1956–57 Southern Football League

The 1956–57 Southern Football League season was the 54th in the history of the league, an English football competition.

No new clubs had joined the league for this season so the league consisted of 22 clubs from previous season. Kettering Town were champions, winning their first Southern League title. Five Southern League clubs applied to join the Football League at the end of the season, but none were successful. At the end of the season Welsh FA refused to sanction Llanelly's stay in the Southern League, the club left the league after seven years and switched to the Welsh football pyramid.

League table

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Southern Football League
Season1956–57
ChampionsKettering Town
Matches played462
Goals scored1,613 (3.49 per match)
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GR Pts Results
1 Kettering Town 42 28 10 4 106 47 2.255 66
2 Bedford Town 42 25 8 9 89 52 1.712 58
3 Weymouth 42 22 10 10 92 71 1.296 54
4 Cheltenham Town 42 19 15 8 73 46 1.587 53
5 Gravesend & Northfleet 42 21 11 10 74 58 1.276 53
6 Lovells Athletic 42 21 7 14 99 84 1.179 49
7 Guildford City 42 18 11 13 68 49 1.388 47
8 Hereford United 42 19 8 15 96 60 1.600 46
9 Headington United 42 19 7 16 64 61 1.049 45
10 Gloucester City 42 18 8 16 74 72 1.028 44
11 Hastings United 42 17 9 16 70 58 1.207 43
12 Worcester City 42 16 10 16 81 80 1.013 42
13 Dartford 42 16 10 16 79 88 0.898 42
14 Chelmsford City 42 16 9 17 73 85 0.859 41
15 Tonbridge 42 14 12 16 74 65 1.138 40
16 Yeovil Town 42 14 11 17 83 85 0.976 39
17 Bath City 42 15 8 19 56 78 0.718 38
18 Exeter City II 42 10 10 22 52 89 0.584 30
19 Merthyr Tydfil 42 9 11 22 72 95 0.758 29
20 Barry Town 42 6 11 25 39 84 0.464 23
21 Kidderminster Harriers 42 7 10 25 60 83 0.723 20[a]
22 Llanelly 42 5 8 29 39 123 0.317 18 Left the league
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal ratio.
Notes:
  1. ^ Kidderminster Harriers were deducted four points.

Football League elections

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Five Southern League clubs applied for election to the Football League. However, none were successful as all four League clubs were re-elected.[1]

Club League Votes
Norwich City Football League 48
Tranmere Rovers Football League 48
Crewe Alexandra Football League 47
Swindon Town Football League 42
Peterborough United Midland League 7
Bedford Town Southern League 1
Burton Albion Birmingham & District League 1
Wigan Athletic Lancashire Combination 1
Headington United Southern League 0
Kettering Town Southern League 0
King's Lynn Midland League 0
Morecambe Lancashire Combination 0
Nelson Lancashire Combination 0
North Shields North Eastern League 0
Worcester City Southern League 0
Yeovil Town Southern League 0

References

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