The 1961 VFL season was the 65th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 15 April until 23 September, and comprised an 18-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top four clubs.

The premiership was won by the Hawthorn Football Club for the first time, after it defeated Footscray by 43 points in the 1961 VFL Grand Final.

In 1961, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man. A player could be substituted for any reason; however, once substituted, a player could not return to the field of play under any circumstances.

Teams played each other in a home-and-away season of 18 rounds; matches 12 to 18 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 7.

Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1961 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page–McIntyre system.

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 73.5
Source: AFL Tables

The night series were held under the floodlights at Lake Oval, South Melbourne, for the teams (5th to 12th on ladder) out of the finals at the end of the season.

Final: Geelong 9.20 (74) defeated North Melbourne 9.8 (62)

• St Kilda ended a twenty-two year finals appearance drought making the finals for the first time since 1939. This currently stands as the fourth longest finals appearance drought in league history.
• Following a VFL investigation of a complaint that game officials had not reported the incident, rugged South Melbourne ruckman Ken Boyd was suspended for 12 matches, for striking Carlton ruckman John Nicholls.
• In Round 16, Richmond was held goalless by St Kilda. This was the first time a team had been held goalless in a match since Round 11, 1921; and (as of 2023) is the last time it has occurred.
• Having decided to abandon its (1957–1960) experiment of allowing live telecasts of the last quarter of three VFL matches each Saturday afternoon on ABV-2, HSV-7, and GTV-9, the VFL rejected offers from the three television stations to broadcast replays on Saturday evenings. A separate arrangement was made to allow a replay of the entire grand final match.
• In November, Collingwood announced that it has delisted sixteen players from its 1961 playing list, including Ian Brewer and Barry "Hooker" Harrison.

• The 1961 VFL Premiership team was Hawthorn.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was Tom Carroll of Carlton who kicked 54 goals.
• The winner of the 1961 Brownlow Medal was John James of Carlton with 21 votes.
• North Melbourne took the "wooden spoon" in 1961.
• The reserves premiership was won by St Kilda. St Kilda 7.14 (56) defeated Geelong 5.16 (46) in the grand final, which was held as a stand-alone match on 30 September because the second semi-final was drawn and required a replay; the match was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground before a crowd of 15,242.^[1]

• Maplestone, M., Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996, Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. ISBN 0-9591740-2-8
• Rogers, S. & Brown, A., Every Game Ever Played: VFL/AFL Results 1897–1997 (Sixth Edition), Viking Books, (Ringwood), 1998. ISBN 0-670-90809-6
• Ross, J. (ed), 100 Years of Australian Football 1897–1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported, Viking, (Ringwood), 1996. ISBN 0-670-86814-0

• 1961 VFL season at AFL Tables
• 1961 VFL season at Australian Football