Southern Football League 2016–17

The 2016–17 season was the 114th in the history of the Southern League since its establishment in 1894. From the 2014–15 season onwards, the Southern League is known as Evo-Stik League Southern, following a sponsorship deal with Evo-Stik.

The league constitution was announced on 12 May 2016.

Premier Division

Southern Football League Premier Division 2016–17
Season information
Season statistics
← 2015–16	2017–18 →

On 12 May 2016 league constitution was announced. Later, Cinderford Town, who were originally promoted to the Southern Football League Premier Division as champions of Division One South & West declined promotion due to financial concerns. On 27 May it was confirmed that Cinderford Town remains in Division One South & West. As a consequence, a team with best record among relegated ones at level 7 - Stamford - were reprieved from relegation. Corby Town, whom were originally placed to the Premier Division, were transferred to Southern Football League to get the vacated place.

On 14 June 2016, Evesham United, who had been transferred from the Southern League Division One South & West to the Northern Premier League First Division South due to Cinderford's refusal to accept promotion, had an appeal against the decision to transfer them leagues heard by the Football Association. On 15 June 2016, they were informed they were successful in their appeal, meaning they would stay in their original league. The knock on effect of this was Cinderford Town were forced to take promotion to the Southern Football League Premier Division. This meant that Corby Town were placed back in the Northern Premier League Premier Division for the 2016-17 season.

Thus, the Premier Division will feature six new clubs:

• Banbury United, promoted as play-off winners in Division One South & West
• Basingstoke Town, relegated from National League South
• Cinderford Town, promoted from NPL Division One South
• Hayes & Yeading United, relegated from National League South
• Kings Langley, promoted as champions of Division One Central
• St Ives Town, promoted as play-off winners in Division One Central

League table

2016–17 Southern Football League Premier Division table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Chippenham Town  (C) (P)	46	31	10	5	94	46	+48	103	Promotion to the National League North/South
2	Leamington	46	27	11	8	74	32	+42	92	Qualification for Premier Division play-offs
3	Merthyr Town	46	25	14	7	92	42	+50	89
4	Hitchin Town	46	24	14	8	79	45	+34	86
5	Slough Town	46	26	7	13	84	56	+28	85
6	Banbury United	46	24	8	14	67	40	+27	80
7	Biggleswade Town	46	21	11	14	85	59	+26	74
8	Frome Town	46	20	14	12	80	67	+13	74
9	Kettering Town	46	21	10	15	84	66	+18	73
10	Weymouth	46	16	18	12	79	58	+21	66
11	Chesham United	46	18	10	18	67	62	+5	64
12	Basingstoke Town	46	18	8	20	65	72	−7	62
13	King's Lynn Town	46	14	18	14	60	69	−9	60
14	Stratford Town	46	13	17	16	64	66	−2	56
15	St Ives Town	46	15	11	20	49	70	−21	56
16	Dunstable Town	46	16	6	24	46	65	−19	54
17	Redditch United	46	13	11	22	54	75	−21	50
18	Dorchester Town	46	12	12	22	52	80	−28	48
19	St Neots Town	46	14	6	26	66	101	−35	48
20	Kings Langley	46	11	14	21	57	72	−15	47
21	Cambridge City  (R)	46	12	11	23	46	72	−26	47	Relegation to Division One Central or Division One South & West
22	Cirencester Town  (R)	46	11	9	26	54	92	−38	42
23	Hayes & Yeading United  (R)	46	10	11	25	48	81	−33	41
24	Cinderford Town  (R)	46	8	3	35	49	106	−57	27

Updated to games played on 22 April 2017
Source: SFL official site
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round; (Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament

Stadia and locations

Team	Stadium	Capacity
Banbury United	Spencer Stadium	2,000
Basingstoke Town	The Camrose	6,000
Biggleswade Town	The Carlsberg Stadium	3,000
Chesham United	The Meadow	5,000
Chippenham Town	Hardenhuish Park	2,815
Cinderford Town	Causeway Ground	3,500
Cirencester Town	Corinium Stadium	4,500
Dorchester Town	The Avenue Stadium	5,009
Dunstable Town	Creasey Park	3,200
Frome Town	Badgers Hill	2,000
Hitchin Town	Top Field	4,000
Kettering Town	Latimer Park (groundshare with Burton Park Wanderers)	2,400
King's Lynn Town	The Walks	5,733
Kings Langley	Gaywood Park	1,000
Leamington	New Windmill Ground	3,000
Merthyr Town	Penydarren Park	10,000
Redditch United	The Valley	5,000
Slough Town	Holloways Park (groundshare with Beaconsfield Town)	3,500
St Ives Town	Westwood Road	2,000
St Neots Town	New Rowley Park	3,500
Stratford Town	DCS Stadium	1,400
Weymouth	Bob Lucas Stadium	6,600

