1968–69 Southern Football League

The 1968–69 season was the 66th in the history of the Southern League.

Premier Division

Southern Football League
Premier Division
Season	1968–69
Champions	Cambridge United
Promoted	None
Relegated	Bedford Town Cheltenham Town Guildford City Rugby Town
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1325 (2.87 per match)
← 1967–68 1969–70 →

The Premier Division featured four new teams:

Bedford Town, promoted as third in Division One
Kettering Town, promoted as runners-up of Division One
Rugby Town, promoted as fourth in Division One
Worcester City, promoted as champions of Division One

League table


Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAvg	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Cambridge United (C)	42	27	5	10	72	39	1.846	59
2	Hillingdon Borough	42	24	10	8	68	47	1.447	58
3	Wimbledon	42	21	12	9	66	48	1.375	54
4	King's Lynn	42	20	9	13	68	60	1.133	49
5	Worcester City	42	19	11	12	53	47	1.128	49
6	Romford	42	18	12	12	58	52	1.115	48
7	Weymouth	42	16	15	11	52	41	1.268	47
8	Yeovil Town	42	16	13	13	52	50	1.04	45
9	Kettering Town	42	18	8	16	51	55	0.927	44
10	Dover	42	17	9	16	66	61	1.082	43
11	Nuneaton Borough	42	17	7	18	74	58	1.276	41
12	Barnet	42	15	10	17	72	66	1.091	40
13	Chelmsford City	42	17	6	19	56	58	0.966	40
14	Hereford United	42	15	9	18	66	62	1.065	39
15	Wellington Town	42	14	10	18	62	61	1.016	38
16	Poole Town	42	16	6	20	75	76	0.987	38
17	Burton Albion	42	16	5	21	55	71	0.775	37
18	Margate	42	14	7	21	79	90	0.878	35
19	Cheltenham Town (R)	42	15	5	22	55	64	0.859	35	Relegation to 1969–70 SFL Division One
20	Bedford Town (R)	42	11	12	19	46	63	0.73	34
21	Rugby Town (R)	42	10	6	26	38	83	0.458	26
22	Guildford City (R)	42	7	11	24	41	73	0.562	25

Source:
^{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.}
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 10 non-League clubs applied for election, all of which were Southern League clubs. All four League clubs were re-elected.^[1]

Club	League	Votes
Grimsby Town	Football League	47
York City	Football League	45
Bradford Park Avenue	Football League	38
Newport County	Football League	27
Cambridge United	Southern League	16
Kettering Town	Southern League	3
Cambridge City	Southern League	2
Hereford United	Southern League	2
Romford	Southern League	2
Bedford Town	Southern League	1
Chelmsford City	Southern League	1
Worcester City	Southern League	1
Nuneaton Borough	Southern League	0
Wimbledon	Southern League	0

Division One

Southern Football League
Division One
Season	1968–69
Champions	Brentwood Town
Promoted	Bath City Brentwood Town Crawley Town Gloucester City
Relegated	None
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1485 (3.21 per match)
← 1967–68 1969–70 →

Division One featured four new teams:

Cambridge City, Corby Town, Hastings United, relegated from the Premier Division
Salisbury, runners-up of the Western Football League

League table


Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAvg	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Brentwood Town (C) (P)	42	26	12	4	94	37	2.541	64	Promotion to 1969–70 Southern League Premier Division
2	Bath City (P)	42	26	10	6	96	40	2.4	62
3	Gloucester City (P)	42	25	9	8	100	53	1.887	59
4	Crawley Town (P)	42	21	13	8	65	32	2.031	55
5	Corby Town	42	22	6	14	81	65	1.246	50
6	Dartford	42	20	8	14	79	51	1.549	48
7	Ramsgate Athletic	42	19	9	14	72	57	1.263	47
8	Salisbury	42	20	6	16	69	52	1.327	46
9	Cambridge City	42	18	10	14	73	63	1.159	46
10	Trowbridge Town	42	15	14	13	70	60	1.167	44
11	Banbury United	42	16	12	14	67	72	0.931	44
12	Folkestone	42	19	5	18	53	59	0.898	43
13	Canterbury City	42	17	7	18	67	63	1.063	41
14	Ashford Town	42	16	8	18	72	73	0.986	40
15	Bexley United	42	15	9	18	64	75	0.853	39
16	Hastings United	42	15	9	18	58	69	0.841	39
17	Wisbech Town	42	11	13	18	57	70	0.814	35
18	Dunstable Town	42	14	6	22	73	99	0.737	34
19	Merthyr Tydfil	42	10	7	25	49	101	0.485	27
20	Barry Town	42	8	10	24	39	78	0.5	26
21	Gravesend & Northfleet	42	8	9	25	51	79	0.646	25
22	Tonbridge	42	2	6	34	36	137	0.263	10

References

RSSF – Southern Football League archive

↑ A history of admission to the Football League

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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1968–69 in English football

« 1967–68

1969–70 »

FA competitions

Football League

Football League (First Division
Second Division
Third Division
Fourth Division)
League Cup (Final)

Lower leagues

European competitions

Related to national team

Club seasons

First Division	Arsenal Burnley Chelsea Coventry City Everton Ipswich Town Leeds United Leicester City Liverpool Manchester City Manchester United Newcastle United Nottingham Forest Queens Park Rangers Sheffield Wednesday Southampton Stoke City Sunderland Tottenham Hotspur West Bromwich Albion West Ham United Wolverhampton Wanderers

Second Division	Aston Villa Birmingham City Blackburn Rovers Blackpool Bolton Wanderers Bristol City Bury Cardiff City Carlisle United Charlton Athletic Crystal Palace Derby County Fulham Huddersfield Town Hull City Middlesbrough Millwall Norwich City Oxford United Portsmouth Preston North End Sheffield United

Third Division	Barnsley Barrow Bournemouth Brighton & Hove Albion Bristol Rovers Crewe Alexandra Gillingham Hartlepool United Leyton Orient Luton Town Mansfield Town Northampton Town Oldham Athletic Plymouth Argyle Reading Rotherham United Shrewsbury Town Southport Stockport County Swindon Town Torquay United Tranmere Rovers Walsall Watford

Fourth Division	Aldershot Bradford City Bradford Park Avenue Brentford Chester Chesterfield Colchester United Darlington Doncaster Rovers Exeter City Grimsby Town Halifax Town Lincoln City Newport County Notts County Peterborough United Port Vale Rochdale Scunthorpe United Southend United Swansea Town Workington Wrexham York City