The 1970–71 Southern Football League season was the 68th in the history of the league, an English football competition.
Yeovil Town won the championship, winning their third Southern League title, whilst Folkestone, Gravesend & Northfleet, Guildford City and Merthyr Tydfil were all promoted to the Premier Division. Eight Southern League clubs applied to join the Football League at the end of the season, but none were successful.
At the end of the season Division One was split into divisions One North and One South with 14 new clubs joining the league.
Premier Division
editThe Premier Division consisted of 22 clubs, including 18 clubs from the previous season and four new clubs, promoted from Division One:
League table
edit| Season | 1970–71 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Yeovil Town |
| Relegated | Ashford Town (Kent) Gloucester City Kettering Town King's Lynn |
| Matches played | 462 |
| Goals scored | 1,287 (2.79 per match) |
← 1969–70 1971–72 → | |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yeovil Town | 42 | 25 | 7 | 10 | 66 | 31 | 2.129 | 57 | |
| 2 | Cambridge City | 42 | 22 | 11 | 9 | 66 | 38 | 1.737 | 55 | |
| 3 | Romford | 42 | 23 | 9 | 10 | 63 | 42 | 1.500 | 55 | |
| 4 | Hereford United | 42 | 23 | 8 | 11 | 71 | 53 | 1.340 | 54 | |
| 5 | Chelmsford City | 42 | 20 | 11 | 11 | 61 | 32 | 1.906 | 51 | |
| 6 | Barnet | 42 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 69 | 49 | 1.408 | 50 | |
| 7 | Bedford Town | 42 | 20 | 10 | 12 | 62 | 46 | 1.348 | 50 | |
| 8 | Wimbledon | 42 | 20 | 8 | 14 | 72 | 54 | 1.333 | 48 | |
| 9 | Worcester City | 42 | 20 | 8 | 14 | 61 | 46 | 1.326 | 48 | |
| 10 | Weymouth | 42 | 14 | 16 | 12 | 64 | 47 | 1.362 | 44 | |
| 11 | Dartford | 42 | 15 | 12 | 15 | 53 | 51 | 1.039 | 42 | |
| 12 | Dover | 42 | 16 | 9 | 17 | 64 | 63 | 1.016 | 41 | |
| 13 | Margate | 42 | 15 | 10 | 17 | 64 | 70 | 0.914 | 40 | |
| 14 | Hillingdon Borough | 42 | 17 | 6 | 19 | 61 | 68 | 0.897 | 40 | |
| 15 | Bath City | 42 | 13 | 12 | 17 | 48 | 68 | 0.706 | 38 | |
| 16 | Nuneaton Borough | 42 | 12 | 12 | 18 | 43 | 66 | 0.652 | 36 | |
| 17 | Telford United | 42 | 13 | 8 | 21 | 64 | 70 | 0.914 | 34 | |
| 18 | Poole Town | 42 | 14 | 6 | 22 | 57 | 75 | 0.760 | 34 | |
| 19 | King's Lynn | 42 | 11 | 7 | 24 | 44 | 67 | 0.657 | 29 | Relegated to Division One North |
| 20 | Ashford Town (Kent) | 42 | 8 | 13 | 21 | 52 | 86 | 0.605 | 29 | Relegated to Division One South |
| 21 | Kettering Town | 42 | 8 | 11 | 23 | 48 | 84 | 0.571 | 27 | Relegated to Division One North |
| 22 | Gloucester City | 42 | 6 | 10 | 26 | 34 | 81 | 0.420 | 22 |
Division One
editDivision One consisted of 20 clubs, including 17 clubs from the previous season and four new clubs, relegated from the Premier Division:
- Two clubs relegated from the Premier Division
- Plus:
- Stevenage Athletic, joined from the Metropolitan League
At the end of the season Division One was split into divisions One North and One South with 14 new clubs joining the league.
League table
edit| Season | 1970–71 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Guildford City |
| Promoted | Folkestone Gravesend & Northfleet Guildford City Merthyr Tydfil |
| Matches played | 380 |
| Goals scored | 1,174 (3.09 per match) |
← 1969–70 | |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guildford City | 38 | 22 | 10 | 6 | 76 | 36 | 2.111 | 54 | Promoted to the Premier Division |
| 2 | Merthyr Tydfil | 38 | 19 | 12 | 7 | 52 | 33 | 1.576 | 50 | |
| 3 | Gravesend & Northfleet | 38 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 74 | 42 | 1.762 | 48 | |
| 4 | Folkestone | 38 | 20 | 8 | 10 | 83 | 53 | 1.566 | 48 | |
| 5 | Burton Albion | 38 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 56 | 37 | 1.514 | 48 | Placed to Division One North |
| 6 | Rugby Town | 38 | 17 | 14 | 7 | 58 | 40 | 1.450 | 48 | |
| 7 | Ramsgate Athletic | 38 | 20 | 5 | 13 | 83 | 54 | 1.537 | 45 | Placed to Division One South |
| 8 | Trowbridge Town | 38 | 19 | 7 | 12 | 78 | 55 | 1.418 | 45 | |
| 9 | Bexley United | 38 | 17 | 11 | 10 | 57 | 45 | 1.267 | 45 | |
| 10 | Crawley Town | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 84 | 68 | 1.235 | 41 | |
| 11 | Hastings United | 38 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 51 | 50 | 1.020 | 38 | |
| 12 | Banbury United | 38 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 58 | 53 | 1.094 | 37 | Placed to Division One North |
| 13 | Corby Town | 38 | 14 | 8 | 16 | 57 | 60 | 0.950 | 36 | |
| 14 | Salisbury | 38 | 13 | 7 | 18 | 56 | 60 | 0.933 | 33 | Placed to Division One South |
| 15 | Cheltenham Town | 38 | 8 | 15 | 15 | 44 | 58 | 0.759 | 31 | Placed to Division One North |
| 16 | Stevenage Athletic | 38 | 12 | 7 | 19 | 55 | 79 | 0.696 | 31 | |
| 17 | Tonbridge | 38 | 8 | 8 | 22 | 48 | 83 | 0.578 | 24 | Placed to Division One South |
| 18 | Barry Town | 38 | 9 | 6 | 23 | 35 | 82 | 0.427 | 24 | Placed to Division One North |
| 19 | Dunstable Town | 38 | 8 | 4 | 26 | 32 | 81 | 0.395 | 20 | |
| 20 | Canterbury City | 38 | 5 | 4 | 29 | 37 | 105 | 0.352 | 14 | Placed to Division One South |
Football League elections
editAlongside the four League clubs facing re-election, a total of 12 non-League clubs applied for election, eight of which were Southern League clubs. All League clubs were re-elected.[1]