1980 AFC Night Series
From Snoutslouts
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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 34 teams in 1980: all sides from VFL, SANFL, WAFL and also State/Territory representative teams. Matches were played starting in pre-season, and on mid-week nights during the Premiership season, in various venues, but predominately in Melbourne. It was a knockout series, with losing sides eliminated from the competition.
The names of the AFC Cup contest changed with the sponsorship arrangements each season - 1980 was named the Escort Championships, for a brand of cigarettes made by W.D. & H.O.Wills.
Round 1 (Qualifying)
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | Pts | |
| Glenelg | 1.5 | 3.9 | 5.12 | 11.13 | 79 |
| Central District | 1.0 | 1.3 | 5.5 | 6.8 | 44 |
Norwood Oval, Adelaide. Friday 14 March. (Night)
Best -
Glenelg: Weston, Carey, Cornes, Holst, Farquhar, Marshall, Greenslade, Lihou
Central District: Jonas, Duckworth, Schallehn, Vivian
Goals -
Glenelg: MacVicar 2, Hurley 2, Marshall 2, Weston, Hodgeman, Cornes, Waite, McInerney
Central District: Duckworth 2, Graham, Wilson, M. Norsworthy, Ruciack
Round 2 (Qualifying)
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | Pts | |
| Glenelg | 6.3 | 11.6 | 16.8 | 22.11 | 143 |
| North Adelaide | 2.2 | 6.2 | 9.9 | 13.12 | 90 |
Norwood Oval, Adelaide. Friday March 21. (Night)
Best -
Glenelg: Carey, Hodgeman, Weston, MacVicar, Marshall, Waite, Caldwell, McInerney, Cornes
North Adelaide: Hill, Pelle, Cloke
Goals -
Glenelg: Wasser 3, Waite 3, Carey 3, MacVicar 2, Caldwell 2, McInerney 2, Cornes 2, Weston 2, Hodgeman, Marshall, Farquhar
North Adelaide: Pelle 2, Hill 2, McAdam 2, Hartfield, Diorio, Roach, Forth, W. Stringer, Condor, R. Robran
Round 3 (Main Draw)
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | Pts | |
| North Melbourne | 2.7 | 4.10 | 6.13 | 9.16 | 70 |
| Glenelg | 1.1 | 4.3 | 6.8 | 9.11 | 65 |
VFL Park, Waverley. Tuesday April 15. Crowd 4,419.(Night)
Best -
North Melbourne: W. Schimmelbusch, Sutton, McCann, Good
Glenelg: Carey, Hodgeman, Bradley, Cornes
Goals -
North Melbourne: Good 2, Boyse 2, Glendinning, Briedis, Blight, W. Schimmelbusch, Podolczak
Glenelg: Bradley 2, MacVicar 2, McFarlane, Carey, Marshall, Hodgeman, McInerney
Other
- As with all the AFC series, two VFL sides contested the Grand Final, with North Melbourne (controversially) beating Collingwood in front of a record night game crowd of 50,478.
