2003–04 Southern Football League

The 2003–04 season was the 101st in the history of the Southern League. The season began on 16 August 2003 and ended on 8 May 2004 with the play-off finals.

At the end of the season the National League System was reorganised. A new Conference North and South was to be formed from the top teams in the Northern Premier League, Southern League and Isthmian League as follows:

From the Southern League:

• The top position of the Premier Division promoted to the newly named Conference National.
• Positions 2–13 of the Premier Division qualified for Conference North/South.
• Positions 14–18 joined by winners of the Eastern and Western Divisions in play-offs for two places in Conference North/South.
• Play-off losers and positions 19–22 remain in the Premier Division or move to the Isthmian League.

Premier Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Crawley Town	42	25	9	8	77	43	34	84	Promoted to Conference National
2	Weymouth	42	20	12	10	76	47	29	72	Qualified for Conference South
3	Stafford Rangers	42	19	11	12	55	43	12	68	Qualified for Conference North
4	Nuneaton Borough	42	17	15	10	65	49	16	66
5	Worcester City	42	18	9	15	71	50	21	63
6	Hinckley United	42	15	14	13	55	46	9	59
7	Newport County	42	15	14	13	52	50	2	59	Qualified for Conference South
8	Cambridge City	42	14	15	13	54	53	1	57
9	Welling United	42	16	8	18	56	58	−2	56
10	Weston-super-Mare	42	14	13	15	52	52	0	55
11	Eastbourne Borough	42	14	13	15	48	56	−8	55
12	Havant & Waterlooville	42	15	10	17	59	70	−11	55
13	Moor Green	42	14	12	16	42	54	−12	54	Qualified for Conference North
14	Merthyr Tydfil	42	13	14	15	60	66	−6	53
15	Tiverton Town	42	12	15	15	63	64	−1	51
16	Bath City	42	13	12	17	49	56	−7	51
17	Dorchester Town	42	14	9	19	56	69	−13	51	Qualified for Conference South
18	Chelmsford City	42	11	16	15	46	53	−7	49	Transferred to Isthmian League
19	Dover Athletic	42	12	13	17	50	59	−9	49
20	Hednesford Town	42	12	12	18	56	69	−13	48
21	Chippenham Town	42	10	17	15	51	63	−12	47
22	Grantham Town	42	10	15	17	45	67	−22	45

Key
	Division Champions
	Failed to qualify

Play-offs

	Semifinals					Final
	Bath City		2
	Dorchester Town		4
						Tiverton Town		1
						Dorchester Town		3
	Tiverton Town		1
	Chelmsford City		0

Dorchester Town qualified for the Conference South.

Division One East

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
1	King's Lynn	42	28	7	7	90	35	55	91	Promoted to the Premier Division
2	Histon	42	26	10	6	96	41	55	88
3	Tonbridge Angels	42	27	7	8	82	46	36	88	Promoted to the Isthmian League Premier Division
4	Eastleigh	42	27	4	11	88	40	48	82(-3)
5	Folkestone Invicta	42	20	15	7	91	45	46	75
6	Salisbury City	42	21	11	10	73	45	28	74
7	Stamford	42	20	11	11	63	45	18	71	Promoted to the Premier Division
8	Banbury United	42	19	10	13	65	57	8	67
9	Burgess Hill Town	42	19	7	16	67	54	13	64	Transferred to the Isthmian League Division One
10	Sittingbourne	42	18	8	16	61	55	6	62
11	Bashley	42	18	7	17	66	58	8	61	Transferred to the Isthmian League Division One
12	Ashford Town	42	15	9	18	51	53	−2	54
13	Chatham Town	42	13	10	19	49	67	−18	49
14	Fisher Athletic	42	13	10	19	61	81	−20	49
15	Corby Town	42	12	9	21	44	75	−31	45	Transferred to the Western Division
16	Dartford	42	13	6	23	48	81	−33	45
17	Burnham	42	12	11	19	52	76	−24	44(-3)	Transferred to the Western Division
18	Hastings United	42	12	7	23	60	91	−31	43	Transferred to the Isthmian League Division One
19	Newport IOW	42	11	7	24	42	69	−27	40
20	Rothwell Town	42	9	11	22	30	47	−17	38	Transferred to the Western Division
21	Erith & Belvedere	42	7	10	25	45	84	−39	31
22	Fleet Town	42	5	7	30	35	114	−79	22	Transferred to the Isthmian League Division One

Source:

Division One West

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Redditch United	40	25	9	6	75	30	45	84	Promoted to the Conference North
2	Gloucester City	40	24	7	9	77	46	31	79	Promoted to the Premier Division
3	Cirencester Town	40	24	4	12	73	40	33	76
4	Halesowen Town	40	20	13	7	64	40	24	73
5	Rugby United	40	21	8	11	57	40	17	71
6	Team Bath	40	21	6	13	62	41	21	69
7	Solihull Borough	40	19	9	12	50	31	19	66
8	Sutton Coldfield Town	40	16	15	9	52	38	14	63
9	Bromsgrove Rovers	40	16	11	13	60	48	12	59
10	Ilkeston Town	40	16	10	14	58	59	−1	58	Transferred to the Northern Premier League Division One
11	Clevedon Town	40	16	5	19	55	59	-4	53
12	Gresley Rovers	40	15	7	18	52	60	-8	52	Transferred to the Northern Premier League Division One
13	Mangotsfield United	40	14	8	18	70	70	0	50
14	Evesham United	40	15	5	20	56	57	−1	50
15	Taunton Town	40	14	8	20	50	55	−5	50
16	Yate Town	40	11	8	20	51	79	−28	42
17	Swindon Supermarine	40	10	9	21	41	69	−28	39
18	Stourport Swifts	40	9	11	20	43	62	−19	38
19	Bedworth United	40	8	12	20	39	61	−22	36
20	Cinderford Town	40	7	9	24	50	94	−44	30
21	Shepshed Dynamo	40	5	13	22	31	87	−56	28	Transferred to the Northern Premier League Division One
22	Atherstone United	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Club folded

Source:

	Semifinals					Final
	King's Lynn		0
	Redditch United		1
						Merthyr Tydfil		0
						Redditch United		3
	Merthyr Tydfil		W/O

Redditch United qualified for the Conference North