1969–70 Southern Football League

The 1969–70 season was the 67th in the history of the Southern League.

Premier Division

Southern Football League
Premier Division

Season	1969–70
Champions	Cambridge United
Promoted	Cambridge United
Relegated	Burton Albion Crawley Town
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1319 (2.85 per match)
← 1968–69 1970–71 →

The Premier Division featured four new teams:

• Bath City, promoted as runners-up of Division One
• Brentwood Town, promoted as champions of Division One
• Crawley Town, promoted as fourth in Division One
• Gloucester City, promoted as third in Division One

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAvg	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Cambridge United (C) (P)	42	26	6	10	84	50	1.68	58	Promotion to 1970–71 Football League Division Four
2	Yeovil Town	42	25	7	10	78	48	1.625	57
3	Chelmsford City	42	20	11	11	76	58	1.31	51
4	Weymouth	42	18	14	10	59	37	1.595	50
5	Wimbledon	42	19	12	11	64	52	1.231	50
6	Hillingdon Borough	42	19	12	11	56	50	1.12	50
7	Barnet	42	16	15	11	71	54	1.315	47
8	Telford United	42	18	10	14	61	62	0.984	46
9	Brentwood Town	42	16	13	13	61	38	1.605	45	Club folded
10	Hereford United	42	18	9	15	74	65	1.138	45
11	Bath City	42	18	8	16	63	55	1.145	44
12	King's Lynn	42	16	11	15	72	68	1.059	43
13	Margate	42	17	8	17	70	64	1.094	42
14	Dover	42	15	10	17	51	50	1.02	40
15	Kettering Town	42	18	3	21	64	75	0.853	39
16	Worcester City	42	14	10	18	35	44	0.795	38
17	Romford	42	13	11	18	50	62	0.806	37
18	Poole Town	42	8	19	15	48	57	0.842	35
19	Gloucester City	42	12	9	21	53	73	0.726	33
20	Nuneaton Borough	42	11	10	21	52	74	0.703	32
21	Crawley Town (R)	42	6	15	21	53	101	0.525	27	Relegation to 1970–71 SFL Division One
22	Burton Albion (R)	42	3	9	30	24	82	0.293	15

Source: [1]
^{1 The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used until the 1976–77 season.
2 The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.}
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Football League elections

Alongside the four League clubs facing re-election, a total of 13 non-League clubs applied for election, ten of which were Southern League clubs. Three League clubs were re-elected, and Cambridge United were elected.

Club	League	Votes
Darlington	Football League	47
Hartlepool	Football League	42
Cambridge United	Southern League	31
Newport County	Football League	31
Wigan Athletic	Northern Premier League	3
Bradford Park Avenue	Football League	17
Cambridge City	Southern League	2
Yeovil Town	Southern League	1
Bedford Town	Southern League	1
Hereford United	Southern League	1
Morecambe	Northern Premier League	1
Romford	Southern League	1
Boston United	Northern Premier League	0
Chelmsford City	Southern League	0
Hillingdon Borough	Southern League	0
Telford United	Southern League	0
Wimbledon	Southern League	0

Division One

Southern Football League
Division One

Season	1969–70
Champions	Bedford Town
Promoted	Ashford Town Bedford Town Cambridge City Dartford
Relegated	Wisbech Town
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1440 (3.12 per match)
← 1968–69 1970–71 →

Division One featured four new teams:

• Bedford Town, Cheltenham Town, Guildford City, and Rugby Town relegated from the Premier Division

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAvg	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Bedford Town (C) (P)	42	26	9	7	93	37	2.514	61	Promotion to 1970–71 Southern League Premier Division
2	Cambridge City (P)	42	26	8	8	104	43	2.419	60
3	Dartford (P)	42	24	11	7	88	46	1.913	59
4	Ashford Town (P)	42	19	16	7	71	43	1.651	54
5	Rugby Town	42	20	10	12	82	66	1.242	50
6	Trowbridge Town	42	20	8	14	72	65	1.108	48
7	Hastings United	42	18	11	13	67	51	1.314	47
8	Guildford City	42	19	9	14	68	58	1.172	47
9	Banbury United	42	19	8	15	86	72	1.194	46
10	Cheltenham Town	42	20	5	17	78	81	0.963	45
11	Canterbury City	42	15	13	14	61	57	1.07	43
12	Corby Town	42	14	15	13	58	54	1.074	43
13	Folkestone	42	19	5	18	57	55	1.036	43
14	Ramsgate Athletic	42	14	13	15	53	57	0.93	41
15	Salisbury	42	12	14	16	47	53	0.887	38
16	Gravesend & Northfleet	42	13	11	18	62	71	0.873	37
17	Bexley United	42	10	11	21	58	76	0.763	31
18	Dunstable Town	42	11	9	22	52	82	0.634	31
19	Merthyr Tydfil	42	9	11	22	40	80	0.5	29
20	Barry Town	42	11	6	25	39	76	0.513	28
21	Wisbech Town (R)	42	8	9	25	58	116	0.5	25	Relegation to Eastern Counties League
22	Tonbridge	42	4	10	28	46	101	0.455	18

Source: [2]
^{1 The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used until the 1976–77 season.
2 The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.}
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

References

• RSSF – Southern Football League archive