In 1903, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no "reserves", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match. Each team played each other twice in a home-and-away season of 14 rounds. Once the 14round home-and-away season had finished, the 1903 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus system".
The match between Geelong and Carlton, originally to have been played at Corio Oval, was postponed due to a railway strike. It was played between Rounds 13 and 14, and was opportunistically moved to the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Boundary umpires were added to some VFL matches, relieving the field umpire of the task of returning the ball to play from the boundary, and would be made permanent from 1904.
Following their Round 1 loss to Geelong, St Kilda had played 100 VFL games for a record of two wins and 98 losses.
The Round 2 match between Geelong and Carlton on 9 May was postponed after a railway strike on the afternoon of 8 May prevented the Carlton team from getting to Geelong. The league decided to use the opportunity to promote the game in Sydney, and arranged to play the match on Saturday, 1 August at the Sydney Cricket Ground, but due to heavy rain, the match was postponed to Monday, 3 August before a crowd of 5,000; Geelong won 8.7 to 6.9. In Round 3, Melbourne had to travel to Geelong by boat as the strike still had not been resolved.
On 23 May, a crowd of 18,000 attended the round 4 match between Fitzroy and Collingwood at the Sydney Cricket Ground; Fitzroy won 7.20 to 6.9. Players wore large numbers on the back of their guernseys to assist the crowd.
St Kilda's win over South Melbourne in Round 7 was its first away win in 54 VFL matches; the 53 consecutive away losses is an AFL/VFL record. It was also St Kilda's first senior away win since defeating Port Melbourne in 1894, after 77 concsecutive winless away matches and 62 consecutive away losses.
1903 was the first time that the VFL Premiership was decided on the last kick of the day. The usually accurate Fitzroy captain Gerald Brosnan missed the goal from 30 metres out, and Fitzroy lost to Collingwood by two points.
