The 1897 VFL season was the inaugural season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria.

Eight Victorian Football Association (VFA) clubs – Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, South Melbourne and St Kilda – featured in the inaugural season after seceding from the VFA in 1896.

Geelong won the minor premiership by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with an 11–3 win–loss record.

In 1897, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 20 on-the-field players each, with no "reserves" (although any of the 20 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match).

If two or more matches in a round are decided by the same margin, these margins are sorted by percentage (i.e. the lowest-scoring winning team is ranked highest and the lowest-scoring losing team is ranked lowest).