| 1963 VFL premiership season | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 12 |
| Premiers | Geelong 6th premiership |
| Minor premiers | Hawthorn 2nd minor premiership |
| Consolation series | Footscray 1st Consolation series win |
| Brownlow Medallist | Bob Skilton (South Melbourne) |
| Coleman Medallist | John Peck (Hawthorn) |
| Matches played | 112 |
| Highest | 101,209 |
The 1963 VFL season was the 67th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 20 April until 5 October, 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 Geelong Football Club for the sixth time, after it defeated Hawthorn by 49 points in the 1963 VFL Grand Final.
In 1963, 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 1963 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page–McIntyre system.
Persistent rain throughout the week and further heavy downpours on the Friday (12 July) caused the postponement of all Round 11 matches until the following Saturday (20 July). All remaining home-and-away and finals matches were played a week later than had been scheduled.
Going into the final home-and-away round, Hawthorn was the only team with a guaranteed finals berth. It was down to Geelong, Melbourne, St Kilda and Essendon to fight it out for the remaining three play-off positions.
| (P) | Premiers |
| Qualified for finals |
| # | Team | P | W | L | D | PF | PA | % | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawthorn | 18 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 1485 | 1137 | 130.6 | 54 |
| 2 | Geelong (P) | 18 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 1354 | 1056 | 128.2 | 54 |
| 3 | Melbourne | 18 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 1680 | 1136 | 147.9 | 52 |
| 4 | St Kilda | 18 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 1501 | 1071 | 140.1 | 52 |
| 5 | Essendon | 18 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 1470 | 1069 | 137.5 | 52 |
| 6 | Carlton | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 1275 | 1234 | 103.3 | 40 |
| 7 | North Melbourne | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 1059 | 1244 | 85.1 | 32 |
| 8 | Collingwood | 18 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 1365 | 1427 | 95.7 | 28 |
| 9 | Footscray | 18 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 1126 | 1283 | 87.8 | 28 |
| 10 | Richmond | 18 | 5 | 13 | 0 | 1279 | 1687 | 75.8 | 20 |
| 11 | South Melbourne | 18 | 4 | 14 | 0 | 1202 | 1722 | 69.8 | 16 |
| 12 | Fitzroy | 18 | 1 | 17 | 0 | 986 | 1716 | 57.5 | 4 |
Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 73.1
Source: AFL Tables
| First Semi-final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 14 September (2:30 pm) | Melbourne 9.17 (71) | def. | St Kilda 8.16 (64) | MCG (crowd: 88,914) | Report |
| Second Semi-final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 21 September (2:30 pm) | Hawthorn 11.16 (82) | def. by | Geelong 14.17 (101) | MCG (crowd: 91,471) | Report |
| Preliminary final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 28 September (2:30 pm) | Hawthorn 11.11 (77) | def. | Melbourne 10.8 (68) | MCG (crowd: 86,586) | Report |
| Grand final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 5 October (2:50 pm) | Hawthorn 8.12 (60) | def. by | Geelong 15.19 (109) | MCG (crowd: 101,209) | Report |
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.