The 1953 Victorian Football League season was the 57th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.
In 1953, 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 1953 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page-McIntyre System.
The 1953 VFL Premiership team was Collingwood.
The VFL's leading goalkicker was John Coleman of Essendon who kicked 97 goals (including one goal in the finals).
The winner of the 1953 Brownlow Medal was Bill Hutchison of Essendon with 26 votes.
Hawthorn took the "wooden spoon" in 1953.
Because Anzac Day fell on a Saturday, there was a fortnight between Rounds 1 and 2. On the evening of Friday 24 April a night-time exhibition match was held between Collingwood and Fitzroy, under lights, at the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds for the benefit of St Vincent's Hospital. Collingwood 9.13 (67) defeated Fitzroy 4.19 (43) before a crowd of 22,000.
In Round 2, John Coleman kicked 11 of Essendon's 13 goals.
In Round 5, Fitzroy came close to becoming the first (and only) VFL/AFL team to be held scoreless in their match against Footscray at the Western Oval, which was played amidst heavy rain and a burst water main. Allan Ruthven managed their only scoring shot, a goal, with about six minutes remaining in the match.
In a streak dating back to 1952, Geelong won 23 consecutive matches, and played 26 consecutive matches without defeat; as of 2014, both of these remain VFL/AFL records. The winning streak ended in Round 14, when Collingwood defeated Geelong by 20 points.
Overall it was a low-scoring season: Footscray's 959 points against remains the lowest average points conceded per game since 1919; the season's highest score of 21.10 (136) was the lowest since 1924; and, for the first time since 1927, there was no match where both teams scored more than 100 points.
The Collingwood Grand Final team contained three sets of brothers: Lou Richards and Ron Richards; Bob Rose and Bill Rose; Bill Twomey, Jr., Pat Twomey, and Mick Twomey.
Collingwood supporter and businessman John Wren suffered a heart attack at the 1953 Grand Final and died one month later.
