1977–78 Southern Football League

The 1977–78 Southern Football League season was the 75th in the history of the league, an English football competition.

Bath City won the championship, winning their second Southern League title, whilst Witney Town, Margate, Bridgend Town and Dorchester Town were all promoted to the Premier Division, the former two as champions. Romford folded at the end of the season.

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
Season1977–78
ChampionsBath City
RelegatedBedford Town
Dover
Grantham
Minehead
Matches played462
Goals scored1,136 (2.46 per match)
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion or relegation
1 Bath City 42 22 18 2 83 32 +51 62
2 Weymouth 42 21 16 5 64 36 +28 58
3 Maidstone United 42 20 11 11 59 41 +18 51
4 Worcester City 42 20 11 11 67 50 +17 51
5 Gravesend & Northfleet 42 19 11 12 57 42 +15 49
6 Kettering Town 42 18 11 13 58 48 +10 47
7 Barnet 42 18 11 13 63 58 +5 47
8 Wealdstone 42 16 14 12 54 48 +6 46
9 Telford United 42 17 11 14 52 45 +7 45
10 Nuneaton Borough 42 15 14 13 38 36 +2 44
11 Dartford 42 14 15 13 57 65 −8 43
12 Yeovil Town 42 14 14 14 57 49 +8 42
13 Hastings United 42 15 9 18 49 60 −11 39
14 Cheltenham Town 42 12 14 16 43 52 −9 38
15 Hillingdon Borough 42 13 9 20 45 54 −9 35
16 Atherstone Town 42 10 15 17 41 56 −15 35
17 Redditch United 42 15 5 22 40 55 −15 35
18 AP Leamington 42 11 13 18 34 57 −23 35
19 Minehead 42 11 12 19 43 48 −5 34 Relegated to Division One South
20 Dover 42 9 13 20 41 63 −22 31
21 Bedford Town 42 8 13 21 51 75 −24 29 Relegated to Division One North
22 Grantham 42 11 6 25 40 66 −26 28
Source: fchd.com rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Division One North

Division One North consisted of 20 clubs, including 18 clubs from the previous season and two new clubs:

League table
Southern Football League
Division One North
Season1977–78
ChampionsWitney Town
PromotedBridgend Town
Witney Town
Matches played380
Goals scored1,030 (2.71 per match)
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion or relegation
1 Witney Town 38 20 15 3 54 27 +27 55 Promoted to the Premier Division
2 Bridgend Town 38 20 9 9 59 45 +14 49
3 Burton Albion 38 17 11 10 48 32 +16 45
4 Enderby Town 38 17 10 11 59 44 +15 44
5 Bromsgrove Rovers 38 16 12 10 56 41 +15 44
6 Banbury United 38 17 10 11 52 47 +5 44
7 Kidderminster Harriers 38 16 11 11 58 41 +17 43
8 Merthyr Tydfil 38 18 6 14 85 62 +23 42
9 Cambridge City 38 14 12 12 56 45 +11 40
10 Barry Town 38 14 11 13 58 48 +10 39
11 Wellingborough Town 38 11 15 12 47 43 +4 37
12 King's Lynn 38 12 13 13 55 55 0 37
13 Gloucester City 38 14 8 16 68 75 −7 36
14 Corby Town 38 9 17 12 46 48 −2 35
15 Dunstable 38 11 13 14 49 59 −10 35 Transferred to the Division One South
16 Stourbridge 38 9 15 14 52 53 −1 33
17 Tamworth 38 10 11 17 37 48 −11 31
18 Bedworth United 38 8 14 16 36 58 −22 30
19 Milton Keynes City 38 5 11 22 26 74 −48 21
20 Oswestry Town 38 6 8 24 29 85 −56 20
Source: fchd.com rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Division One South

Division One South expanded up to 20 clubs, including 15 clubs from the previous season and five new clubs:

League table
Southern Football League
Division One South
Season1977–78
ChampionsMargate
PromotedDorchester Town
Margate
Matches played380
Goals scored1,107 (2.91 per match)
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion or relegation
1 Margate 38 24 10 4 92 32 +60 58 Promoted to the Premier Division
2 Dorchester Town 38 23 10 5 67 31 +36 56
3 Salisbury 38 21 10 7 60 27 +33 52
4 Waterlooville 38 19 13 6 66 36 +30 51
5 Romford 38 17 15 6 58 37 +21 49 Club folded
6 Aylesbury United 38 20 7 11 56 42 +14 47
7 Trowbridge Town 38 16 11 11 65 59 +6 43
8 Chelmsford City 38 15 11 12 58 46 +12 41
9 Folkestone & Shepway 38 16 9 13 64 56 +8 41
10 Taunton Town 38 15 10 13 57 54 +3 40
11 Addlestone 38 14 10 14 57 60 −3 38
12 Crawley Town 38 14 9 15 61 60 +1 37
13 Basingstoke Town 38 11 11 16 44 50 −6 33
14 Tonbridge Angels 38 13 5 20 64 77 −13 31
15 Ashford Town (Kent) 38 9 13 16 39 60 −21 31
16 Hounslow 38 10 10 18 43 62 −19 30
17 Bognor Regis Town 38 9 8 21 52 69 −17 26
18 Poole Town 38 8 10 20 43 68 −25 26
19 Andover 38 4 12 22 30 68 −38 20
20 Canterbury City 38 2 6 30 31 113 −82 10
Source: fchd.com rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Football League elections

At the end of the season, the bottom four of the Football League had to be re-elected to retain their place, with one club from each of the Southern League and Northern Premier League also on the ballot. Champions Bath City participated in the vote, but finished bottom. NPL club Wigan Athletic were elected to the League after beating Southport in a second round of voting.[1]

ClubLeagueFirst round votesSecond round votes
York CityFootball League Division Four49
RochdaleFootball League Division Four39
Hartlepool UnitedFootball League Division Four37
Wigan AthleticNorthern Premier League2629
SouthportFootball League Division Four2620
Bath CitySouthern League23
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gollark: I suspect that the likelihood of words gaining multiple meanings/entering common use is inversely related to their length and also complexity of pronounciation/how pretentious it sounds.
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References
  1. A history of election to the Football League
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