2003–04 Southern Football League

The 2003–04 season was the 101st in the history of the Southern League. The season began on 16 August 2003 and ended on 8 May 2004 with the play-off finals.

At the end of the season the National League System was reorganised. A new Conference North and South was to be formed from the top teams in the Northern Premier League, Southern League and Isthmian League as follows:

From the Southern League:

The top position of the Premier Division promoted to the newly named Conference National.
Positions 2–13 of the Premier Division qualified for Conference North/South.
Positions 14–18 joined by winners of the Eastern and Western Divisions in play-offs for two places in Conference North/South.
Play-off losers and positions 19–22 remain in the Premier Division or move to the Isthmian League.^[1]

Premier Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Crawley Town	42	25	9	8	77	43	34	84	Promoted to Conference National
2	Weymouth	42	20	12	10	76	47	29	72	Qualified for Conference South
3	Stafford Rangers	42	19	11	12	55	43	12	68	Qualified for Conference North
4	Nuneaton Borough	42	17	15	10	65	49	16	66
5	Worcester City	42	18	9	15	71	50	21	63
6	Hinckley United	42	15	14	13	55	46	9	59
7	Newport County	42	15	14	13	52	50	2	59	Qualified for Conference South
8	Cambridge City	42	14	15	13	54	53	1	57
9	Welling United	42	16	8	18	56	58	−2	56
10	Weston-super-Mare	42	14	13	15	52	52	0	55
11	Eastbourne Borough	42	14	13	15	48	56	−8	55
12	Havant & Waterlooville	42	15	10	17	59	70	−11	55
13	Moor Green	42	14	12	16	42	54	−12	54	Qualified for Conference North
14	Merthyr Tydfil	42	13	14	15	60	66	−6	53
15	Tiverton Town	42	12	15	15	63	64	−1	51
16	Bath City	42	13	12	17	49	56	−7	51
17	Dorchester Town	42	14	9	19	56	69	−13	51	Qualified for Conference South
18	Chelmsford City	42	11	16	15	46	53	−7	49	Transferred to Isthmian League
19	Dover Athletic	42	12	13	17	50	59	−9	49	Transferred to Isthmian League
20	Hednesford Town	42	12	12	18	56	69	−13	48
21	Chippenham Town	42	10	17	15	51	63	−12	47
22	Grantham Town	42	10	15	17	45	67	−22	45

Key
	Division Champions
	Failed to qualify

Play-offs

Semifinals		Final


Bath City	2

Dorchester Town	4
		Tiverton Town	1

		Dorchester Town	3
Tiverton Town	1

Chelmsford City	0

Dorchester Town qualified for the Conference South

Division One East

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
1	King's Lynn	42	28	7	7	90	35	55	91	Promoted to the Premier Division
2	Histon	42	26	10	6	96	41	55	88	Promoted to the Premier Division
3	Tonbridge Angels	42	27	7	8	82	46	36	88	Promoted to the Isthmian League Premier Division
4	Eastleigh	42	27	4	11	88	40	48	82(-3)
5	Folkestone Invicta	42	20	15	7	91	45	46	75
6	Salisbury City	42	21	11	10	73	45	28	74
7	Stamford	42	20	11	11	63	45	18	71	Promoted to the Premier Division
8	Banbury United	42	19	10	13	65	57	8	67	Promoted to the Premier Division
9	Burgess Hill Town	42	19	7	16	67	54	13	64	Transferred to the Isthmian League Division One
10	Sittingbourne	42	18	8	16	61	55	6	62
11	Bashley	42	18	7	17	66	58	8	61	Transferred to the Isthmian League Division One
12	Ashford Town	42	15	9	18	51	53	−2	54	Transferred to the Isthmian League Division One
13	Chatham Town	42	13	10	19	49	67	−18	49
14	Fisher Athletic	42	13	10	19	61	81	−20	49
15	Corby Town	42	12	9	21	44	75	−31	45	Transferred to the Western Division
16	Dartford	42	13	6	23	48	81	−33	45
17	Burnham	42	12	11	19	52	76	−24	44(-3)	Transferred to the Western Division
18	Hastings United	42	12	7	23	60	91	−31	43	Transferred to the Isthmian League Division One
19	Newport IOW	42	11	7	24	42	69	−27	40	Transferred to the Isthmian League Division One
20	Rothwell Town	42	9	11	22	30	47	−17	38	Transferred to the Western Division
21	Erith & Belvedere	42	7	10	25	45	84	−39	31
22	Fleet Town	42	5	7	30	35	114	−79	22	Transferred to the Isthmian League Division One

