The Southern Football League is a football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia, the South and the Midlands of England. 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 87 clubs which are divided into four divisions. The Premier Central and South Divisions are at step 3 of the National League System (NLS), and are feeder divisions, mainly to the National League South but also to the National League North. Feeding the Premier Divisions are two regional divisions, Division One Central and Division One South, which are at step 4 of the NLS. These divisions are, in turn fed by various regional leagues.
The league has its administrative head office at Eastgate House in Gloucester.
History Football in the south of England Professional football (and, indeed, professional sports in general) developed more slowly in Southern England than in Northern England. Professionalism was first sanctioned by The Football Association as early as 1885, but when The Football League was founded in 1888, its member clubs were based entirely in the North and Midlands, as the county football associations in the South were firmly opposed to professionalism.
Woolwich Arsenal (nowadays simply Arsenal) were the first club in London to turn professional in 1891 and were one of the prime motivators behind an attempt to set up a Southern League to mirror the existing Northern and Midlands based Football League. However, this venture failed in the face of opposition from the London Football Association, and Woolwich Arsenal instead joined the Football League as its only representative south of Birmingham in 1893. Additionally, an amateur league, the Southern Alliance, was founded in 1892, with seven clubs from the region, but that folded after one incomplete season.
Formation of the Southern League Nonetheless, another attempt was made to form the Southern League, and this time it was successful. A competition for both professional and amateur clubs was founded in 1894 under the initiative of Millwall Athletic (now simply Millwall). Initially only one division was envisaged, but such was the enthusiasm for the idea, that eventually two divisions were formed. The sixteen original founder members were:
Division OneChathamClaptonIlfordLuton TownMillwall AthleticReadingRoyal Ordnance Factories2nd Scots GuardsSwindon Town Division TwoBromleyCheshamMaidenhead New BromptonOld St Stephen'sSheppey UnitedUxbridge
2nd Scots Guards withdrew before the first season started and were replaced by Southampton St Mary's. Woolwich Arsenal attempted to add their reserve side to the second division but this application was refused due to the club's existing membership of The Football League.
Success of the Southern League The Southern League soon became the dominant competition below The Football League in Southern and Central England, and by the turn of the century a few of the Southern League sides began to seriously rival the Football League in the FA Cup.Football League Football Club History Database A preview of the 1900–01 season in the Daily News described the league as "now, without a doubt, second only in importance and the strength of its clubs to the Football League itself. With the exception of Woolwich Arsenal, who prefer to remain members of the Second Division of the Football League, all the best professional teams in the South are now enrolled in the ranks of the Southern League".
Two Southern League clubs, Southampton (in 1900 and 1902) and Tottenham Hotspur (in 1901) reached the final of the FA Cup around the turn of the twentieth century. Tottenham Hotspur remain the only club from outside the Football League (and since its inception, also the Premier League) to have won the FA Cup.
Several of the best players in England moved from the Football League to the Southern League around this time, due to the restrictions on their freedom of movement and wages implemented by the Football League between 1893 and 1901, and the failed efforts of the Association Footballers' Union (the AFU) to relax the restrictions. This ended in 1910 when the League came to a reciprocal agreement with the Football League.
The champions of the two leagues during this period met in the annual Charity Shield. Out of the six meetings the respective league champions had in the Shield, however, only one was won by the Southern League champions – Brighton & Hove Albion, in 1910, and this remains their only top level national honour. Up until World War I, the league also organised several representative 'inter-league' matches, against the Football League XIFootball League v Southern League , Before The 'D'...Association Football around the world, 1863–1937, 27 November 2017 and the Scottish Football League XI. They won the inaugural inter-league equivalent of the British Home Championship in 1910, defeating the Football League 3–2, Scottish League 1–0 and the Irish League 4–0.
In 1907, it accepted newly converted-to-Association and future Football League club Bradford, a northern club, as a member, reflecting its senior position at the time. Stalybridge Celtic and Stoke also joined before the First World War.
In 1920, virtually the entire top division of the Southern League was absorbed by the Football League to become that league's new Third Division. A year later the Third Division was expanded and regionalised. The Third Division clubs from the previous season became the Third Division South, with the addition of the Third Division North.
Of the original founder members, seven – Bromley, Gillingham (formerly New Brompton), Luton Town, Millwall, Reading, Southampton and Swindon Town – went on to be Football League clubs.
1920-1979: an unofficial feeder league For the next six decades, the Football League and Southern League would occasionally exchange a limited number of clubs as a result of the older league's re-election process. From 1920 onward, the Southern League's status as a semi-professional league was firmly established. In 1977, Wimbledon became the last Southern League club to successfully achieve election into the Football League.
1979 onwards: incorporation into Non-League pyramid system With its clubs seeking a more regular means of advancing to the Football League, in 1979 the Southern League became a feeder to the new Alliance Premier League along with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League, and the top Southern clubs of the day joined the new league. In turn, the APL (renamed Football Conference in 1986 and National League in 2015) would eventually succeed in becoming a feeder to the Football League. The league lost more of its top clubs in 2004 when the Conference added two regional divisions below the existing National League, the Conference South and Conference North.
In May 2017, the FA chose the Southern League to add an additional division at step 3 as part of another restructuring in the NLS; the two Premier Divisions were set at 22 clubs each. The new Central Division started playing in the 2018–19 season.
