The1970–71Southern Football League season was the 68th in the history of the league, an Englishfootball competition.
Yeovil Town won the championship, winning their third Southern League title, whilstFolkestone,Gravesend & Northfleet,Guildford City andMerthyr Tydfil were all promoted to the Premier Division. Eight Southern League clubs applied to jointhe Football League at the end of the season, but none were successful.
At the end of the season Division One was split into divisions One North and One South with 14 new clubs joining the league.
The Premier Division consisted of 22 clubs, including 18 clubs from theprevious season and four new clubs, promoted from Division One:
| Season | 1970–71 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Yeovil Town |
| Relegated | Ashford Town (Kent) Gloucester City Kettering Town King's Lynn |
| Matches | 462 |
| Goals | 1,287 (2.79 per match) |
1971–72 → | |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yeovil Town | 42 | 25 | 7 | 10 | 66 | 31 | 2.129 | 57 | |
| 2 | Cambridge City | 42 | 22 | 11 | 9 | 66 | 38 | 1.737 | 55 | |
| 3 | Romford | 42 | 23 | 9 | 10 | 63 | 42 | 1.500 | 55 | |
| 4 | Hereford United | 42 | 23 | 8 | 11 | 71 | 53 | 1.340 | 54 | |
| 5 | Chelmsford City | 42 | 20 | 11 | 11 | 61 | 32 | 1.906 | 51 | |
| 6 | Barnet | 42 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 69 | 49 | 1.408 | 50 | |
| 7 | Bedford Town | 42 | 20 | 10 | 12 | 62 | 46 | 1.348 | 50 | |
| 8 | Wimbledon | 42 | 20 | 8 | 14 | 72 | 54 | 1.333 | 48 | |
| 9 | Worcester City | 42 | 20 | 8 | 14 | 61 | 46 | 1.326 | 48 | |
| 10 | Weymouth | 42 | 14 | 16 | 12 | 64 | 47 | 1.362 | 44 | |
| 11 | Dartford | 42 | 15 | 12 | 15 | 53 | 51 | 1.039 | 42 | |
| 12 | Dover | 42 | 16 | 9 | 17 | 64 | 63 | 1.016 | 41 | |
| 13 | Margate | 42 | 15 | 10 | 17 | 64 | 70 | 0.914 | 40 | |
| 14 | Hillingdon Borough | 42 | 17 | 6 | 19 | 61 | 68 | 0.897 | 40 | |
| 15 | Bath City | 42 | 13 | 12 | 17 | 48 | 68 | 0.706 | 38 | |
| 16 | Nuneaton Borough | 42 | 12 | 12 | 18 | 43 | 66 | 0.652 | 36 | |
| 17 | Telford United | 42 | 13 | 8 | 21 | 64 | 70 | 0.914 | 34 | |
| 18 | Poole Town | 42 | 14 | 6 | 22 | 57 | 75 | 0.760 | 34 | |
| 19 | King's Lynn | 42 | 11 | 7 | 24 | 44 | 67 | 0.657 | 29 | Relegated toDivision One North |
| 20 | Ashford Town (Kent) | 42 | 8 | 13 | 21 | 52 | 86 | 0.605 | 29 | Relegated toDivision One South |
| 21 | Kettering Town | 42 | 8 | 11 | 23 | 48 | 84 | 0.571 | 27 | Relegated toDivision One North |
| 22 | Gloucester City | 42 | 6 | 10 | 26 | 34 | 81 | 0.420 | 22 |
Division One consisted of 20 clubs, including 17 clubs from theprevious season and four new clubs, relegated from the Premier Division:
At the end of the season Division One was split into divisions One North and One South with 14 new clubs joining the league.
| Season | 1970–71 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Guildford City |
| Promoted | Folkestone Gravesend & Northfleet Guildford City Merthyr Tydfil |
| Matches | 380 |
| Goals | 1,174 (3.09 per match) |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guildford City | 38 | 22 | 10 | 6 | 76 | 36 | 2.111 | 54 | Promoted to thePremier Division |
| 2 | Merthyr Tydfil | 38 | 19 | 12 | 7 | 52 | 33 | 1.576 | 50 | |
| 3 | Gravesend & Northfleet | 38 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 74 | 42 | 1.762 | 48 | |
| 4 | Folkestone | 38 | 20 | 8 | 10 | 83 | 53 | 1.566 | 48 | |
| 5 | Burton Albion | 38 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 56 | 37 | 1.514 | 48 | Placed toDivision One North |
| 6 | Rugby Town | 38 | 17 | 14 | 7 | 58 | 40 | 1.450 | 48 | |
| 7 | Ramsgate Athletic | 38 | 20 | 5 | 13 | 83 | 54 | 1.537 | 45 | Placed toDivision One South |
| 8 | Trowbridge Town | 38 | 19 | 7 | 12 | 78 | 55 | 1.418 | 45 | |
| 9 | Bexley United | 38 | 17 | 11 | 10 | 57 | 45 | 1.267 | 45 | |
| 10 | Crawley Town | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 84 | 68 | 1.235 | 41 | |
| 11 | Hastings United | 38 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 51 | 50 | 1.020 | 38 | |
| 12 | Banbury United | 38 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 58 | 53 | 1.094 | 37 | Placed toDivision One North |
| 13 | Corby Town | 38 | 14 | 8 | 16 | 57 | 60 | 0.950 | 36 | |
| 14 | Salisbury | 38 | 13 | 7 | 18 | 56 | 60 | 0.933 | 33 | Placed toDivision One South |
| 15 | Cheltenham Town | 38 | 8 | 15 | 15 | 44 | 58 | 0.759 | 31 | Placed toDivision One North |
| 16 | Stevenage Athletic | 38 | 12 | 7 | 19 | 55 | 79 | 0.696 | 31 | |
| 17 | Tonbridge | 38 | 8 | 8 | 22 | 48 | 83 | 0.578 | 24 | Placed toDivision One South |
| 18 | Barry Town | 38 | 9 | 6 | 23 | 35 | 82 | 0.427 | 24 | Placed toDivision One North |
| 19 | Dunstable Town | 38 | 8 | 4 | 26 | 32 | 81 | 0.395 | 20 | |
| 20 | Canterbury City | 38 | 5 | 4 | 29 | 37 | 105 | 0.352 | 14 | Placed toDivision One South |
Alongside the four League clubs facing re-election, a total of 12 non-League clubs applied for election, eight of which were Southern League clubs. All League clubs were re-elected.[1]