1983 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 17 teams in 1983: all sides from VFL, the top 2 sides from both SANFL and WAFL, and the winner of the minor State's/Territory carnival - in this year, Tasmania.

Matches were played starting in pre-season, and on mid-week nights during the Premiership season, in various venues, but predominately in Melbourne. In 1983 there were just one qualifying match between Footscray and Tasmania (the former winning), 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 - 1983 was named the Sterling Cup, for a brand of cigarettes made by W.D. & H.O.Wills.

Round 1

VFL Park, Waverley. Tuesday April 12. Crowd: 2,864 (Night)

Video of 1st quarter(20 minutes)

This match was played in appalling conditions in front of a tiny crowd. Glenelg were competitive in the first half before being over run in the second.

Best -

Geelong: Reed, Card, Yeates, Neal, M. Kol

Glenelg: Kernahan, Marshall, Sewer, McGuinness, Frost

Goals -

Geelong: Neal 3, M. Kol 3, O'Keeffe 2, Bright 2, Darcy, Johnston, N. Kol

Glenelg: McGuinness 2, Motlop, Kernahan, Rady

• Geelong advanced in the main draw and Glenelg was eliminated from the competition.

Other

• As with all the AFC series, two VFL sides contested the Grand Final, with Carlton beating Richmond.