1982 AFC Night Series

From Snoutslouts

Since 1977 the VFL had run their own "national" night football competition. From 1979 this was under a purpose-formed company: Australian Football Championships (AFC).

The competition had 18 teams in 1982: all sides from VFL, the top 3 sides from both SANFL and WAFL. There were no longer State/Territory representative teams as had applied in previous seasons.

Matches were played starting in pre-season, and on mid-week nights during the Premiership season, in various venues, but predominately in Melbourne. In 1982 there were just two qualifying matches between the SANFL and WAFL's second and third-ranked teams, then it was a straight knockout series, with losing sides eliminated from the competition. Additionally, the State representative teams were moved to their own round-robin competition worth $25,000 and named the Escort Shield.

The names of the AFC Cup contest changed with the sponsorship arrangements each season - 1982 was named the Escort Championships, for a brand of cigarettes made by W.D. & H.O.Wills.

Qualifying

Rated based on their premiership table finish in the previous season, Swan Districts (WAFL #3) played Glenelg (SANFL #2).

Subiaco Oval, Perth. Saturday 13 March. (Day)

Best -

Swan Districts: Richardson, Holmes, Nowotny, Outridge, G. Melrose, Sartori

Glenelg: Carey, Weston, Kernahan, McGuinness, Lunniss, Cornes

Goals -

Swan Districts: Richardson 4, Sartori 4, Boucher 3, Holmes 2, Nowotny 2, Melrose 2, Blackaby, Shine, Langsford, Skwirowski

Glenelg: Lunniss 3, Carey 3, Walter 3, Marshall 2, Kernahan 2, McGuinness, Mason

• Swan Districts advanced directly to the main draw (Round 1) and Glenelg was eliminated from the competition.

Other

• As with all the AFC series, two VFL sides contested the Grand Final, with Sydney beating North Melbourne.