VFL Night Series & AFL Pre-Season Cup - Facts & Figures

NIGHT SERIES/PRE-SEASON CUP:

FACTS & FIGURES

David Eastman // February 15, 2017

NAMING RIGHTS SPONSORS

YEAR	COMPETITION NAME	SPONSOR	NOTES
1956-63	VFL Night Premiership	(none)	Due to the lack of sponsorship, the prizemoney was provided entirely by the VFL
1964-69	Golden Fleece Night Premiership	Golden Fleece	The AFL's annual stats guide incorrectly has Golden Fleece commencing in 1965. Consequently, the 1965 start date appears across a number of other sources
1970	Radiant Night Premiership	L. J. Morgan Pty. Ltd.	Radiant was a brand of stainless steel industrial kitchen products
1971	Heinz 'Big Red' Night Premiership	H. J. Heinz Company	Big Red was Heinz's iconic tomato sauce and tomato soup brand
1976	NFL-Wills Cup	W.D. & H.O. Wills	Tobacco company, Wills sponsored the NFL series 1976-79 and the VFL series 1979-84
1977-78	Amco-Herald Cup	Amco Jeans/Herald & Weekly Times	Many sources incorrectly list jeans brand Amco as "Amoco" (which was a petrol company)
1979-82	Escort Championships	W.D. & H.O. Wills	Escort was one of Wills' major cigarette brands at this time. The series is frequently referred to as the "Escort Cup" which was actually the name of the NFL series in 1979 and the SANFL series
1983-84	Sterling Cup	W.D. & H.O. Wills	Benson and Hedges Sterling was a new brand of cigarette launched by Wills
1985-86	Foster's Football Cup	Elder's Brewing Group	Foster's Lager was the major beer brand of C.U.B. (purchased by Elders in 1983)
1987	The VFL Cup	(none)	The opening match of the series (Collingwood-Geelong) was sponsorless
1987	National Panasonic Cup	Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd	National Panasonic was the sponsor from the second match until the final
1988-89	Panasonic Cup	Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd	Matsushita renamed their major Australian division "Panasonic" in 1988
1990-94	Foster's Cup	Foster's Brewing Group	In 1990 C.U.B.'s parent company Elder's Brewing was renamed Foster's Brewing
1995-01	Ansett Australia Cup	Ansett Australia	This series was usually referred to as simply the Ansett Cup
2002-05	Wizard Home Loans Cup	Wizard Home Loans	This series was usually referred to as simply the Wizard Cup
2006-13	NAB Cup	National Australia Bank (NAB)	NAB also sponsored the AFL's pre-season practice matches (the NAB Challenge)

