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
Bath City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Bath, Somerset, England. The club is affiliated to the Somerset FA and currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club have ...
won the championship, whilst
Clacton Town,
Romford
Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romfo ...
,
Folkestone Town and
Guildford City were all promoted to the Premier Division. Eleven Southern League clubs applied to join
the Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...
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
Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...
.
League table
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
Margate is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay and Westbrook.
The town has been a significan ...
**
Ramsgate Athletic
**
Sittingbourne
Sittingbourne is an industrial town in Kent, south-east England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and next to the Swale, a strip of sea separa ...
**
Tunbridge Wells United
*Plus:
**
Hinckley Athletic, from the
Birmingham & District League
**
Romford
Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romfo ...
, from the
Isthmian League
League table
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
Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...
were elected at the expense of
Gateshead.
A history of admission to the Football League
/ref>
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:1959-60 Southern Football League
Southern Football League seasons
S