Division One Central

Southern Football League Division One Central 2016–17
Season information
Season statistics
← 2015–16	2017–18 →

On 12 May 2016 league constitution was announced. Three Division One Central clubs were moved to the parallel divisions: AFC Rushden & Diamonds were transferred to Northern Premier League Division One South, Godalming Town were transferred to Isthmian League Division One South and Ware were transferred to Isthmian League Division One North.

Thus, Division One Central will feature seven new clubs:

• AFC Dunstable, promoted as champions of the Spartan South Midlands League
• AFC Kempston Rovers, promoted as champions of the United Counties League
• Ashford Town, promoted as runners-up in the Combined Counties League
• Farnborough, demoted from the Isthmian League Premier Division
• Histon, relegated from the Premier Division
• Kidlington, champions of the Hellenic League
• Marlow, transferred from Division One South & West

League table

2016–17 Southern Football League Division One Central table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Royston Town  (C) (P)	42	32	6	4	121	48	+73	102	Promotion to the Premier Division
2	Farnborough	42	28	6	8	96	51	+45	90	Qualification for Division One South & West play-offs
3	Barton Rovers	42	23	8	11	91	66	+25	77
4	Marlow	42	23	8	11	65	43	+22	77
5	Egham Town	42	20	14	8	79	51	+28	74
6	Kempston Rovers	42	21	10	11	82	61	+21	73
7	AFC Dunstable	42	21	8	13	85	53	+32	71
8	Bedford Town	42	18	13	11	76	58	+18	67
9	Potters Bar Town	42	16	14	12	71	61	+10	62
10	Ashford Town	42	17	8	17	73	71	+2	59
11	Kidlington	42	18	5	19	70	79	−9	59
12	Hanwell Town	42	16	10	16	64	65	−1	58
13	Aylesbury United	42	16	7	19	58	68	−10	55
14	Fleet Town	42	13	11	18	72	81	−9	50
15	Arlesey Town	42	14	8	20	55	69	−14	50
16	Beaconsfield SYCOB	42	13	9	20	81	85	−4	48
17	Uxbridge	42	13	8	21	67	80	−13	47
18	Chalfont St Peter	42	14	5	23	49	77	−28	47
19	Aylesbury	42	12	8	22	54	75	−21	44
20	Northwood	42	9	12	21	57	88	−31	39
21	Histon  (R)	42	9	7	26	54	93	−39	34	Relegation to Level 9
22	Petersfield Town  (R)	42	2	3	37	32	127	−95	9

Source: SFL official site
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round; (Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament

Stadia and locations

Team	Stadium	Capacity
AFC Dunstable	Creasey Park (groundshare with Dunstable Town)	3,500
AFC Kempston Rovers	Hillgrounds Leisure	2,000
Arlesey Town	Hitchin Road	2,920
Ashford Town	Robert Parker Stadium	2,550
Aylesbury	Haywood Way	1,300
Aylesbury United	The ASM Stadium (groundshare with Thame United)	2,000
Barton Rovers	Sharpenhoe Road	4,000
Beaconsfield Town	Holloways Park	3,500
Bedford Town	The Eyrie	3,000
Chalfont St Peter	Mill Meadow	1,500
Egham Town	The Runnymede Stadium	5,565
Farnborough	Paddy Power Park	4,000
Fleet Town	Calthorpe Park	2,000
Hanwell Town	Reynolds Field	3,000
Histon	Bridge Road	4,300
Kidlington	Yarnton Road	1,500
Marlow	Alfred Davis Memorial Ground	3,000
Northwood	Northwood Park	3,075
Petersfield Town	The Love Lane Stadium	3,000
Potters Bar Town	Parkfield	2,000
Royston Town	Garden Walk	5,000
Uxbridge	Honeycroft	3,770

Division One South & West

Southern Football League Division One South & West 2016–17
Season information
Season statistics
← 2015–16	2017–18 →

On 12 May 2016 league constitution was announced. One Division One South & West club were moved to the parallel division: Marlow were transferred to Division One Central. Later, Cinderford Town, who were originally promoted to the Premier Division as champions of Division One South & West declined promotion due to financial concerns. On 27 May it was confirmed that Cinderford Town remains in Division One South & West. As a consequence, Evesham United were transferred to the Northern Premier League Division One South to create a place for Cinderford Town.

