The 1977 NFL Championship Series was the 2nd edition of the NFL Night Series, an NFL-organised national club Australian rules football tournament between the leading clubs from the SANFL, the WANFL, the VFA and State Representative Teams.

Following the success of the 1976 competition, the 1977 edition was originally planned to be a full-scale national competition that would feature all the VFL, SANFL and WANFL teams plus representative teams from Tasmania, Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT. But in late 1976, the VFL announced they were withdrawing from the national competition to form their own rival night series, the VFL Night Series.

Following this decision, the NFL decided to replaces the VFL teams with the top four VFA teams from the previous season, a surprising move considering the VFA was expelled from the ANFC in 1970.

Qualified Teams

TeamNicknameLeagueQualificationParticipation (bold indicates winners)1
Enter in Round 2
SturtDouble BluesSANFLWinners of the 1976 South Australian National Football League6th (Previous: 1968, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1976)
Port AdelaideMagpiesSANFLRunners-Up in the 1976 South Australian National Football League6th (Previous: 1890, 1910, 1913, 1914, 1976)
GlenelgTigersSANFLThird Place in the 1976 South Australian National Football League3rd (Previous: 1973, 1976)
NorwoodRedlegsSANFLFourth Place in the 1976 South Australian National Football League5th (Previous: 1888, 1907, 1975, 1976)
PerthDemonsWANFLWinners of the 1976 Western Australian National Football League1st
East PerthRoyalsWANFLRunners-Up in the 1976 Western Australian National Football League2nd (Previous: 1972)
South FremantleBulldogsWANFLThird Place in the 1976 Western Australian National Football League2nd (Previous: 1976)
Port MelbourneBoroughsVFAWinners of the 1976 Victorian Football Association Premiership1st
QueenslandMaroonsQAFLState Representative Team1st
TasmaniaDevilsTANFLState Representative Team2nd (Previous: 1974)
Enter in Round 1
West AdelaideBloodsSANFLFifth Place in the 1976 South Australian National Football League4th (Previous: 1908, 1909, 1911)
Central DistrictBulldogsSANFLSixth Place in the 1976 South Australian National Football League1st
South AdelaidePanthersSANFLSeventh Place in the 1976 South Australian National Football League3rd (Previous: 1893, 1896)
North AdelaideRoostersSANFLEighth Place in the 1976 South Australian National Football League3rd (Previous: 1971, 1972)
West PerthFalconsWANFLFourth Place in the 1976 Western Australian National Football League3rd (Previous: 1975, 1976)
East FremantleSharksWANFLFifth Place in the 1976 Western Australian National Football League2nd (Previous: 1974)
ClaremontTigersWANFLSixth Place in the 1976 Western Australian National Football League1st
DandenongRedlegsVFARunners-Up in the 1976 Victorian Football Association Premiership1st
PrestonBullantsVFAThird Place in the 1976 Victorian Football Association Premiership1st
CaulfieldBearsVFAFourth Place in the 1976 Victorian Football Association Premiership1st
Australian Capital TerritoryRamsACTAFLState Representative Team1st
New South WalesBluesNSWAFLState Representative Team1st

1 Includes previous appearances in the Championship of Australia.

Venues

AdelaidePerthMelbourne
Norwood OvalLeederville OvalLathlain ParkClaremont OvalLake Oval
Capacity: 22,000Capacity: 25,000Capacity: 20,000Capacity: 15,000Capacity: 20,000

Knockout stage

Round 1

20 March 1977Claremont85-53South AdelaideClaremont Oval, Perth
13.7 (85)8.5 (53)Attendance: 5,195
27 March 1977Dandenong92-83Central DistrictLake Oval, Melbourne
14.8 (92)11.17 (83)Attendance: 2,500
5 April 1977West Perth116-65North AdelaideLeederville Oval, Perth
16.20 (116)9.11 (65)Attendance: 2,000 (estimate)
5 April 1977Preston100-73New South WalesNorwood Oval, Adelaide
15.10 (100)11.7 (73)Attendance: 500 (estimate)
12 April 1977West Adelaide63-93East FremantleNorwood Oval, Adelaide
9.9 (63)14.9 (93)Attendance: 1,500
19 April 1977Caulfield76-95Australian Capital TerritoryNorwood Oval, Adelaide
11.10 (76)14.11 (95)Attendance: 250

Round 2

26 April 1977South Fremantle92-89TasmaniaNorwood Oval, Adelaide
13.14 (92)13.11 (89)Attendance: 1,000 (estimate)
3 May 1977Sturt131-45ClaremontNorwood Oval, Adelaide
18.23 (131)7.3 (45)Attendance: 3,073
10 May 1977Norwood125-59Australian Capital TerritoryNorwood Oval, Adelaide
18.17 (125)8.11 (59)Attendance: 2,000
17 May 1977Port Melbourne111-80QueenslandNorwood Oval, Adelaide
17.9 (111)12.8 (80)Attendance: 500
24 May 1977East Fremantle125-56PrestonNorwood Oval, Adelaide
18.17 (125)7.14 (56)Attendance: 600 (estimate)
31 May 1977Perth140-87GlenelgLathlain Park, Perth
21.14 (140)13.9 (87)Attendance: 5,000
31 May 1977Port Adelaide168-27West PerthNorwood Oval, Adelaide
25.18 (168)4.3 (27)Attendance: 3,000 (estimate)
7 June 1977East Perth54-43DandenongNorwood Oval, Adelaide
7.12 (54)6.7 (43)Attendance: 1,500 (estimate)

Quarter-finals

QF #1 14 June 1977Sturt125-68South FremantleNorwood Oval, Adelaide
19.11(125)9.14 (68)Attendance: 3,000
QF #2 21 June 1977Norwood152-82Port MelbourneNorwood Oval, Adelaide
23.14 (152)12.10 (82)Attendance: 2,500
QF #3 28 June 1977East Fremantle98-73PerthLeederville Oval, Perth
14.14 (98)11.7 (73)Attendance: 3,500
QF #4 5 July 1977Port Adelaide84-86East PerthNorwood Oval, Adelaide
13.6 (84)13.8 (86)Attendance: 3,000 (estimate)

Semi-finals

SF #1 12 July 1977Norwood113-57SturtNorwood Oval, Adelaide
17.11 (113)8.9 (57)Attendance: 8,000
SF #2 19 July 1977East Perth85-29East FremantleLeederville Oval, Perth
12.13 (85)3.11 (29)Attendance: 4,000 (estimate)

NFL Championship Series final

Final 26 July 1977Norwood69-61East PerthNorwood Oval, Adelaide
3.0 (18) 6.2 (38) 8.3 (51) 10.9 (69)2.1 (13) 4.4 (28) 8.7 (55) 9.7 (61)Attendance: 12,000 Umpires: Peter Mead
Goals
Button, Michalanney 2 Gallagher, Gregg, Woodcock, Rosser, Adler, Von Bertouch 1Spencer 3 Arnold 2 Otway, Verstegen, Stewart, Hamilton 1