SERIES OVERVIEW

YEAR	TEAMS	GAMES	CROWDS	AVG.	CLUBS	NOTES
1956	8	7	143,820	20,546	VFL bottom-eight	Consolation series featuring the teams that missed the VFL finals
1957	12	11	187,200	17,018	All 12 VFL teams	The VFL's top-four teams entered the series as they finished finals
1958	8	7	109,150	15,593	VFL bottom-eight	Return to a consolation series
1959	8	7	76,300	10,900	VFL bottom-eight	Crowd numbers crashed due to atrocious weather throughout
1960	8	7	93,100	13,300	VFL bottom-eight	-
1961	8	7	152,019	21,717	VFL bottom-eight	-
1962	8	7	111,710	15,959	VFL bottom-eight	-
1963	8	7	99,392	14,199	VFL bottom-eight	-
1964	8	7	128,360	18,337	VFL bottom-eight	-
1965	8	7	153,635	21,948	VFL bottom-eight	Crowds boosted by North Melb. winning their first senior VFL flag
1966	8	7	94,900	13,557	VFL bottom-eight	-
1967	8	7	93,888	13,413	VFL bottom-eight	-
1968	8	7	89,469	12,781	VFL bottom-eight	-
1969	8	7	79,631	11,376	VFL bottom-eight	-
1970	8	7	72,732	10,390	VFL bottom-eight	-
1971	8	7	77,953	11,136	VFL bottom-eight	-
YEAR	TEAMS	GAMES	CROWDS	AVG.	VFL	SANFL	WAFL	STATE
1976	12	15	106,054	7,070	1975 top four + 7th	1975 top four	1975 top three	-
1977	12	13	99,514	7,654	All 12 teams	-	-	-
1978	13	13	156,714	12,055	All 12 teams	-	-	TAS
1979	23	22	unknown	unknown	All 12 teams	-	All 8 WAFL teams	TAS, ACT, NSW
1980	34	33	169,218	5,127	All 12 teams	All 10 teams	All 8 WAFL teams	TAS, ACT, NSW, QLD
1981	34	35	216,776	6,193	All 12 teams	All 10 teams	All 8 WAFL teams	TAS, ACT, NSW, QLD
1982	18	17	100,406	5,906	All 12 teams	1981 top three	1981 top three	-
1983	17	16	115,989	7,249	All 12 teams	1982 top two	1982 2nd/3rd*	TAS
1984	17	16	104,266	6,516	All 12 teams	1983 top two	1983 2nd/3rd*	QLD
1985	17	16	94,222	5,888	All 12 teams	1984 top two	1984 top two	QLD
1986	14	15	111,620	7,441	All 12 teams	1985 top two	-	-
YEAR	TEAMS	GAMES	CROWDS	AVG.	CLUBS	NOTES
1987	14	14	137,953	9,853	All 14 teams	SANFL and WAFL clubs were replaced by Brisbane and West Coast
1988	14	13	155,035	11,926	All 14 teams	-
1989	14	13	195,090	15,007	All 14 teams	-
1990	13	13	216,946	16,688	13 of 14	Brisbane banned due to financial issues (Eagles played twice in Rd.1)
1991	15	14	220,847	15,775	All 15 teams	Adelaide joined the competition
1992	15	14	238,919	17,066	All 15 teams	Michael Tuck Medal introduced for Grand Final B.O.G.
1993	15	14	215,351	15,382	All 15 teams	-
1994	15	14	251,736	17,981	All 15 teams	-
1995	16	15	250,103	16,674	All 16 teams	Fremantle joined the competition
1996	16	15	279,200	18,613	All 16 teams	-
1997	16	15	296,589	19,773	All 16 teams	Fitzroy merged with Brisbane, Port Adelaide joined the competition
1998	16	15	299,075	19,938	All 16 teams	First overseas pre-season matches played
1999	16	15	274,488	18,299	All 16 teams	-
2000	16	27	325,736	12,064	All 16 teams	Format changed to a four group round-robin followed by a SF & GF
2001	16	27	398,557	14,761	All 16 teams	-
2002	16	27	398,309	14,752	All 16 teams	-
2003	16	15	267,016	17,801	All 16 teams	Format reverted to the traditional knockout structure (Rd.1/QF/SF/GF)
2004	16	15	259,128	17,275	All 16 teams	-
2005	16	15	307,181	20,479	All 16 teams	-
2006	16	15	235,036	15,669	All 16 teams	-
2007	16	15	242,179	16,145	All 16 teams	-
2008	16	15	244,103	16,274	All 16 teams	-
2009	16	15	282,930	18,862	All 16 teams	-
2010	16	15	227,481	15,165	All 16 teams	-
2011	18	25	256,342	19,718**	All 17 + GWS	GC & GWS joined - Rd.1 changed to six groups of three (round robin)
2012	18	36	262,209	10,925**	All 18 teams	One match (Ess-StK) was cancelled, points awarded to St Kilda
2013	18	37	244,218	9,768**	All 18 teams	More matches played at regional venues than in previous series

*Swan Districts were banned from the 1983 and 1984 competitions for sending their Reserves to play Richmond in the 1982 quarter finals.
They finished first in the WAFL in 1982 and 1983 so their place was taken each year by the WAFL's third-placed team.

**From 2011 to 2013 the opening round featured six groups of three teams. Each group played three lightning premiership-style matches consisting
of two 20-minute halves; all at the same venue and on the same night. The AFL released a total crowd figure for each group's three games rather than
for each individual group match.

For 2011 the series average crowd was determined by dividing the series aggregate x 13 (6 round-robins + 4 QFs, 2 SFs and 1 GF)
For 2012 the series average crowd was determined by dividing the series aggregate x 24 (6 round-robins + 18 standalone games)
For 2013 the series average crowd was determined by dividing the series aggregate x 25 (6 round-robins + 19 standalone games)

PRIZEMONEY

YEAR	WINNER	LOSER	NOTES
1956	£ 200	-	K. G. Luke Trophy (valued at £75) was also presented to the winning team
1957	£ 200	-	-
1958	£ 400	£ 200	-
1959	£ 500	£ 250	-
1960	£ 500	£ 250	-
1961	£ 500	£ 250	-
1962	£ 500	£ 250	-
1963	£ 500	£ 250	-
1964	£ 1400	£ 650	Winner = 500 from VFL + 900 from Golden Fleece / 2nd = 250 from VFL + 400 from Golden Fleece
1965	£ 1400	£ 650	as above
1966	2,800	1,300	Winner = 1000 from VFL + 1800 from Golden Fleece / 2nd = 500 from VFL + 800 from Golden Fleece
1967	2,800	1,300	as above
1968	2,800	1,300	as above
1969	2,800	1,300	as above
1970	2,800	1,300	Winner = 1000 from VFL + 1800 from Radiant / 2nd = 500 from VFL + 800 from Radiant
1971	2,800	1,300	Winner = 2800 from Heinz / 2nd = 1300 from Heinz
[1976]	21,000	16,000	NFL Wills Cup
1977	50,000	42,000	Series sponsored by Amco/Herald & Weekly Times but prizemoney provided by Channel Seven
1978	50,000	42,000	Series sponsored by Amco/Herald & Weekly Times but prizemoney provided by Channel Seven
1979	68,000	47,000	-
1980	64,000	48,000	-
1981	80,000	tbd	-
1982	105,000	80,000	-
1983	115,000	90,000	-
1984	115,000	90,000	-
1985	120,000	95,000	-
1986-2013 = yet to be determined