1919–20 Southern Football League

The 1919–20 season was the 22nd in the history of the Southern League, and the first following World War I. Portsmouth won the Southern League championship for the second time, whilst Mid Rhondda won Division Two. There were no promotions or relegations between divisions at the end of the season as all of the clubs in Division One bar Cardiff City were elected to the new Division Three of the Football League, with Cardiff elected to Division Two.

With only 10 clubs remaining (Caerphilly left the league) the league went through a realignment. The league was split into two national sections for England and Wales, with the winners of each section contesting a playoff for the Southern League championship. The remaining clubs in Division Two moved to the Welsh Section. In the English Section, Brighton & Hove Albion Reserves, Chatham Town, Millwall Reserves, Portsmouth Reserves, Reading Reserves, Southampton Reserves, and Watford Reserves rejoined the Southern League. New clubs to join were Boscombe, Charlton Athletic, Gillingham Reserves, Luton Town Reserves, Norwich City Reserves, and Thornycrofts.

Division One

Southern Football League Division One
Season	1919–20
Champions	Portsmouth (2nd title)
Promoted	Cardiff City
Relegated	none
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1275 (2.76 per match)
← 1914–15 1920–21 →

A total of 22 teams contest the division, including 18 sides from previous season and four new teams.

Teams promoted from 1914-15 Division Two:

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv¹	Pts²
1	Portsmouth	42	23	12	7	73	27	2.70	58
2	Watford	42	26	6	10	69	42	1.64	58
3	Crystal Palace	42	22	12	8	69	43	1.61	56
4	Cardiff City	42	18	17	7	70	43	1.63	53	Elected to the 1920-21 Football League Second Division
5	Plymouth Argyle	42	20	10	12	57	29	1.97	50
6	Queens Park Rangers	42	18	10	14	62	50	1.24	46
7	Reading	42	16	13	13	51	43	1.19	45
8	Southampton	42	18	8	16	72	63	1.14	44
9	Swansea Town	42	16	11	15	53	45	1.18	43
10	Exeter City	42	17	9	16	57	51	1.12	43
11	Southend United	42	13	17	12	46	48	0.96	43
12	Norwich City	42	15	11	16	64	57	1.12	41
13	Swindon Town	42	17	7	18	65	68	0.96	41
14	Millwall	42	14	12	16	52	55	0.95	34
15	Brentford	42	15	10	17	52	59	0.88	40
16	Brighton & Hove Albion	42	14	8	20	60	72	0.83	36
17	Bristol Rovers	42	11	13	18	61	78	0.78	35
18	Newport County	42	13	7	22	45	70	0.64	33
19	Northampton Town	42	12	9	21	64	103	0.62	33
20	Luton Town	42	10	10	22	51	76	0.67	30
21	Merthyr Town	42	9	11	22	47	78	0.60	29
22	Gillingham	42	10	7	25	34	74	0.46	27

^{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	1919–20
Champions	Mid Rhondda
Promoted	none
Relegated	Caerphilly (resigned)
Matches played	110
Goals scored	416 (3.78 per match)
← 1914–15 1920–21 →

A total of 11 teams contest the division, including six sides from previous season and five new teams.

Newly elected teams:

Aberaman Athletic
Abertillery
Caerphilly
Mardy
Porth Athletic

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF¹	GA¹	GAv²	Pts³	Notes
1	Mid Rhondda	20	17	3	0	79	10	7.90	37
2	Ton Pentre	20	12	7	1	50	14	3.57	31
3	Llanelly	20	10	5	5	47	30	1.57	25
4	Pontypridd	20	10	3	7	33	29	1.14	23
5	Ebbw Vale	20	7	7	6	38	40	0.95	21
6	Barry	20	7	5	8	32	27	1.19	19
7	Mardy	20	7	5	8	29	30	0.97	19
8	Abertillery	20	6	5	9	29	40	0.73	17
9	Porth Athletic	20	4	4	12	30	74	0.41	12
10	Aberaman Athletic	20	4	3	13	28	48	0.58	11
11	Caerphilly	20	1	3	16	20	74	0.27	5	Left league at end of season

^{1 Number of goals for and/or against is inaccurate.}

^{2 The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used up until the 1976-77 season.}

^{3 The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.}

Football League elections

Cardiff City were the only Southern League club to apply for election to the Football League.^[1] They were successful and, along with Leeds United, replaced Grimsby Town and Lincoln City in the Football League Second Division.

Club	League	Votes
Leeds United	Midland League	31
Cardiff City	Southern League	23
Grimsby Town	Football League	20
Lincoln City	Football League	7
Walsall	Birmingham & District League	3

After the voting, 21 clubs remained in Southern League alongside Grimsby, having gained more votes than other non-elected clubs, were then elected into the newly created Third Division.

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

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1919–20 in English football

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