Sponsorship The first sponsor of the Southern League was Beazer Homes who sponsored the league from 1987 to 1996. The sponsors after Beazer Homes to the present day are: Dr Martens (1996–2004), British Gas (2006–2009), Zamaretto (2009–2011), Evo-Stik (2011–2013),League tables available English Non-League Archive 1965–98 Calor Gas (2013–2014), Evo-Stik (2014–2019) and BetVictor (2019–2020). From the 2020–21 season the league has been sponsored by Pitching In, Entain's grassroots sports investment programme. At the time of announcement, Entain went by its former name GVC Holdings. Under this partnership, the Southern League is marketed as one of the three Trident Leagues, alongside its Isthmian and Northern Premier counterparts.
Current members
Premier Central
ClubHome groundAlvechurchLye MeadowAnstey NomadsMarks Electrical ArenaBanbury UnitedSpencer StadiumBishop's StortfordWoodside ParkBromsgrove SportingVictoria GroundBury TownRam MeadowHalesowen TownThe GroveHitchin TownTop FieldKettering TownLatimer ParkLeamingtonYour Co-op Community StadiumLeighton TownFreed Veneers Community StadiumLeistonVictory RoadNeedham Market BloomfieldsPeterborough SportsBee ArenaRacing Club WarwickTownsend MeadowReal BedfordMcMullen ParkRedditch UnitedValley StadiumRushall OlympicDales LaneStamfordZeeco StadiumStourbridgeWar Memorial Athletic GroundStratford TownKnights LaneWorcester CitySixways Stadium
Premier South
ClubHome groundBasingstoke TownWinklebury Football ComplexBath CityTwerton ParkBerkhamstedGlencar Community StadiumBracknell TownBottom MeadowChertsey Town Alwyns LaneChichester CityOaklands ParkChippenham TownHardenhuish ParkEvesham UnitedThe Spiers & Hartwell StadiumFrome TownBadgers HillGloucester CityMeadow ParkGosport BoroughPrivett ParkHanwell TownReynolds FieldHanworth VillaRectory MeadowHavant & WaterloovilleWestleigh ParkMalvern TownLangland StadiumPlymouth ParkwayBolitho ParkPoole TownTatnam GroundSholingPortsmouth RoadTaunton TownWordsworth DriveUxbridgeHoneycroftWimborne TownNew CuthburyYate TownLodge Road
Division One Central
ClubHome groundAylesbury UnitedThe MeadowBarton RoversSharpenhoe RoadBeaconsfield TownHolloways ParkBiggleswadeThe EyrieBiggleswade TownLangford RoadDidcot TownLoop MeadowFlackwell HeathWilks ParkHadleyBrickfield LaneHaringey BoroughColes Park StadiumHertford TownHertingfordbury ParkLeverstock GreenPancake LaneLondon LionsRowley LaneMarlowAlfred Davis Memorial GroundMilton Keynes IrishThe Irish Centre Potters Bar TownLantern StadiumRoyston TownGarden WalkStotfoldNew Roker ParkThame UnitedMeadow View ParkWaltham AbbeyCapershottsWareWodson ParkWelwyn Garden CityHerns WayWinslow UnitedElmfields Gate
Division One South
ClubHome groundBarnstaple TownMill RoadBidefordThe Sports GroundBishop's CleeveKayte LaneBristol Manor FarmThe CreekDorchester TownThe Avenue StadiumExmouth Town Southern RoadFalmouth Town Bickland ParkHartpury Hartpury University StadiumHungerford TownBulpit LaneLarkhall AthleticPlain HamMelksham TownOakfield StadiumPauton RoversWinterfield StadiumPortland UnitedCamp & Satherley StadiumShaftesburyCockramsSlimbridgeThornhill ParkSporting Club InkberrowSands RoadSwindon SupermarineWebbswood StadiumTiverton TownLadysmeadWestbury UnitedMeadow LaneWeymouthBob Lucas StadiumWilland RoversSilver StreetWorcester RaidersDOADC Stadium
Champions This section lists the past winners of the Southern League.Southern League History RSSSF Winners to 1993 source:Edwards 1993, pp. 26–93.
SeasonDivision OneDivision Two1894–95Millwall AthleticNew Brompton1895–96Millwall AthleticWolverton L & NWR1896–97Southampton St Mary'sDartford1897–98SouthamptonRoyal Artillery Portsmouth
For the 1898–99 season, Division Two was divided into London and South-West sections, with a playoff contested between the winners of each section.
SeasonDivision OneDivision Two (London)Division Two (SW)Division Two Playoff1898–99SouthamptonThames IronworksCowesThames won 3–1
For the 1899–1900 season, the league reverted to the old format, after all the members of the South-West section resigned.Edwards 1993, p. 16.
SeasonDivision OneDivision Two1899–1900Tottenham HotspurWatford1900–01SouthamptonBrentford1901–02PortsmouthFulham1902–03SouthamptonFulham1903–04SouthamptonWatford1904–05Bristol RoversFulham Reserves1905–06FulhamCrystal Palace1906–07FulhamSouthend United1907–08Queens Park RangersSouthend United1908–09Northampton TownCroydon Common
For the 1909–10 season, Division Two was split into an 'A' section and a 'B' section, with the winners of each section contesting a play-off for the Division Two championship.