Source:^[2]

Division One West

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Redditch United	40	25	9	6	75	30	45	84	Promoted to the Conference North
2	Gloucester City	40	24	7	9	77	46	31	79	Promoted to the Premier Division
3	Cirencester Town	40	24	4	12	73	40	33	76
4	Halesowen Town	40	20	13	7	64	40	24	73
5	Rugby United	40	21	8	11	57	40	17	71
6	Team Bath	40	21	6	13	62	41	21	69
7	Solihull Borough	40	19	9	12	50	31	19	66
8	Sutton Coldfield Town	40	16	15	9	52	38	14	63
9	Bromsgrove Rovers	40	16	11	13	60	48	12	59
10	Ilkeston Town	40	16	10	14	58	59	−1	58	Transferred to the Northern Premier League Division One
11	Clevedon Town	40	16	5	19	55	59	-4	53
12	Gresley Rovers	40	15	7	18	52	60	-8	52	Transferred to the Northern Premier League Division One
13	Mangotsfield United	40	14	8	18	70	70	0	50
14	Evesham United	40	15	5	20	56	57	−1	50
15	Taunton Town	40	14	8	20	50	55	−5	50
16	Yate Town	40	11	8	20	51	79	−28	42
17	Swindon Supermarine	40	10	9	21	41	69	−28	39
18	Stourport Swifts	40	9	11	20	43	62	−19	38
19	Bedworth United	40	8	12	20	39	61	−22	36
20	Cinderford Town	40	7	9	24	50	94	−44	30
21	Shepshed Dynamo	40	5	13	22	31	87	−56	28	Transferred to the Northern Premier League Division One
22	Atherstone United	40	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Club folded

Sourse:^[3]

Semifinals		Final


King's Lynn	0

Redditch United	1
		Merthyr Tydfil	0

		Redditch United	3
Merthyr Tydfil	W/O

Redditch United qualified for the Conference North

References

↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_conf/3634471.stm
↑ http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/engsouthernleaghist.html Southern League Final Tables
↑ http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/engsouthernleaghist.html Southern League Final Tables

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

2003–04 in English football

« 2002–03

2004–05 »

FA competitions

Premier League and
Football League

Premier League
Football League (First Division, Second Division, Third Division)
League Cup (Final)
Football League Trophy (Final)
Play-offs (First Division Final, Second Division Final, Third Division Final)

Football Conference

Football Conference

Lower leagues

European competitions

Related to national team

UEFA Euro 2004 (Qualification Group 7, Group B, Knockout stage)
Sven-Göran Eriksson

Club seasons

Premier League	Arsenal Aston Villa Birmingham City Blackburn Rovers Bolton Wanderers Charlton Athletic Chelsea Everton Fulham Leeds United Leicester City Liverpool Manchester City Manchester United Middlesbrough Newcastle United Portsmouth Southampton Tottenham Hotspur Wolverhampton Wanderers

First Division	Bradford City Burnley Cardiff City Coventry City Crewe Alexandra Crystal Palace Derby County Gillingham Ipswich Town Millwall Norwich City Nottingham Forest Preston North End Reading Rotherham United Sheffield United Stoke City Sunderland Walsall Watford West Bromwich Albion West Ham United Wigan Athletic Wimbledon

Second Division	Barnsley Blackpool Bournemouth Brentford Brighton & Hove Albion Bristol City Chesterfield Colchester United Grimsby Town Hartlepool United Luton Town Notts County Oldham Athletic Peterborough United Plymouth Argyle Port Vale Queens Park Rangers Rushden & Diamonds Sheffield Wednesday Stockport County Swindon Town Tranmere Rovers Wrexham Wycombe Wanderers

Third Division	Boston United Bristol Rovers Bury Cambridge United Carlisle United Cheltenham Town Darlington Doncaster Rovers Huddersfield Town Hull City Kidderminster Harriers Leyton Orient Lincoln City Macclesfield Town Mansfield Town Northampton Town Oxford United Rochdale Scunthorpe United Southend United Swansea City Torquay United Yeovil Town York City

Football Conference	Accrington Stanley Aldershot Town Barnet Burton Albion Chester City Dagenham & Redbridge Exeter City Farnborough Town Forest Green Rovers Gravesend & Northfleet Halifax Town Hereford United Leigh RMI Margate Morecambe Northwich Victoria Scarborough Shrewsbury Town Stevenage Borough Tamworth Telford United Woking

Others	AFC Wimbledon Gateshead Newport County