1976 NFL Championship Series (Australia)

The 1976 NFL Championship Series, known as the NFL Wills Cup after the competitions major sponsor W.D. & H.O. Wills, was an Australian rules football tournament held between the 17 May and 17 August 1976. It was the inaugural NFL Night Series competition.

The championship was contested by the leading clubs from the VFL, the SANFL and the WAFL. The matches were played in Adelaide, South Australia and in Perth, Western Australia.

The final, played in front of 7,374, was won by Hawthorn by a margin of 48 points.^[1][2][3]

Participating teams

1975 NFL Championship Teams

Position	Club	Moniker	League	Qualification	Est.
Champions	Hawthorn	Hawks	Victoria	1975 VFL Runners-Up	1902
Runners-Up	North Melbourne	Kangaroos	Victoria	1975 VFL Premiers	1869
3rd	Norwood	Redlegs	South Australia	1975 SANFL Premiers	1878
4th	Glenelg	Tigers	South Australia	1975 SANFL Runners-Up	1920
5th	Richmond	Tigers	Victoria	1975 VFL Third Place	1885
6th	Carlton	Blues	Victoria	1975 VFL Fourth Place	1864
7th	Sturt	Double Blues	South Australia	1975 SANFL Fourth Place	1901
8th	Port Adelaide	Magpies	South Australia	1975 SANFL Third Place	1870
9th	Footscray	Bulldogs	Victoria	1975 VFL Seventh (Wildcard)	1877
10th	Swan Districts	Swans	Western Australia	1975 WAFL Third Place	1932
11th	West Perth	Falcons	Western Australia	1975 WAFL Premiers	1885
12th	South Fremantle	Bulldogs	Western Australia	1975 WAFL Runners-Up	1900
	^ denotes that the club has relocated at some point in its existence. ** denotes that the club was a founding member of the VFL * denotes that the club was a founding member of its former league.

West Perth

Swan Districts

South Fremantle

Port Adelaide

Glenelg

Norwood

Sturt

Footscray

North

Melbourne

Carlton

Richmond

Hawthorn

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 A
17 May 1976	Glenelg 11.10 (76)	def.	Richmond 9.8 (62)	Football Park (crowd: 13,693)
12 June 1976	Glenelg 11.19 (85)	def.	Swan Districts 10.8 (68)	Subiaco Oval (crowd: 10,876)
26 June 1976	Richmond 18.15 (123)	def.	Swan Districts 7.8 (50)	Norwood Oval (crowd: 500)

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 B
1 June 1976	Port Adelaide 14.13 (97)	def.	Footscray 9.9 (63)	Norwood Oval (crowd: 5,818)
15 June 1976	North Melbourne 12.15 (87)	def.	Port Adelaide 5.7 (37)	Norwood Oval (crowd: 9,000)
13 July 1976	North Melbourne 16.8 (104)	def.	Footscray 11.10 (76)	Norwood Oval (crowd: 2,081)

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 C
7 June 1976	Hawthorn 15.17 (107)	def.	West Perth 7.4 (46)	Subiaco Oval (crowd: 9,860)
14 June 1976	Sturt 14.9 (93)	def.	West Perth 9.9 (63)	Football Park (crowd: 12,777)
6 July 1976	Hawthorn 13.17 (95)	def.	Sturt 8.5 (53)	Norwood Oval (crowd: 8,839)

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

	Group D
8 June 1976	Carlton 22.16 (148)	def.	South Fremantle 3.5 (23)	Norwood Oval (crowd: 3,500)
22 June 1976	Norwood 22.14 (146)	def.	Carlton 5.10 (40)	Norwood Oval (crowd: 7,500)
20 July 1976	Norwood 11.19 (85)	def.	South Fremantle 10.10 (70)	Norwood Oval (crowd: 3,250)

Knockout Stage

	Semi Finals
27 July 1976	Hawthorn 11.16 (82)	def.	Glenelg 8.8 (56)	Norwood Oval (crowd: 8,086)
3 August 1976	North Melbourne 8.5 (53)	def.	Norwood 5.5 (35)	Norwood Oval (crowd: 5,160)

	NFL Wills Cup Final
17 August 1976	Hawthorn	def.	North Melbourne	Norwood Oval (crowd: 7,374)
	3.6 (24) 5.7 (37) 7.13 (55) 12.17 (89)	Q1 Q2 Q3 Final	1.1 (7) 1.4 (10) 4.8 (32) 5.11 (41)	Umpires: Peter Mead
M Moncrieff 4 A Goad 3 G Ablett, D Scott 2 L Matthews 1		Goals	S Kekovich, M Blight 2 P Feltham 1

References

1. ↑ "Hawthorn Easily In Night Final". The Age. 18 August 1976. 
2. ↑ "NFL Wills Cup". Full Points Footy. Archived from the original on June 18, 2007. 
3. ↑ David Eastman. "1976 NFL Wills Cup". Retrieved 12 November 2016.