The 2020–21

Southern Combination Football League The Macron Southern Combination Football League is a football league broadly covering the counties of East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey and South West London, England. The league consists of eight divisions – three for first teams (Premier ...

season was the 96th in the history of the competition, which lies at levels 9 and 10 of the

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isl ...

. This season also marked 100 years since the league was first formed, with Eastbourne Town, Newhaven and Shoreham being the only teams still in the league to have played in the first season. The club allocations for Steps 5 and 6 were announced by

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

(The FA) for the 2020–21 season on 21 July 2020 and remained unchanged after the 2019–20 season was abandoned on 26 March due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. On 18 July 2020 the FA released a statement that football would provisionally start on 5 September subject to spectators being able to watch games. With the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

qualifying rounds starting from 1 September as midweek games to bring it in line with a November start for the First Round proper. The League Cup and the

Sussex RUR Cup The Sussex Royal Ulster Rifles Charity Cup is the original Cup which was presented to the Sussex County FA in 1897 by the Officers and men of the Royal Irish Rifles (subsequently Royal Ulster Rifles). The 1st Battalion Royal Irish Rifles won the ...

were cancelled this season with the main focus being the league season completed. Only the

Sussex Senior Challenge Cup The Sussex Senior Cup is an annual association football knock-out cup competition for men's football clubs in the English county of Sussex and is the county senior cup of the Sussex FA. Its official name is the Sussex Senior Challenge Cup. F ...

was to be played during the season.

Covid–19 impact

The season was briefly paused between Thursday 5 November and 2 December 2020 as the

UK Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

imposed a four-week lockdown on non-elite sports across England. With the lockdown ending the Counties of

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

and

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

were placed in Tier 2 and clubs held a vote with the league whether to recommence the season. The league restarted with Division Two recommencing on Saturday 5 December and the Premier and Division One recommencing on Tuesday 8 December. On Saturday 20 December, the UK Government announced that parts of the Sussex and Surrey would be placed in a new Tier 4. With

Alfold Alfold is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England on the West Sussex border. Alfold is a dispersed or polyfocal village in the Green Belt, which is buffered from all other settlements. The Greensand Way runs north of the village along th ...

, Bexhill United and Horley Town being in that tier, players and fans living in the Tier 4 area were not allowed to travel; the SCFL decided to again pause the season on 22 December with a review whether to re-start the season on 9 January 2021 which later resulted in a suspension until further notice. On 24 February 2021, the FA Alliance and Leagues committees announced that the 2020–21 would be curtailed, subject to ratification by The FA, with immediate effect. On 18 March, the Southern Combination League committee announced a supplementary cup competition to provide competitive football for their teams. Premier and Division One teams started on 10 April with Division Two teams kicked off earlier, on 3 April. The winners of each group then entered a semi-final and the final was played on or after 17 May.

Promotion, relegation and restructuring

The scheduled restructuring of non-League football took place at the end of the season. Promotions from Steps 5 to 4 and 6 to 5 were based on points per game across all matches over the two abandoned seasons (2019–20 and 2020–21), while teams were promoted to Step 6 on the basis of a subjective application process.

Premier Division

The Premier Division consisted of 20 clubs, the same as last season.

Premier Division table at time of curtailment

Results table

Results by matchday

Position by matchday

Top scorers

''Correct as of 24 February 2021''

Stadia and locations

Division One

Division One was reduced from 18 clubs to 16 after

Sidlesham Sidlesham is a small village and civil parish, on the Manhood Peninsula, five kilometres (3 miles) south of Chichester in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It has a small primary school. The area has had a prebendary since med ...

resigned during the previous season and Southwick were demoted into the

Mid Sussex Football League The Mid Sussex Football League is an association football league formed in 1900. The league is headed by the Premier Division which is at level eleven of the English football league system and member clubs are based in East Sussex, West Sussex a ...

Division One table at time of curtailment

Results table

Results by matchday

Top scorers

''Correct until 24 February 2021''

Stadia and locations

Division Two

Division Two was reduced from 15 teams to 14 after Cowfold resigned from the league last season and Angmering Village transferred to the

West Sussex Football League The West Sussex Football League is a football competition in England. It was formed in 1896. The League has eight divisions of which the highest, the Premier Division, sits at level 12 of the English football league system. It is a feeder to th ...

and featured one new club: * Charlwood, transferred from the

Promotion from this division depended on ground grading as well as league position.

League table

Results table

Results by matchday

Top scorers

Stadia and locations

Supplementry Shield

Premier Division

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

semi-final

Final

Division One

Group A

Group B

Group C

semi-final

Final

Division Two

Group A

Group B

semi-final

Final

References

External links

Southern Combination Football League
{{DEFAULTSORT:Southern Combination Football League 2020-21 2020-21 9 Southern Combination Football League, 2020-21