# 1976 NFL Championship Series (Australia)

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.
It replaced the Championship of Australia tournament that been contested between the champion clubs of the VFL, the SANFL, the WANFL and the Tasmanian State Premiership between 1972 and 1975 and, as with those earlier tournaments, the games were (mostly) played in Adelaide.
The 1976 NFL Night Series was planned as a forerunner to a full-scale national competition in 1977 that would feature all the VFL, SANFL and WANFL teams plus representative teams from Tasmania, Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT.
Ultimately, the 1976 competition would be the only one to feature the VFL clubs - the Victorian League chose to break away in 1977 and run a rival competition, the VFL Night Series.

## Qualified Teams

| Team | Nickname | League | Qualification | Participation (bold indicates winners) |
| North Melbourne | Kangaroos | VFL | Winners of the 1975 Victorian Football League | 2nd (Previous: 1975) |
| Hawthorn | Hawks | VFL | Runners-Up in the 1975 Victorian Football League | 2nd (Previous: 1971) |
| Richmond | Tigers | VFL | Third Place in the 1975 Victorian Football League | 4th (Previous: 1969, 1973, 1974) |
| Carlton | Blues | VFL | Fourth Place in the 1975 Victorian Football League | 7th (Previous: 1907, 1908, 1914, 1968, 1970, 1972) |
| Footscray | Bulldogs | VFL | Seventh Place in the 1975 Victorian Football League | 1st |
| Norwood | Redlegs | SANFL | Winners of the 1975 South Australian National Football League | 4th (Previous: 1888, 1907, 1975) |
| Glenelg | Tigers | SANFL | Runners-Up in the 1975 South Australian National Football League | 2nd (Previous: 1973) |
| Port Adelaide | Magpies | SANFL | Third Place in the 1975 South Australian National Football League | 5th (Previous: 1890, 1910, 1913, 1914) |
| Sturt | Double Blues | SANFL | Fourth Place in the 1975 South Australian National Football League | 5th (Previous: 1968, 1969, 1970, 1974) |
| West Perth | Falcons | WANFL | Winners of the 1975 Western Australian National Football League | 2nd (Previous: 1975) |
| South Fremantle | Bulldogs | WANFL | Runners-Up in the 1975 Western Australian National Football League | 1st |
| Swan Districts | Swans | WANFL | Third Place in the 1975 Western Australian National Football League | 1st |
    $^1$ Includes previous appearances in the Championship of Australia.
    $^2$ Replaced Collingwood and St Kilda who both declined to participate.

## Venues

| Adelaide | Adelaide | Perth |
| Norwood Oval | Football Park | Subiaco Oval |
| Capacity: 22,000 | Capacity: 67,000 | Capacity: 53,000 |

## Group stage
### Group A

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | % | Pts |
| Glenelg | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 161 | 130 | 123.8 | 8 |
| Richmond | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 185 | 126 | 146.8 | 4 |
| Swan Districts | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 118 | 208 | 56.7 | 0 |

### Group B

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | % | Pts |
| North Melbourne | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 191 | 113 | 169.0 | 8 |
| Port Adelaide | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 134 | 150 | 89.3 | 4 |
| Footscray | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 169 | 201 | 84.1 | 0 |

### Group C

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | % | Pts |
| Hawthorn | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 202 | 99 | 204.0 | 8 |
| Sturt | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 146 | 158 | 92.4 | 4 |
| West Perth | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 109 | 200 | 54.5 | 0 |

### Group D

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | % | Pts |
| Norwood | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 231 | 110 | 210.0 | 8 |
| Carlton | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 188 | 169 | 111.2 | 4 |
| South Fremantle | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 93 | 294 | 31.6 | 0 |