The Victorian Football League night series, also known during its history by a variety of sponsored names, was an Australian rules football tournament held annually between 1956 and 1971, and again on three occasions in the late 1970s and 1980s.
For most years the series was a consolation series, played on weekday nights each September as a knock-out tournament amongst teams which failed to reach the Victorian Football League finals.
The Night Series Premiership was first established in 1956, contested in September as a three-round knock-out tournament amongst the eight VFL teams who did not make the final four, based on a similar post-season night competition which had been established in the SANFL in 1954.
The four teams which contested the VFL finals entered the Night Series after their VFL premiership season was finished, resulting in the night series running more than two weeks beyond the end of the day premiership.
[3] The consolation night series is generally considered to be of equivalent importance as the Australian Football Championships Night Series (1979–1986) and the Australian Football League pre-season competition (1988–2013), and records relating to the three competitions are often combined.