1972–73 Southern Football League

The 1972–73 Southern Football League season was the 70th in the history of the league, an English football competition.

Kettering Town won the championship, winning their third Southern League title, whilst Atherstone Town, Grantham, Maidstone United and Tonbridge were all promoted to the Premier Division. Eight Southern League clubs applied to join the Football League at the end of the season, but none were successful.

Premier Division

The Premier Division consisted of 22 clubs, including 18 clubs from the previous season and four new clubs:

League table
Southern Football League
Premier Division
Season1972–73
ChampionsKettering Town
RelegatedBurton Albion
Poole Town
Ramsgate
Waterlooville
Matches played462
Goals scored1,236 (2.68 per match)
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GR Pts Promotion or relegation
1 Kettering Town 42 20 17 5 74 44 1.682 57
2 Yeovil Town 42 21 14 7 67 31 2.161 56
3 Dover 42 23 9 10 61 38 1.605 55
4 Chelmsford City 42 23 7 12 75 43 1.744 53
5 Worcester City 42 20 13 9 68 47 1.447 53
6 Weymouth 42 20 12 10 72 51 1.412 52
7 Margate 42 17 15 10 80 60 1.333 49
8 Bedford Town 42 16 15 11 43 36 1.194 47
9 Nuneaton Borough 42 16 14 12 51 41 1.244 46
10 Telford United 42 12 20 10 57 47 1.213 44
11 Cambridge City 42 14 15 13 64 53 1.208 43
12 Wimbledon 42 14 14 14 50 50 1.000 42
13 Barnet 42 15 11 16 60 59 1.017 41
14 Romford 42 17 5 20 51 65 0.785 39
15 Hillingdon Borough 42 16 6 20 53 59 0.898 38
16 Dartford 42 12 11 19 49 63 0.778 35
17 Folkestone 42 11 11 20 41 72 0.569 33
18 Guildford City 42 10 11 21 59 84 0.702 31
19 Ramsgate 42 9 13 20 35 61 0.574 31 Relegated to Division One South
20 Poole Town 42 10 10 22 50 88 0.568 30
21 Burton Albion 42 9 7 26 43 81 0.531 25 Relegated to Division One North
22 Waterlooville 42 4 16 22 33 63 0.524 24 Relegated to Division One South
Source: fchd.com rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal ratio.

Division One North

Division One North consisted of 22 clubs, including 13 clubs from the previous season and nine new clubs:

  • Plus:
    • Enderby Town, joined from the Leicestershire Senior League
    • Grantham, joined from the Midland League
    • Merthyr Tydfil, relegated from the Premier Division

At the end of the season Lockheed Leamington was renamed AP Leamington.

League table
Southern Football League
Division One North
Season1972–73
ChampionsGrantham
PromotedAtherstone Town
Grantham
Matches played462
Goals scored1,298 (2.81 per match)
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GR Pts Promotion or relegation
1 Grantham 42 29 8 5 113 41 2.756 66 Promoted to the Premier Division
2 Atherstone Town 42 23 11 8 82 48 1.708 57
3 Cheltenham Town 42 24 8 10 87 47 1.851 56
4 Rugby Town 42 20 10 12 60 47 1.277 50 Resigned from the league
5 Kidderminster Harriers 42 19 12 11 67 56 1.196 50
6 Merthyr Tydfil 42 17 12 13 51 40 1.275 46
7 Corby Town 42 14 16 12 62 56 1.107 44
8 Stourbridge 42 16 11 15 70 64 1.094 43
9 Gloucester City 42 18 7 17 55 64 0.859 43
10 Bromsgrove Rovers 42 17 8 17 63 54 1.167 42
11 Redditch United 42 18 6 18 58 59 0.983 42
12 Banbury United 42 18 5 19 60 53 1.132 41
13 Wellingborough Town 42 17 7 18 58 71 0.817 41
14 King's Lynn 42 14 12 16 48 49 0.980 40
15 Lockheed Leamington 42 13 12 17 51 58 0.879 38
16 Enderby Town 42 12 14 16 50 61 0.820 38
17 Stevenage Athletic 42 12 13 17 50 63 0.794 37
18 Tamworth 42 14 8 20 45 65 0.692 36
19 Bury Town 42 13 9 20 52 69 0.754 35
20 Barry Town 42 11 10 21 39 71 0.549 32
21 Ilkeston Town 42 9 6 27 35 68 0.515 24 Resigned to the Midland League
22 Bedworth United 42 10 3 29 42 94 0.447 23
Source: fchd.com rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal ratio.

