| 1919 VFL premiership season | |
|---|---|
| Date | 3 May – 11 October 1919 |
| Teams | 9 |
| Premiers | Collingwood 5th premiership |
| Minor premiers | Collingwood 6th minor premiership |
| Leading goalkicker medallist | Dick Lee (Collingwood) 47 goals |
| Matches played | 76 |
The 1919 VFL season was the 23rd season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. For the first time since the peak of World War I, all nine clubs featured, with Melbourne returning after being in recess the previous three seasons. The season ran from 3 May to 11 October, comprising a 16-match home-and-away season followed by a four-week finals series featuring the top four clubs.
Collingwood won the premiership, defeating Richmond by 25 points in the 1919 VFL grand final; it was Collingwood's fifth VFL premiership. Collingwood also won the minor premiership by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with a 13–3 win–loss record. Collingwood's Dick Lee won his seventh leading goalkicker medal as the league's leading goalkicker, which remains a league record to this day.
In 1919, the VFL competition consisted of nine teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no "reserves", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match.
Each team played each other twice in a home-and-away season of 18 rounds (i.e., 16 matches and 2 byes).
Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1919 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus system".
| (P) | Premiers |
| Qualified for finals |
| # | Team | P | W | L | D | PF | PA | % | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Collingwood (P) | 16 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 1243 | 766 | 162.3 | 52 |
| 2 | South Melbourne | 16 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 1111 | 700 | 158.7 | 48 |
| 3 | Carlton | 16 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 1150 | 901 | 127.6 | 40 |
| 4 | Richmond | 16 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 1083 | 916 | 118.2 | 40 |
| 5 | Fitzroy | 16 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 1074 | 857 | 125.3 | 38 |
| 6 | Essendon | 16 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 924 | 977 | 94.6 | 28 |
| 7 | St Kilda | 16 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 772 | 1093 | 70.6 | 28 |
| 8 | Geelong | 16 | 3 | 12 | 1 | 794 | 1082 | 73.4 | 14 |
| 9 | Melbourne | 16 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 647 | 1506 | 43.0 | 0 |
Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 61.1
Source: AFL Tables
All of the 1919 finals were played at the MCG so the home team in the semi-finals and Preliminary Final is purely the higher ranked team from the ladder but in the Grand Final the home team was the team that won the Preliminary Final.
| Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collingwood | 1.5 | 5.5 | 8.8 | 11.12 (78) |
| Richmond | 1.2 | 4.7 | 5.10 | 7.11 (53) |