The1981 VFL season was the 85th season of theVictorian Football League (VFL), the highest level seniorAustralian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 28 March until 26 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top five clubs.

The premiership was won by theCarlton Football Club for the 13th time, after it defeatedCollingwood by 20 points in the1981 VFL Grand Final.

Essendon defeatedCarlton 9.11 (65) to 6.5 (41) in the final.

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 99.9
Source:AFL Tables

• In the 1980/81 offseason, theEast Perth Football Club from theWest Australian Football League made a unilateral bid to join the VFL, potentially as early as 1983. East Perth's vision was for two WAFL clubs to join the league, as part of a transition to a national competition, and to limit the drain of talent from and provide an opportunity to play the highest level of football in Western Australia. The application was rejected.^[3][4]
• A protest by Richmond against the eligibility of defenderDoug Cox to play for St. Kilda led to the Saints temporarily losing the points for their first two wins after Round 8. They were reinstated after Round 17 due to changes in the relevant rules, but a fine of $5000 remained.
• On 27 May,South Melbourne was fined $20,000 for poachingStephen Allender fromCarlton. Although Allender lived in South Melbourne'szone and was playing forVFA clubPort Melbourne when recruited, he was residentially tied toCarlton and would remain as such until November 1983, because he had lived in Carlton's zone until February 1979. Carlton ended up granting him a clearance to South Melbourne, but South Melbourne was deemed to have broken the league's poaching laws by having "negotiated with an agent acting for a Carlton player".^[5]
• In Round 11,Kevin Bartlett became the first to play 350 VFL games, after having broken John Rantall's record for most games played during 1980.
• Malcolm Blight (North Melbourne) andAlex Jesaulenko (St Kilda) became the final ever playing coaches in VFL/AFL history. Jesaulenko retired as player after Round 8,^[6] becoming the last captain-coach;^[7] Blight was sacked as coach after Round 16, making him the last person ever to be a playing coach of a club.^[8] (Blight was not captain during his time as playing coach.^[9]) Playing coaches have since been prohibited under salary cap regulations instituted in 1987.^{[citation needed]}
• The State Government granted the VFL once-off permission to trial two Sunday matches in Victoria during the season; it was the first time the VFL had been granted this permission since the once-off Sunday match in 1970 which coincided with a royal visit. Under the conditions of the trial, alcohol was not allowed to be sold at or brought to the games, and the games could not be televised.^[10] The two matches wereEssendon vsCollingwood in Round 18, andSouth Melbourne vsCarlton in Round 19.
• On 7 August, the VFL's entire senior umpiring panel resigned over a contract dispute, due to the VFL's refusal to commit to negotiating a collective agreement with the Umpires' Association, rather than individual agreements with each umpire. The VFL hastily arranged for Round 19's matches to be umpired by a team of junior umpires, all aged between 18 and 22, from the state's minor leagues; both the junior umpires' association and the VFL umpires' association gave their approval for the juniors to serve as strikebreakers.^[11] The dispute was resolved the following week, and the senior umpires returned for Round 20.^[12]
• In Round 22, South Melbourne played its last senior VFL match at the Lake Oval (also known then as Lakeside Oval). The teamrelocated to Sydney in 1982 and eventually became known as the Sydney Swans.

• The leading goalkicker wasMichael Roach ofRichmond with 86 goals
• TheBrownlow Medal was shared byBernie Quinlan andBarry Round
• The reserves premiership was won byGeelong for the second consecutive season. Geelong 21.14 (140) defeatedEssendon 18.6 (114) in the grand final, held as a curtain-raiser to the seniors grand final on 26 September.^[13]

• Stephen Rogers and Ashley Brown (1998).Every Game Ever Played. 6th ed. Victoria: Penguin Books.

• 1981 VFL season at AFL Tables
• 1981 VFL season at Australian Football

• Australian Football League seasons
• 1981 in Australian rules football

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