The 1978 Victorian Football League season was the 82nd season of the elite Australian rules football competition.
Fitzroy defeated North Melbourne 13.18 (96) to 2.8 (20) in the Final at VFL Park.
Grand final
Hawthorn defeated North Melbourne 18.13 (121) to 15.13 (103), in front of a crowd of 101704 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).
The Coleman Medal was won by Kelvin Templeton of Footscray with 118 goals
The Brownlow Medal was won by Malcolm Blight of North Melbourne
The reserves premiership was won by North Melbourne. North Melbourne 17.29 (131) defeated Hawthorn 11.13 (79) in the Grand Final, held as a curtain-raiser to the seniors Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 30 September.
The 19th and 20th men were converted into interchange players, meaning that any two players could be rested at any time, and could return to the field.
In Round 2, Fitzroy broke South Melbourne's 1976 record for the highest losing score against Melbourne by four points.
In Round 6, Melbourne and St Kilda set the current record for the highest aggregate score in a game, the two teams amassing 52.33 (345). This broke the record set in the 1972 Grand Final.
In Round 13, Footscray set the record for highest score in a game, scoring 33.15 (213) against St Kilda. This beat Carlton's nine-year-old 1969 record by three points. The new record was beaten in the following 1979 VFL season. In this match, Kelvin Templeton kicked 15.9, the most goals in a game for a Footscray player, and the most scoring shots ever by any player.
In Round 20, Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser (who was the Number 1 ticket holder for Carlton throughout his time in office) was booed incessantly during the second half of the North Melbourne vs Carlton match at the Arden Street Oval. The booing continued right up to the moment when Mr. Fraser stepped inside his limousine and was driven away from the ground.
