Southern Football League

The Southern League, currently known as the Evo-Stik League Southern under the terms of a sponsorship agreement with Bostik Ltd, is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs from the South West, 'South Central' and Midlands of England and South Wales. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English football league system.

The structure of the Southern League has changed several times since its formation in 1894, and currently there are 68 clubs which are divided into three divisions. The Premier Division is at step 3 of the National League System (NLS), and is a feeder division, mainly to the National League South but also to the National League North. Feeding the Premier Division are two regional divisions, Division One South & West and Division One Central, which are at step 4 of the NLS. These divisions are in turn fed by various regional leagues.

History

Football in the south of England

2006–07 Southern Football League

The 2006–07 season was the 104th in the history of the Southern League, which is an English football competition featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs from the South West, South Central and Midlands of England and South Wales. This season was the first to feature the new Division One sections after reform of the Isthmian League structure.

The season began on 19 August 2006 and ended on 5 May 2007 with the play-offs finals.

Premier Division

The Premier Division consisted of 22 clubs, including 16 clubs from the previous season, four clubs promoted from Division One East / West, one club relegated from the Conference South and one club transferred from the Isthmian League:

WA State League Premier Division 2013

The 2013 season of the Western Australian State League Premier Division started on 16 March between eleven clubs and the National Training Squad (NTC). The Season ended on 5 October with the Championship decider. Similar to 2012, the NTC did not play for competition points.

Stirling Lions were the Premiers - their 7th title - and Bayswater City were Champions.

Pre-Season Changes

League Table

Source: foxsportspulse.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
¹ N.T.C. did not play for competition points.

Finals

References

1975–76 Southern Football League

The 1975–76 season was the 73rd in the history of the Southern League. It was the last Southern League season to use goal average as a tie-breaking criteria.

Premier Division

The Premier Division featured four new teams:

League table

Source:
^{1 The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used up until the 1976–77 season.
2 The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.}
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

1960–61 Southern Football League

The 1960–61 Southern Football League season saw Oxford United win the championship, whilst Kettering Town, Cambridge United, Bexleyheath & Welling and Merthyr Tydfil were all promoted to the Premier Division. Ten Southern League clubs applied to join the Football League at the end of the season, but none were successful.

Final tables

Premier Division

The Premier Division featured four new clubs, all promoted from Division One the previous season:

^{1 The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used up until the 1976-77 season.}

^{2 The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.}

Football League elections

Ten Southern League clubs (including Bexleyheath & Welling and Kettering Town from Division One) applied for election to the Football League. However, all four League clubs were re-elected.

Division One

Division One featured five new clubs:

1950–51 Southern Football League

The 1950–51 Southern Football League season saw Merthyr Tydfil win the championship for the second successive season. Six Southern League clubs applied to join the Football League at the end of the season, but none were successful.

Final table

The league featured two new clubs:

^{1 The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used up until the 1976-77 season.}

^{2 The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.}

Football League elections

Six Southern League clubs applied for election to the Football League. However, none were successful as only Workington of the North Eastern League received more votes than a League club (New Brighton).

References