The1968–69Southern Football League season was the 66th in the history of the league, an Englishfootball competition.
Cambridge United won the championship, winning their first Southern League title, whilstBath City,Brentwood Town,Crawley Town andGloucester City were all promoted to the Premier Division. Twelve Southern League clubs applied to jointhe Football League at the end of the season, but none were successful.
The Premier Division consisted of 22 clubs, including 18 clubs from theprevious season and four new clubs, promoted from Division One:
At the end of the seasonWellington Town were renamedTelford United.
| Season | 1968–69 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Cambridge United |
| Relegated | Bedford Town Cheltenham Town Guildford City Rugby Town |
| Matches | 462 |
| Goals | 1,325 (2.87 per match) |
1969–70 → | |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cambridge United | 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 | 1.040 | 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 | 42 | 15 | 5 | 22 | 55 | 64 | 0.859 | 35 | Relegated toDivision One |
| 20 | Bedford Town | 42 | 11 | 12 | 19 | 46 | 63 | 0.730 | 34 | |
| 21 | Rugby Town | 42 | 10 | 6 | 26 | 38 | 83 | 0.458 | 26 | |
| 22 | Guildford City | 42 | 7 | 11 | 24 | 41 | 73 | 0.562 | 25 |
Division One consisted of 22 clubs, including 18 clubs from theprevious season and four new clubs:
Also, at the end of the previous seasonFolkestone Town was renamed Folkestone.
| Season | 1968–69 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Brentwood Town |
| Promoted | Bath City Brentwood Town Crawley Town Gloucester City |
| Matches | 462 |
| Goals | 1,485 (3.21 per match) |
1969–70 → | |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brentwood Town | 42 | 26 | 12 | 4 | 94 | 37 | 2.541 | 64 | Promoted to thePremier Division |
| 2 | Bath City | 42 | 26 | 10 | 6 | 96 | 40 | 2.400 | 62 | |
| 3 | Gloucester City | 42 | 25 | 9 | 8 | 100 | 53 | 1.887 | 59 | |
| 4 | Crawley Town | 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 (Kent) | 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 | 0.500 | 26 | |
| 21 | Gravesend & Northfleet | 42 | 8 | 9 | 25 | 51 | 79 | 0.646 | 25 | |
| 22 | Tonbridge | 42 | 2 | 6 | 34 | 36 | 137 | 0.263 | 10 |
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]