1953–54 Southern Football League

The 1953–54 Southern Football League season saw Merthyr Tydfil win the championship for the fourth time in five seasons. Four 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	Merthyr Tydfil	42	27	8	7	97	55	1.76	62
2	Headington United	42	22	9	11	68	43	1.58	53
3	Yeovil Town	42	20	8	14	87	76	1.14	48
4	Bath City	42	17	12	13	73	67	1.09	46
5	Kidderminster Harriers	42	18	9	15	62	59	1.05	45
6	Weymouth	42	18	8	16	83	72	1.15	44
7	Barry Town	42	17	9	16	108	91	1.19	43
8	Bedford Town	42	19	5	18	80	84	0.95	43
9	Gloucester City	42	16	11	15	69	77	0.9	43
10	Hastings United	42	16	10	16	73	67	1.09	42
11	Kettering Town	42	15	12	15	65	63	1.03	42
12	Hereford United	42	16	9	17	66	62	1.06	41
13	Llanelly	42	16	9	17	80	85	0.94	41
14	Guildford City	42	15	11	16	56	60	0.93	41
15	Gravesend & Northfleet	42	16	8	18	76	77	0.99	40
16	Worcester City	42	17	6	19	66	71	0.93	40
17	Lovells Athletic	42	14	11	17	62	60	1.03	39
18	Tonbridge	42	15	9	18	85	91	0.93	39
19	Chelmsford City	42	14	10	18	67	71	0.94	38
20	Exeter City II	42	11	13	18	61	72	0.84	35
21	Cheltenham Town	42	11	12	19	56	83	0.67	34
22	Dartford	42	6	13	23	42	89	0.47	25

^{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

Four 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
Chester	Football League	48
Colchester United	Football League	45
Walsall	Football League	32
Halifax Town	Football League	28
Wigan Athletic	Lancashire Combination	19
Peterborough United	Midland League	18
Nelson	Lancashire Combination	3
Worcester City	Southern League	2
Merthyr Tydfil	Southern League	1
Bath City	Southern League	0
North Shields	North Eastern League	0
Yeovil Town	Southern League	0