1971–72 Southern Football League

The 1971–72 Southern Football League season was the 69th in the history of the league, an English football competition.

At the end of the previous season Division One was split into divisions One North and One South with 14 new clubs joining the league.

Chelmsford City won the championship, winning their third Southern League title, whilst Burton Albion, Kettering Town, Ramsgate Athletic and Waterlooville were all promoted to the Premier Division. Eight Southern League clubs applied to join the Football League at the end of the season, Hereford United was elected in favour of Barrow after a tie in the first vote.

Premier Division

The Premier Division consisted of 22 clubs, including 18 clubs from the previous season and four new clubs, promoted from Division One:

• Folkestone
• Gravesend & Northfleet
• Guildford City
• Merthyr Tydfil

League table

Southern Football League
Premier Division

Season	1971–72
Champions	Chelmsford City
Relegated	Bath City Gloucester City Merthyr Tydfil
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,378 (2.98 per match)
← 1970–71 1972–73 →

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Chelmsford City	42	28	6	8	109	46	2.370	62
2	Hereford United	42	24	12	6	68	30	2.267	60	Elected to the 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	59	66	0.894	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	42	11	4	27	45	86	0.523	26	Relegated to Division One South
21	Merthyr Tydfil	42	7	8	27	29	93	0.312	22	Relegated to Division One North
22	Gravesend & Northfleet	42	5	6	31	30	110	0.273	16	Relegated to Division One South

Source: fchd.com rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal ratio.

Division One North

Division One North consisted of 18 clubs, including eight clubs from the previous season Division One and ten new clubs:

• Three clubs relegated from the Premier Division:
  • Gloucester City
  • Kettering Town
  • King's Lynn

• Two clubs joined from the Metropolitan League:
  • Bletchley Town
  • Bury Town

• Two clubs joined from the Midland League:
  • Ilkeston Town
  • Lockheed Leamington

• Two clubs joined from the West Midlands (Regional) League:
  • Stourbridge
  • Wellingborough Town

• Plus:
  • Wealdstone, joined from the Isthmian League

League table

Southern Football League
Division One North

Season	1971–72
Champions	Kettering Town
Promoted	Burton Albion Kettering Town
Matches played	306
Goals scored	904 (2.95 per match)
← 1970–71 1972–73 →

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Kettering Town	34	23	6	5	70	27	2.593	52	Promoted to the Premier Division
2	Burton Albion	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	52	36	1.444	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	34	14	11	9	62	45	1.378	39
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: fchd.com rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal ratio.

Division One South

Division One South consisted of 16 clubs, including eight clubs from the previous season Division One and eight new clubs:

• Three clubs joined from the Hampshire League:
  • Basingstoke Town
  • Waterlooville
  • Winchester City

• Two clubs joined from the Metropolitan League:
  • Metropolitan Police
  • Woodford Town

• Plus:
  • Andover, joined from the Western League
  • Ashford Town (Kent), relegated from the Premier Division
  • Maidstone United, joined from the Isthmian League

At the end of the season Ramsgate Athletic was renamed Ramsgate.

League table

Southern Football League
Division One South

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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Waterlooville	30	15	9	6	40	22	1.818	39	Promoted to the Premier Division
2	Ramsgate Athletic	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	1.130	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 (Kent)	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	30	4	6	20	22	52	0.423	14	Resigned to the Essex Senior League

Source: fchd.com rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal ratio.

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

See also

• Southern Football League
• 1971–72 Northern Premier League