Division One South

Division One South consisted of 22 clubs, including 13 clubs from the previous season and nine new clubs:

  • Two clubs relegated from the Premier Division:

League table
Southern Football League
Division One South
Season1972–73
ChampionsMaidstone United
PromotedMaidstone United
Tonbridge
Matches played462
Goals scored1,347 (2.92 per match)
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GR Pts Promotion or relegation
1 Maidstone United 42 25 12 5 90 38 2.368 62 Promoted to the Premier Division
2 Tonbridge 42 26 7 9 70 44 1.591 59
3 Ashford Town (Kent) 42 24 7 11 90 40 2.250 55
4 Bideford 42 19 14 9 70 43 1.628 52
5 Minehead 42 20 12 10 65 47 1.383 52
6 Gravesend & Northfleet 42 22 7 13 81 55 1.473 51
7 Bath City 42 18 11 13 56 54 1.037 47
8 Wealdstone 42 16 12 14 81 61 1.328 44
9 Bletchley Town 42 14 13 15 54 51 1.059 41 Transferred to Division One North
10 Hastings United 42 14 13 15 53 53 1.000 41
11 Andover 42 15 11 16 62 70 0.886 41
12 Canterbury City 42 14 12 16 51 59 0.864 40
13 Basingstoke Town 42 14 12 16 48 57 0.842 40
14 Crawley Town 42 14 11 17 59 76 0.776 39
15 Metropolitan Police 42 15 8 19 82 75 1.093 38
16 Bexley United 42 12 14 16 54 64 0.844 38
17 Trowbridge Town 42 15 8 19 65 77 0.844 38
18 Salisbury 42 14 10 18 49 60 0.817 38
19 Bognor Regis Town 42 12 9 21 41 66 0.621 33
20 Dorchester Town 42 10 12 20 47 73 0.644 32
21 Winchester City 42 7 11 24 41 79 0.519 25 Resigned to the Hampshire League
22 Dunstable Town 42 4 10 28 38 105 0.362 18 Transferred to Division One North
Source: fchd.com rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal ratio.

Football League elections

Alongside the four League clubs facing re-election, a total of 10 non-League clubs applied for election, eight of which were Southern League clubs. All the League clubs were re-elected.[1]

Club League Votes
Colchester UnitedFootball League48
Northampton TownFootball League43
Crewe AlexandraFootball League36
DarlingtonFootball League26
Yeovil TownSouthern League14
Kettering TownSouthern League12
Wigan AthleticNorthern Premier League10
Chelmsford CitySouthern League4
Cambridge CitySouthern League1
Nuneaton BoroughSouthern League1
Telford UnitedSouthern League1
Bedford TownSouthern League0
Boston UnitedNorthern Premier League0
WimbledonSouthern League0
gollark: Bred one!
gollark: MOOOO!
gollark: `(10/62)^5` - 10 is the number of numeric digits, 62 the total number of code-able characters, and codes are 5 chars long, so the chance of getting a single digit must be multiplied by itself 5 times for an all-number.
gollark: 0.01091544768% of codes are all-number, I *think*.
gollark: I wonder why people put `DM me` in their IOU trades in <#334633989115609098>.

References
  1. A history of admission to the Football League
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