Played during the peak of World War II, only eleven of the league's twelve clubs competed, with Geelong withdrawing due to travel restrictions.

The premiership was won by the Essendon Football Club for the seventh time, after it defeated Richmond by 53 points in the 1942 VFL Grand Final.

World War II had many effects on the organisation of football in Australia: In 1942, the VFL competition consisted of eleven teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus one substitute player, known as the 19th man.

Teams played each other in a home-and-away season of 16 rounds; once the 16 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1942 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page–McIntyre system.

The determination of the 1942 season's fixtures was complicated by the fact that when the VFL decided to proceed with senior football on 1 April,[5] it was not known which grounds would be available.