On 14 June 2016, Evesham United, who had been transferred from the Southern League Division One South & West to the Northern Premier League First Division South due to Cinderford's refusal to accept promotion, had an appeal against the decision to transfer them leagues heard by the Football Association. On 15 June 2016, they were informed they were successful in their appeal, meaning they would stay in their original league. The knock on effect of this was Cinderford Town were forced to take promotion to the Southern Football League Premier Division.

Thus, Division One South & West will feature five new clubs:

• Barnstaple Town, promoted from the Western League
• Bideford, relegated from the Premier Division
• Hereford, champions of the Midland League
• Paulton Rovers, relegated from the Premier Division
• Salisbury, champions of the Wessex League

League table

2016–17 Southern Football League Division One South & West table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Hereford  (C) (P)	42	33	8	1	108	32	+76	107	Promotion to the Premier Division
2	Salisbury	42	29	2	11	118	52	+66	89	Qualification for Division One South & West play-offs
3	Tiverton Town	42	27	7	8	92	50	+42	88
4	Taunton Town	42	27	7	8	114	42	+72	88
5	Evesham United	42	24	8	10	88	50	+38	80
6	North Leigh	42	22	9	11	84	65	+19	75
7	Swindon Supermarine	42	21	9	12	85	57	+28	72
8	Mangotsfield United	42	21	7	14	73	69	+4	70
9	Shortwood United	42	19	5	18	65	77	−12	62
10	Bideford	42	15	12	15	61	58	+3	57
11	Wimborne Town	42	17	6	19	67	68	−1	57
12	Didcot Town	42	14	12	16	70	71	−1	54
13	Larkhall Athletic	42	13	14	15	69	69	0	53
14	Winchester City	42	16	5	21	62	70	−8	53
15	Paulton Rovers	42	15	6	21	62	69	−7	51
16	Bishop's Cleeve	42	14	8	20	66	86	−20	50
17	Barnstaple Town	42	13	6	23	52	68	−16	45
18	Yate Town	42	12	8	22	49	77	−28	44
19	Template:Fb team AFC Totton	42	10	9	23	49	86	−37	39
20	Slimbridge	42	10	7	25	47	90	−43	37
21	Wantage Town  (R)	42	4	9	29	29	110	−81	21	Relegation to Level 9
22	Bridgwater Town  (R)	42	2	4	36	23	117	−94	10

Updated to games played on 22 April 2017
Source: SFL official site
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round; (Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament

Stadia and locations

Team	Stadium	Capacity
AFC Totton	Testwood Stadium	3,000
Barnstaple Town	Mill Road	5,000
Bideford	The Sports Ground	2,000
Bishops Cleeve	Kayte Lane	1,500
Bridgwater Town	Fairfax Park	2,500
Didcot Town	Draycott Engineering Loop Meadow Stadium	3,000
Evesham United	Spiers and Hartwell Jubilee Stadium	3,000
Hereford	Edgar Street	4,913
Larkhall Athletic	The Plain Ham Ground	1,000
Mangotsfield United	Cossham Street	2,500
North Leigh	Eynsham Hall Park Sports Ground	2,000
Paulton Rovers	Athletic Field	2,500
Salisbury	Raymond McEnhill Stadium	5,000
Shortwood United	Meadowbank Ground	2,000
Slimbridge	Wisloe Road	1,500
Swindon Supermarine	Hunts Copse Ground	3,000
Taunton Town	The Viridor Stadium	2,500
Tiverton Town	Ladysmead	3,500
Wantage Town	Alfredian Park	1,500
Wimborne Town	The Cuthbury	3,250
Winchester City	The City Ground	4,500
Yate Town	Lodge Road	2,000

See also

• Southern Football League
• Isthmian League 2016–17
• Northern Premier League 2016–17

External links

• Official website