1952–53 Southern Football League

The 1952–53 Southern Football League season saw Headington United win the championship. Five Southern League clubs applied to join the Football League at the end of the season, but none were successful.

Final table

The league featured no new clubs for this season.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv1	Pts2
1	Headington United	42	23	12	7	93	50	1.86	58
2	Merthyr Tydfil	42	25	8	9	117	66	1.77	58
3	Bedford Town	42	24	8	10	91	61	1.49	56
4	Kettering Town	42	23	8	11	88	50	1.76	54
5	Bath City	42	22	10	10	71	46	1.54	54
6	Worcester City	42	20	11	11	100	66	1.52	51
7	Llanelly	42	21	9	12	95	72	1.32	51
8	Barry Town	42	22	3	17	89	69	1.29	47
9	Gravesend & Northfleet	42	19	7	16	83	76	1.09	45
10	Gloucester City	42	17	9	16	50	78	0.64	43
11	Guildford City	42	17	8	17	64	60	1.07	42
12	Hastings United	42	18	5	19	75	66	1.14	41
13	Cheltenham Town	42	15	11	16	70	89	0.79	41
14	Weymouth	42	15	10	17	70	75	0.93	40
15	Hereford United	42	17	5	20	76	73	1.04	39
16	Tonbridge	42	12	9	21	62	88	0.7	33
17	Lovells Athletic	42	12	8	22	68	81	0.83	32
18	Yeovil Town	42	11	10	21	75	99	0.75	32
19	Chelmsford City	42	12	7	23	58	92	0.63	31
20	Exeter City II	42	13	4	25	71	94	0.75	30
21	Kidderminster Harriers	42	12	5	25	54	85	0.63	29
22	Dartford	42	6	5	31	40	121	0.33	17

^{1 The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used up until the 1976-77 season.}

^{2 The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.}

Football League elections

Five Southern League clubs applied for election to the Football League. However, none were successful as all four League clubs were re-elected.

Club	League	Votes
Shrewsbury Town	Football League	46
Accrington Stanley	Football League	45
Walsall	Football League	41
Workington	Football League	36
Wigan Athletic	Lancashire Combination	17
Peterborough United	Midland League	6
Yeovil Town	Southern League	2
Bath City	Southern League	2
Headington United	Southern League	0
Hereford United	Southern League	1
Nelson	Lancashire Combination	0
New Brighton	Lancashire Combination	0
North Shields	North Eastern League	0
Worcester City	Southern League	0