1959–60 Southern Football League
The 1959–60 Southern Football League season was the 57th in the history of the league, an English football competition.
The league split into a Premier Division and Division One, the first time the league had had two hierarchical divisions since 1919–20. Bath City won the championship, whilst Clacton Town, Romford, Folkestone Town and Guildford City were all promoted to the Premier Division. Eleven Southern League clubs applied to join the Football League at the end of the season, but none were successful.
Premier Division
[edit]Premier Division was formed at the end of the previous season, with eleven top clubs from both North-West and South-East divisions joined.
At the end of the season Headington United was renamed Oxford United.
League table
[edit]| Season | 1959–60 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Bath City |
| Relegated | Barry Town Kettering Town Nuneaton Borough Poole Town |
| Matches played | 462 |
| Goals scored | 1,722 (3.73 per match) |
1960–61 → | |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bath City | 42 | 32 | 3 | 7 | 116 | 50 | 2.320 | 67 | |
| 2 | Headington United | 42 | 23 | 8 | 11 | 78 | 61 | 1.279 | 54 | |
| 3 | Weymouth | 42 | 22 | 9 | 11 | 93 | 69 | 1.348 | 53 | |
| 4 | Cheltenham Town | 42 | 21 | 6 | 15 | 82 | 68 | 1.206 | 48 | |
| 5 | Cambridge City | 42 | 18 | 11 | 13 | 81 | 72 | 1.125 | 47 | |
| 6 | Chelmsford City | 42 | 19 | 7 | 16 | 90 | 70 | 1.286 | 45 | |
| 7 | Bedford Town | 42 | 21 | 3 | 18 | 97 | 85 | 1.141 | 45 | |
| 8 | King's Lynn | 42 | 17 | 11 | 14 | 89 | 78 | 1.141 | 45 | |
| 9 | Boston United | 42 | 17 | 10 | 15 | 83 | 80 | 1.038 | 44 | |
| 10 | Wisbech Town | 42 | 17 | 10 | 15 | 81 | 84 | 0.964 | 44 | |
| 11 | Yeovil Town | 42 | 17 | 8 | 17 | 81 | 73 | 1.110 | 42 | |
| 12 | Hereford United | 42 | 15 | 12 | 15 | 70 | 74 | 0.946 | 42 | |
| 13 | Tonbridge | 42 | 16 | 8 | 18 | 79 | 73 | 1.082 | 40 | |
| 14 | Hastings United | 42 | 16 | 8 | 18 | 63 | 77 | 0.818 | 40 | |
| 15 | Wellington Town | 42 | 13 | 11 | 18 | 63 | 78 | 0.808 | 37 | |
| 16 | Dartford | 42 | 15 | 7 | 20 | 64 | 82 | 0.780 | 37 | |
| 17 | Gravesend & Northfleet | 42 | 14 | 8 | 20 | 69 | 84 | 0.821 | 36 | |
| 18 | Worcester City | 42 | 13 | 10 | 19 | 72 | 89 | 0.809 | 36 | |
| 19 | Nuneaton Borough | 42 | 11 | 11 | 20 | 64 | 78 | 0.821 | 33 | Relegated to Division One |
| 20 | Barry Town | 42 | 14 | 5 | 23 | 78 | 103 | 0.757 | 33 | |
| 21 | Poole Town | 42 | 10 | 8 | 24 | 69 | 96 | 0.719 | 28 | |
| 22 | Kettering Town | 42 | 9 | 10 | 23 | 60 | 90 | 0.667 | 28 |
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal ratio.
Division One
[edit]Division One was formed at the end of the previous season with clubs finished below eleventh place in North-West and South East divisions joined. Also, Division One featured ten new clubs:
- Eight clubs from the disbanded Kent League:
- Plus:
- Hinckley Athletic, from the Birmingham & District League
- Romford, from the Isthmian League
League table
[edit]| Season | 1959–60 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Clacton Town |
| Promoted | Clacton Town Romford Folkestone Town Guildford City |
| Matches played | 462 |
| Goals scored | 1,625 (3.52 per match) |
1960–61 → | |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clacton Town | 42 | 27 | 5 | 10 | 106 | 69 | 1.536 | 59 | Promoted to the Premier Division |
| 2 | Romford | 42 | 21 | 11 | 10 | 65 | 40 | 1.625 | 53 | |
| 3 | Folkestone Town | 42 | 23 | 5 | 14 | 93 | 71 | 1.310 | 51 | |
| 4 | Exeter City II | 42 | 23 | 3 | 16 | 85 | 62 | 1.371 | 49 | Left the league |
| 5 | Guildford City | 42 | 19 | 9 | 14 | 79 | 56 | 1.411 | 47 | Promoted to the Premier Division |
| 6 | Sittingbourne | 42 | 20 | 7 | 15 | 66 | 56 | 1.179 | 47 | |
| 7 | Margate | 42 | 20 | 6 | 16 | 88 | 77 | 1.143 | 46 | |
| 8 | Trowbridge Town | 42 | 18 | 9 | 15 | 89 | 78 | 1.141 | 45 | |
| 9 | Cambridge United | 42 | 18 | 9 | 15 | 71 | 72 | 0.986 | 45 | |
| 10 | Yiewsley | 42 | 16 | 11 | 15 | 83 | 71 | 1.169 | 43 | |
| 11 | Bexleyheath & Welling | 42 | 16 | 11 | 15 | 85 | 77 | 1.104 | 43 | |
| 12 | Merthyr Tydfil | 42 | 16 | 10 | 16 | 63 | 65 | 0.969 | 42 | |
| 13 | Ramsgate Athletic | 42 | 16 | 8 | 18 | 84 | 85 | 0.988 | 40 | |
| 14 | Ashford Town (Kent) | 42 | 14 | 12 | 16 | 61 | 70 | 0.871 | 40 | |
| 15 | Tunbridge Wells United | 42 | 17 | 5 | 20 | 77 | 74 | 1.041 | 39 | |
| 16 | Hinckley Athletic | 42 | 14 | 8 | 20 | 62 | 75 | 0.827 | 36 | |
| 17 | Gloucester City | 42 | 13 | 9 | 20 | 56 | 84 | 0.667 | 35 | |
| 18 | Dover | 42 | 14 | 6 | 22 | 59 | 85 | 0.694 | 34 | |
| 19 | Kidderminster Harriers | 42 | 14 | 6 | 22 | 59 | 97 | 0.608 | 34 | Switched to the Birmingham & District League |
| 20 | Corby Town | 42 | 15 | 3 | 24 | 75 | 91 | 0.824 | 33 | |
| 21 | Burton Albion | 42 | 11 | 10 | 21 | 52 | 79 | 0.658 | 32 | |
| 22 | Rugby Town | 42 | 10 | 11 | 21 | 67 | 91 | 0.736 | 31 |
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal ratio.
Football League elections
[edit]Eleven Southern League clubs (including Guildford City and Romford from Division One) applied for election to the Football League. Although none were successful, Peterborough United were elected at the expense of Gateshead.[1]