1971–72 Southern Football League

Southern Football League
Premier Division

Season	1971–72
Champions	Chelmsford City
Promoted	Hereford United
Relegated	Bath City Gloucester City Merthyr Tydfil
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1378 (2.98 per match)
← 1970–71 1972–73 →

The 1971–72 season was the 69th in the history of the Southern League.

Premier Division

The Premier Division featured four new teams:

• Folkestone, promoted as fourth in Division One
• Gravesend & Northfleet, promoted as third in Division One
• Guildford City, promoted as champions of Division One
• Merthyr Tydfil, promoted as runners-up of Division One

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAvg	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Chelmsford City (C)	42	28	6	8	109	46	2.37	62
2	Hereford United (P)	42	24	12	6	68	30	2.267	60	Promotion to 1972–73 Football League Fourth Division
3	Dover	42	20	11	11	67	45	1.489	51
4	Barnet	42	21	7	14	80	57	1.404	49
5	Dartford	42	20	8	14	75	68	1.103	48
6	Weymouth	42	21	5	16	69	43	1.605	47
7	Yeovil Town	42	18	11	13	67	51	1.314	47
8	Hillingdon Borough	42	20	6	16	64	58	1.103	46
9	Margate	42	19	8	15	74	68	1.088	46
10	Wimbledon	42	19	7	16	75	64	1.172	45
11	Romford	42	16	13	13	54	49	1.102	45
12	Guildford City	42	20	5	17	71	65	1.092	45
13	Telford United	42	18	7	17	83	68	1.221	43
14	Nuneaton Borough	42	16	10	16	46	47	0.979	42
15	Bedford Town	42	16	9	17	85	66	1.288	41
16	Worcester City	42	17	7	18	46	57	0.807	41
17	Cambridge City	42	12	14	16	68	71	0.958	38
18	Folkestone	42	14	7	21	58	64	0.906	35
19	Poole Town	42	9	11	22	41	72	0.569	29
20	Bath City (R)	42	11	4	27	45	86	0.523	26	Relegation to SFL Division One South
21	Merthyr Tydfil (R)	42	7	8	27	29	93	0.312	22	Relegation to SFL Division One North
22	Gravesend & Northfleet (R)	42	5	6	31	30	110	0.273	16	Relegation to SFL Division One South

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.

Football League elections

Alongside the four League clubs facing re-election, a total of 12 non-League clubs applied for election, eight of which were Southern League clubs. Three League clubs were re-elected, along with Hereford United who were elected in favour of Barrow after a tie in the first vote.^[1]

Club	League	Votes
Northampton Town	Football League	49
Crewe Alexandra	Football League	46
Stockport County	Football League	46
Hereford United	Southern League	26 (29)
Barrow	Football League	26 (20)
Bradford Park Avenue	Northern Premier League	1
Cambridge City	Southern League	1
Wimbledon	Southern League	1
Bangor City	Northern Premier League	0
Bedford Town	Southern League	0
Boston United	Northern Premier League	0
Hillingdon Borough	Southern League	0
Romford	Southern League	0
Telford United	Southern League	0
Wigan Athletic	Northern Premier League	0
Yeovil Town	Southern League	0

Division One North

Southern Football League
Division One North

Season	1971–72
Champions	Kettering Town
Promoted	Burton Albion Kettering Town
Relegated	None
Matches played	306
Goals scored	904 (2.95 per match)
← 1970–71 1972–73 →

Division One North featured ten new teams:

• Bletchley Town, third in the Metropolitan League
• Bury Town, runners-up of the Metropolitan League
• Gloucester City, Kettering Town and King's Lynn relegated from the Premier Division
• Ilkeston Town, fourth in the Midland League
• Lockheed Leamington, sixth in the Midland League
• Stourbridge, runners-up of the West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division
• Wealdstone, 13th in the Isthmian League
• Wellingborough Town, third in the West Midlands (Regional) League Premier Division

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAvg	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Kettering Town (C) (P)	34	23	6	5	70	27	2.593	52	Promotion to 1972–73 Southern League Premier Division
2	Burton Albion (P)	34	18	13	3	58	27	2.148	49
3	Cheltenham Town	34	20	4	10	72	51	1.412	44
4	Rugby Town	34	18	7	9	82	36	2.278	43
5	Wellingborough Town	34	15	10	9	73	44	1.659	40
6	Stourbridge	34	13	14	7	59	42	1.405	40
7	King's Lynn	44	24	11	9	62	45	1.378	59
8	Corby Town	34	15	9	10	47	35	1.343	39
9	Ilkeston Town	34	14	11	9	44	38	1.158	39
10	Banbury United	34	14	5	15	54	46	1.174	33
11	Bury Town	34	14	5	15	47	44	1.068	33
12	Wealdstone	34	14	5	15	51	58	0.879	33	Transferred to Division One South
13	Lockheed Leamington	34	15	3	16	41	52	0.788	33
14	Gloucester City	34	8	8	18	46	61	0.754	24
15	Stevenage Athletic	34	8	8	18	41	69	0.594	24
16	Bletchley Town	34	7	7	20	36	70	0.514	21	Transferred to Division One South
17	Dunstable Town	34	5	7	22	29	75	0.387	17
18	Barry Town	34	1	7	26	22	84	0.262	9

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.

Division One South

Southern Football League
Division One South

Season	1971–72
Champions	Waterlooville
Promoted	Ramsgate Athletic Waterlooville
Relegated	Woodford Town
Matches played	240
Goals scored	661 (2.75 per match)
← 1970–71 1972–73 →

Division One South featured eight new teams:

• Andover, runners-up of the Western Football League
• Ashford Town, relegated from the Premier Division
• Basingstoke Town, champions of the Hampshire League
• Maidstone United, 18th in the Isthmian League
• Metropolitan Police, fifth in the Metropolitan League
• Waterlooville, from the Hampshire League
• Winchester City, from the Hampshire League
• Woodford Town, seventh in the Metropolitan League

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAvg	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Waterlooville (C) (P)	30	15	9	6	40	22	1.818	39	Promotion to 1972–73 Southern League Premier Division
2	Ramsgate Athletic (P)	30	14	11	5	42	27	1.556	39
3	Maidstone United	30	14	10	6	48	28	1.714	38
4	Crawley Town	30	15	5	10	67	55	1.218	35
5	Metropolitan Police	30	15	3	12	48	41	1.171	33
6	Tonbridge	30	12	9	9	37	34	1.088	33
7	Bexley United	30	14	4	12	52	46	1.13	32
8	Basingstoke Town	30	14	4	12	37	36	1.028	32
9	Andover	30	11	9	10	32	34	0.941	31
10	Ashford Town	30	12	4	14	43	48	0.896	28
11	Salisbury	30	10	7	13	45	44	1.023	27
12	Winchester City	30	10	7	13	40	47	0.851	27
13	Hastings United	30	10	7	13	28	42	0.667	27
14	Trowbridge Town	30	8	7	15	41	49	0.837	23
15	Canterbury City	30	7	8	15	39	56	0.696	22
16	Woodford Town (R)	30	4	6	20	22	52	0.423	14	Relegation to Essex League

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.

References

• RSSF – Southern Football League archive

1. A history of admission to the Football League