenty rounds in 1968, then again to twenty-two rounds in 1970. Additionally, in 1972, the VFL switched from a final four to a final-five finals system, leaving only seven teams available to contest the Night Series. Consequently, the Night Series was abolished after the 1971 season.[2]

During its history, the Night Series was used to trial rule changes. Two particular rules which were trialled and later introduced were the free kick for kicking out of bounds on the full (trialled in 1966, introduced in the VFL in 1969 and nationally in 1970) and the centre square to control congestion at centre bounces (trialled in 1966, introduced nationally in 1973).[3]

The consolation night series is generally considered to be of equivalent importance as the Australian Football Championships Night Series (1977–1987) and the Australian Football League pre-season competition (1988–2013), and records relating to the three competitions are often combined.

Competition names

During its history, the night series was known by the following sponsored names:

Winners

Year Winners Grand Finalist ScoresVenueCrowdMarginSeason Result
1956 South Melbourne Carlton 13.16 (94) – 13.10 (88)South Melbourne Cricket Ground32,450 6 9th
1957 South Melbourne Geelong 15.13 (103) – 8.4 (52) South Melbourne Cricket Ground25,000 51 10th
1958 St Kilda Carlton 16.13 (109) – 15.11 (101) South Melbourne Cricket Ground26,400 8 8th
1959 Fitzroy Hawthorn 10.10 (70) – 4.16 (40) South Melbourne Cricket Ground9,200 30 5th
1960 South Melbourne Hawthorn 10.12 (72) – 8.11 (59) South Melbourne Cricket Ground20,000 13 8th
1961 Geelong North Melbourne 9.20 (74) – 9.8 (62) South Melbourne Cricket Ground30,465 12 6th
1962 Richmond Hawthorn 8.16 (64) – 9.6 (60) South Melbourne Cricket Ground24,550 4 8th
1963 Footscray Richmond 10.9 (69) – 9.9 (63) South Melbourne Cricket Ground25,270 6 9th
1964 Footscray St Kilda 11.12 (78) – 11.7 (73) South Melbourne Cricket Ground36,300 5 10th
1965 North Melbourne Carlton 14.13 (97) – 9.3 (57) South Melbourne Cricket Ground37,750 40 9th
1966 North Melbourne Hawthorn 20.12 (132) – 12.7 (79) South Melbourne Cricket Ground22,800 53 7th
1967 Footscray South Melbourne 15.11 (101) – 8.8 (56) South Melbourne Cricket Ground26,731 45 12th
1968 Hawthorn North Melbourne 16.15 (111) – 6.14 (50) South Melbourne Cricket Ground15,650 61 6th
1969 Hawthorn Melbourne 10.17 (77) – 9.18 (72) South Melbourne Cricket Ground21,067 5 5th
1970 Footscray Melbourne 13.17 (95) – 13.15 (93) South Melbourne Cricket Ground23,882 2 7th
1971 Melbourne Fitzroy 12.7 (79) – 9.9 (63) South Melbourne Cricket Ground21,169 16 7th

Most Night Series wins

Team Wins Seasons
Footscray41963, 1964, 1967, 1970
South Melbourne31956, 1957, 1960
Hawthorn21968, 1969
North Melbourne21965, 1966
Melbourne11971
St Kilda11958
Fitzroy11959
Geelong11961
Richmond11962

See also

References

  1. Fullpointsfooty SANFL Night Series and Pre-season Competition, retrieved 18 March 2011.
  2. Stephen Rodgers (1992), Every Game Ever Played: VFLAFL results 1897–1991 (3rd ed.), Viking O'Neil, p. 534
  3. "New rules in night series". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne, VIC. 18 August 1966. p. 46.


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