1920–21 Southern Football League

The 1920–21 season was the 23rd in the history of the Southern League. League was split into two sections, one for English clubs and one for Welsh clubs.^[1] The previous season had seen all Division One clubs elected to the Football League to form the new Third Division, leaving ten of the eleven clubs from Division Two (Caerphilly, who had finished bottom of Division Two, had resigned from the league) as the sole remaining members, all of which were from Wales. As a result, the league admitted thirteen new clubs from England (nine of which were reserve teams) and one from Wales (Aberdare Athletic).^[1]

Brighton & Hove Albion reserves won the English section, whilst Barry won the Welsh section.^[1] Brighton reserves were declared Southern League champions after defeating Barry in a championship play-off; after a 1–1 draw at Millwall's Den stadium, Brighton beat Barry 2–1 after eighty minutes of extra-time in a replay at Cardiff City's Ninian Park.^[2]

Alongside Barry, five other Southern League clubs applied for election to the two places in Division Three South of the Football League. Welsh Section runners-up Aberdare Athletic and the English Section's eighth-placed club Charlton Athletic won the most votes and joined the League the following season.^[3]

English section

Southern Football League English Section
Season	1920–21
Champions	Brighton & Hove Albion II (1st title)
Promoted	Charlton Athletic
Relegated	Chatham Town (resigned) Thornycrofts (resigned)
Matches played	156
Goals scored	512 (3.28 per match)
← 1919–20 1921–22 →

All thirteen clubs in the English section were new to the league.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv¹	Pts²	Notes
1	Brighton & Hove Albion II	24	16	3	5	65	29	2.24	35
2	Portsmouth II	24	13	7	4	44	20	2.20	33
3	Millwall Athletic II	24	12	4	8	46	24	1.92	28
4	Southampton II	24	10	7	7	53	35	1.51	27
5	Boscombe	24	10	6	8	25	40	0.63	26
6	Reading II	24	11	3	10	41	34	1.21	25
7	Luton Town II	24	8	8	8	38	35	1.09	24
8	Charlton Athletic	24	8	8	8	41	41	1.00	24	Elected to the 1921-22 Football League
9	Watford II	24	9	4	11	43	45	0.96	22
10	Norwich City II	24	7	7	10	31	39	0.79	21
11	Gillingham II	24	6	5	13	32	47	0.68	17
12	Chatham Town	24	5	6	13	24	47	0.51	16	Left league at end of season
13	Thornycrofts	24	4	6	14	29	76	0.38	14	Left league at end of season

^{1 The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used up until the 1976–77 season.}

^{2 The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.}

Welsh section

Southern Football League Welsh Section
Season	1920–21
Champions	Barry
Promoted	Aberdare Athletic
Relegated	Mid Rhondda (resigned) Llanelly (resigned)
Matches played	156
Goals scored	512 (3.28 per match)
← 1919–20 1921–22 →

A total of 11 teams contest the division, including ten sides from previous season and one new team.

Newly elected teams:

Aberdare Athletic

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv¹	Pts²	Notes
1	Barry	20	13	4	3	35	12	2.92	30
2	Aberdare Athletic	20	12	3	5	29	23	1.26	27	Elected to the 1921-22 Football League
3	Ebbw Vale	20	10	5	5	34	23	1.48	25
4	Pontypridd	20	10	3	7	34	23	1.48	23
5	Mid Rhondda	20	10	3	7	26	18	1.44	23	Left league at end of season
6	Abertillery	20	8	5	7	35	24	1.46	21
7	Ton Pentre	20	7	5	8	32	34	0.94	19
8	Aberaman Athletic	20	5	7	8	30	33	0.91	17
9	Llanelly	20	7	2	11	28	46	0.61	16	Left league at end of season
10	Mardy	20	2	6	12	18	39	0.46	10
11	Porth Athletic	20	3	3	14	28	54	0.52	9

^{1 The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used up until the 1976–77 season.}

^{2 The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.}

Football League election

As Grimsby Town had been transferred from Division Three (which was to become Division Three South) to the new Division Three North, Crystal Palace had been promoted to Division Two, and no teams had been relegated from Division Two to the new Division Three South, there were two vacancies in the newly renamed division.^[3] The Arsenal representative at the Football League meeting proposed that the bottom two clubs in Division Three the previous season (Brentford and Gillingham) be re-elected automatically, a decision that was approved with only one representative against.^[3]

In total, eight non-League clubs applied, six from the Southern League, one from the Western League and one from the Welsh National League (South). Aberdare Athletic and Charlton Athletic were successful, and joined the Football League the following season.^[3]

Club	League	Votes
Aberdare Athletic	Southern League	38
Charlton Athletic	Southern League	30
Bath City	Western League
Abertillery	Southern League
Barry	Southern League
Bridgend Town	Welsh National League (South)
Pontypridd	Southern League
Aberaman Athletic	Southern League	Withdrew before vote

References

1 2 3 England – Southern League Final Tables RSSSF
↑ Barry at the Football Club History Database
1 2 3 4 A history of admission to the Football League

Southern League

Premier Division	Banbury United Basingstoke Town Biggleswade Town Cambridge City Chesham United Chippenham Town Cinderford Town Cirencester Town Dorchester Town Dunstable Town Frome Town Hayes and Yeading United Hitchin Town Kettering Town King's Langley King's Lynn Town Leamington Merthyr Town Redditch United Slough Town St Ives Town St Neots Town Stratford Town Weymouth

Division One Central	AFC Dunstable Arlesey Town Ashford Town Aylesbury Aylesbury United Barton Rovers Beaconsfield SYCOB Bedford Town Chalfont St Peter Egham Town Farnborough Fleet Town Hanwell Town Histon Kempston Rovers Kidlington Marlow Northwood Petersfield Town Potters Bar Town Royston Town Uxbridge

Division One South & West	AFC Totton Barnstaple Town Bideford Bishop's Cleeve Bridgwater Town Didcot Town Evesham United Hereford Larkhall Athletic Mangotsfield United North Leigh Paulton Rovers Salisbury Shortwood United Slimbridge Swindon Supermarine Taunton Town Tiverton Town Wantage Town Wimborne Town Winchester City 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 2015–16 2016–17

1920–21 in English football

« 1919–20

1921–22 »

FA competitions

FA Cup (Qualifying rounds
Final)
FA Charity Shield

Football League

Third Division)

Lower leagues

Related to national team

Home Championship

Club seasons

First Division	Arsenal Aston Villa Blackburn Rovers Bolton Wanderers Bradford City Bradford Park Avenue Burnley Chelsea Derby County Everton Huddersfield Town Liverpool Manchester City Manchester United Middlesbrough Newcastle United Oldham Athletic Preston North End Sheffield United Sunderland Tottenham Hotspur West Bromwich Albion

Second Division	Barnsley Birmingham Blackpool Bristol City Bury Cardiff City Clapton Orient Coventry City Fulham Hull City Leeds United Leicester City Nottingham Forest Notts County Port Vale Rotherham County South Shields Stockport County Stoke The Wednesday West Ham United Wolverhampton Wanderers

Third Division	Brentford Brighton & Hove Albion Bristol Rovers Crystal Palace Exeter City Gillingham Grimsby Town Luton Town Merthyr Town Millwall Newport County Northampton Town Norwich City Plymouth Argyle Portsmouth Queens Park Rangers Reading Southampton Southend United Swansea Town Swindon Town Watford

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