Friday Night Football (Australia) - Australian Football League

Australian Football League

Non-weekend night matches of Australian rules football first emerged in the late 1970s/early 1980s with the Night series, a knock-out tournament featuring teams from across the country and run in parallel with the league seasons.

The first Victorian Football League matches on Friday nights were introduced in 1985 when the North Melbourne Football Club pioneered the world first initiative. At this time, these games were irregularly scheduled, and all matches featured North Melbourne, but by 1987, Friday Night Football was played on a more regular basis, and other clubs began to host the games.

Friday Night AFL is generally played in Melbourne, at either the Melbourne Cricket Ground or Docklands Stadium, but Adelaide and Perth will generally host a few matches each year. It is less common for the games to be played in Brisbane or Sydney in order to avoid clashes with the National Rugby League, which is more popular in those cities. As it is the most lucrative broadcast timeslot of the weekend, matches between the better-performing clubs are scheduled on Friday night to ensure the games are of high quality.

Seven's commentary team includes Bruce McAvaney and Dennis Cometti providing play-by-play commentary, Tom Harley and Leigh Matthews with special comments, and field commentary from Tim Watson and Matthew Richardson.