1904–05 Southern Football League

The 1904–05 season was the 11th in the history of Southern League. Bristol Rovers won Division One for the first time and Fulham reserves finished top of Division Two. Division Two club Clapton Orient were the only Southern League club to apply for election to the Football League, and were successful after a decision was made to expand the League to 40 clubs.

Division One

Southern Football League Division One
Season	1904–05
Champions	Bristol Rovers (1st title)
Promoted	none
Relegated	Wellingborough (resigned)
Matches played	306
Goals scored	854 (2.79 per match)
← 1903–04 1905–06 →

A total of 18 teams contest the division, including 17 sides from previous season and one new team. Watford returned to Division after one season of absence.

Teams promoted from Division Two:

Watford

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv¹	Pts²	Notes
1	Bristol Rovers	34	20	8	6	74	36	2.06	48
2	Reading	34	18	7	9	57	38	1.5	43
3	Southampton	34	18	7	9	54	40	1.35	43
4	Plymouth Argyle	34	18	5	11	57	39	1.46	41
5	Tottenham Hotspur	34	15	8	11	53	34	1.56	38
6	Fulham	34	14	10	10	46	34	1.35	38
7	Queens Park Rangers	34	14	8	12	51	46	1.11	36
8	Portsmouth	34	16	4	14	61	56	1.09	36
9	New Brompton	34	11	11	12	40	40	1	33
10	Watford	34	15	3	16	44	45	0.98	33
11	West Ham United	34	12	8	14	48	42	1.14	32
12	Brighton & Hove Albion	34	13	6	15	44	45	0.98	32
13	Northampton Town	34	12	8	14	43	54	0.8	32
14	Brentford	34	10	9	15	33	38	0.87	29
15	Millwall	34	11	7	16	38	47	0.81	29
16	Swindon Town	34	12	5	17	41	59	0.69	29
17	Luton Town	34	12	3	19	45	54	0.83	27
18	Wellingborough	34	5	3	26	25	107	0.23	13	Left league at end of season

^{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.}

Division Two

Southern Football League Division Two
Season	1904–05
Champions	Fulham II
Promoted	Clapton Orient (to Football League)
Relegated	Brighton & Hove Albion II (resigned) Southall (resigned)
Matches played	132
Goals scored	582 (4.41 per match)
← 1903–04 1905–06 →

A total of 12 teams contest the division, including 8 sides from previous season and four new teams, three of which were reserve teams.

Newly elected teams:

Clapton Orient
Brighton & Hove Albion II
Watford II
West Ham United II,

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv¹	Pts²	Notes
1	Fulham II	22	16	4	2	78	25	3.12	36
2	Portsmouth II	22	14	2	6	75	28	2.67	30
3	Swindon Town II	22	12	3	7	54	47	1.15	27
4	Grays United	22	11	3	8	61	40	1.53	25
5	Southampton II	22	10	5	7	52	35	1.49	25
6	Brighton & Hove Albion II	22	9	3	10	48	49	0.98	21	Left league at end of season
7	West Ham United II	22	8	5	9	45	47	0.96	21
8	Clapton Orient	22	7	7	8	47	56	0.84	21	Elected to the Football League
9	Watford II	22	5	6	11	30	62	0.48	16
10	Southall	22	7	2	13	31	66	0.47	16	Left league at end of season
11	Wycombe Wanderers	22	6	2	14	37	70	0.53	14
12	Reading II	22	4	4	14	24	57	0.42	12

^{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

Only one Southern League club, Clapton Orient of Division Two, applied for election to Division Two of the Football League. Although they were not elected in the first round, it was later agreed to expand the Football League from 36 to 40 clubs and all the unsuccessful candidates except Doncaster Rovers were elected.

Club	League	Votes
Leeds City	West Yorkshire League	25
Port Vale	Football League	21
Chelsea	None*	20
Hull City	None*	18
Burton United	Football League
Doncaster Rovers	Football League
Stockport County	Midland League	3
Clapton Orient	Southern League	1

* Chelsea had played no games, nor had any players when they were elected. Hull City had been formed in 1904, but had only played friendly matches during the 1904–05 season.^[1]

References

↑ A history of admission to the Football League

External links

Southern League

Premier Division	Arlesey Town Banbury United Bideford Biggleswade Town Burnham Cambridge City Chesham United Chippenham Town Cirencester Town Corby Town Dorchester Town Dunstable Town Frome Town Histon Hitchin Town Hungerford Town Paulton Rovers Poole Town Redditch United Slough Town St Neots Town Truro City Weymouth

Division One Central	AFC Hayes Aylesbury Aylesbury United Barton Rovers Beaconsfield SYCOB Bedford Town Bedworth United Chalfont St. Peter Daventry Town Egham Town Godalming Town Hanwell Town Kettering Town Leighton Town Marlow North Greenford United Northwood Potters Bar Town Royston Town Rugby Town St Ives Town Uxbridge

Division One South & West	AFC Totton Bashley Bishop's Cleeve Bridgwater Town Cinderford Town Clevedon Town Didcot Town Evesham United Fleet Town Larkhall Athletic Mangotsfield United Merthyr Town North Leigh Sholing Shortwood United Stratford Town Swindon Supermarine Taunton Town Tiverton Town Wantage Town Wimborne Town Yate Town

Seasons	1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15

1904–05 in English football

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1905–06 »

FA competitions

FA Cup (Qualifying Rounds
Final)
Charity Shield

Football and Southern Leagues

Football League (First Division
Second Division)
Southern League

Lower leagues

Related to national team

Home Championship

Club seasons

First Division	Aston Villa Blackburn Rovers Bury Derby County Everton Manchester City Middlesbrough Newcastle United Nottingham Forest Notts County Preston North End Sheffield United Small Heath Stoke Sunderland The Wednesday Wolverhampton Wanderers Woolwich Arsenal

Second Division	Barnsley Blackpool Bradford City Bristol City Bolton Wanderers Burnley Burslem Port Vale Burton United Chesterfield Doncaster Rovers Gainsborough Trinity Glossop Grimsby Town Leicester Fosse Lincoln City Liverpool Manchester United West Bromwich Albion

Southern League	Brentford Brighton & Hove Albion Bristol Rovers Fulham Luton Town Millwall New Brompton Northampton Town Plymouth Argyle Portsmouth Queens Park Rangers Reading Southampton Swindon Town Tottenham Hotspur Watford Wellingborough West Ham United