# 1959–60 Southern Football League

The 1959–60 Southern Football League season was the 57th in the history of the league, an English football competition.
The league split into a Premier Division and Division One, the first time the league had had two hierarchical divisions since 1919–20. Bath City won the championship, whilst Clacton Town, Romford, Folkestone Town and Guildford City were all promoted to the Premier Division. Eleven Southern League clubs applied to join the Football League at the end of the season, but none were successful.

## Premier Division

Premier Division was formed at the end of the previous season, with eleven top clubs from both North-West and South-East divisions joined.
At the end of the season Headington United was renamed Oxford United.

### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Bath City | 42 | 32 | 3 | 7 | 116 | 50 | 2.320 | 67 | |
| 2 | Headington United | 42 | 23 | 8 | 11 | 78 | 61 | 1.279 | 54 | |
| 3 | Weymouth | 42 | 22 | 9 | 11 | 93 | 69 | 1.348 | 53 | |
| 4 | Cheltenham Town | 42 | 21 | 6 | 15 | 82 | 68 | 1.206 | 48 | |
| 5 | Cambridge City | 42 | 18 | 11 | 13 | 81 | 72 | 1.125 | 47 | |
| 6 | Chelmsford City | 42 | 19 | 7 | 16 | 90 | 70 | 1.286 | 45 | |
| 7 | Bedford Town | 42 | 21 | 3 | 18 | 97 | 85 | 1.141 | 45 | |
| 8 | King's Lynn | 42 | 17 | 11 | 14 | 89 | 78 | 1.141 | 45 | |
| 9 | Boston United | 42 | 17 | 10 | 15 | 83 | 80 | 1.038 | 44 | |
| 10 | Wisbech Town | 42 | 17 | 10 | 15 | 81 | 84 | 0.964 | 44 | |
| 11 | Yeovil Town | 42 | 17 | 8 | 17 | 81 | 73 | 1.110 | 42 | |
| 12 | Hereford United | 42 | 15 | 12 | 15 | 70 | 74 | 0.946 | 42 | |
| 13 | Tonbridge | 42 | 16 | 8 | 18 | 79 | 73 | 1.082 | 40 | |
| 14 | Hastings United | 42 | 16 | 8 | 18 | 63 | 77 | 0.818 | 40 | |
| 15 | Wellington Town | 42 | 13 | 11 | 18 | 63 | 78 | 0.808 | 37 | |
| 16 | Dartford | 42 | 15 | 7 | 20 | 64 | 82 | 0.780 | 37 | |
| 17 | Gravesend & Northfleet | 42 | 14 | 8 | 20 | 69 | 84 | 0.821 | 36 | |
| 18 | Worcester City | 42 | 13 | 10 | 19 | 72 | 89 | 0.809 | 36 | |
| 19 | Nuneaton Borough | 42 | 11 | 11 | 20 | 64 | 78 | 0.821 | 33 | Relegated to Division One |
| 20 | Barry Town | 42 | 14 | 5 | 23 | 78 | 103 | 0.757 | 33 | Relegated to Division One |
| 21 | Poole Town | 42 | 10 | 8 | 24 | 69 | 96 | 0.719 | 28 | Relegated to Division One |
| 22 | Kettering Town | 42 | 9 | 10 | 23 | 60 | 90 | 0.667 | 28 | Relegated to Division One |

## Division One

Division One was formed at the end of the previous season with clubs finished below eleventh place in North-West and South East divisions joined. Also, Division One featured ten new clubs:
* Eight clubs from the disbanded Kent League:
** Ashford Town (Kent)
** Bexleyheath & Welling
** Dover
** Folkestone Town
** Margate
** Ramsgate Athletic
** Sittingbourne
** Tunbridge Wells United
* Plus:
** Hinckley Athletic, from the Birmingham & District League
** Romford, from the Isthmian League

### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Clacton Town | 42 | 27 | 5 | 10 | 106 | 69 | 1.536 | 59 | Promoted to the Premier Division |
| 2 | Romford | 42 | 21 | 11 | 10 | 65 | 40 | 1.625 | 53 | Promoted to the Premier Division |
| 3 | Folkestone Town | 42 | 23 | 5 | 14 | 93 | 71 | 1.310 | 51 | Promoted to the Premier Division |
| 4 | Exeter City II | 42 | 23 | 3 | 16 | 85 | 62 | 1.371 | 49 | Left the league |
| 5 | Guildford City | 42 | 19 | 9 | 14 | 79 | 56 | 1.411 | 47 | Promoted to the Premier Division |
| 6 | Sittingbourne | 42 | 20 | 7 | 15 | 66 | 56 | 1.179 | 47 | |
| 7 | Margate | 42 | 20 | 6 | 16 | 88 | 77 | 1.143 | 46 | |
| 8 | Trowbridge Town | 42 | 18 | 9 | 15 | 89 | 78 | 1.141 | 45 | |
| 9 | Cambridge United | 42 | 18 | 9 | 15 | 71 | 72 | 0.986 | 45 | |
| 10 | Yiewsley | 42 | 16 | 11 | 15 | 83 | 71 | 1.169 | 43 | |
| 11 | Bexleyheath & Welling | 42 | 16 | 11 | 15 | 85 | 77 | 1.104 | 43 | |
| 12 | Merthyr Tydfil | 42 | 16 | 10 | 16 | 63 | 65 | 0.969 | 42 | |
| 13 | Ramsgate Athletic | 42 | 16 | 8 | 18 | 84 | 85 | 0.988 | 40 | |
| 14 | Ashford Town (Kent) | 42 | 14 | 12 | 16 | 61 | 70 | 0.871 | 40 | |
| 15 | Tunbridge Wells United | 42 | 17 | 5 | 20 | 77 | 74 | 1.041 | 39 | |
| 16 | Hinckley Athletic | 42 | 14 | 8 | 20 | 62 | 75 | 0.827 | 36 | |
| 17 | Gloucester City | 42 | 13 | 9 | 20 | 56 | 84 | 0.667 | 35 | |
| 18 | Dover | 42 | 14 | 6 | 22 | 59 | 85 | 0.694 | 34 | |
| 19 | Kidderminster Harriers | 42 | 14 | 6 | 22 | 59 | 97 | 0.608 | 34 | Switched to the Birmingham & District League |
| 20 | Corby Town | 42 | 15 | 3 | 24 | 75 | 91 | 0.824 | 33 | |
| 21 | Burton Albion | 42 | 11 | 10 | 21 | 52 | 79 | 0.658 | 32 | |
| 22 | Rugby Town | 42 | 10 | 11 | 21 | 67 | 91 | 0.736 | 31 | |

## Football League elections

Eleven Southern League clubs (including Guildford City and Romford from Division One) applied for election to the Football League. Although none were successful, Peterborough United were elected at the expense of Gateshead.
| Club | League | Votes |
| Oldham Athletic | Football League | 39 |
| Peterborough United | Midland League | 35 |
| Hartlepools United | Football League | 34 |
| Southport | Football League | 29 |
| Gateshead | Football League | 18 |
| Headington United | Southern League | 10 |
| Chelmsford City | Southern League | 3 |
| Bedford Town | Southern League | 2 |
| Cambridge City | Southern League | 2 |
| Guildford City | Southern League | 2 |
| New Brighton | Lancashire Combination | 2 |
| Romford | Southern League | 2 |
| Scarborough | Midland League | 2 |
| Worcester City | Southern League | 2 |
| Ellesmere Port Town | Cheshire League | 1 |
| Kettering Town | Southern League | 1 |
| Morecambe | Lancashire Combination | 1 |
| South Shields | Midland League | 1 |
| Hereford United | Southern League | 0 |
| King's Lynn | Southern League | 0 |
| Yeovil Town | Southern League | 0 |