The Southern League was the top-flight

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

league for clubs in the majority of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

from 1970. It was formed as the counterpart to the clubs in Scotland and the north of England called the

Northern League Northern League may refer to: Sport Baseball * Northern League (baseball, 1902–71), a name used by several minor leagues that operated in the upper midwestern U.S. and Manitoba from 1902 to 1971 * Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010), an indep ...

. In 1978, its southern-based clubs broke away and formed the Inter-City League and the remaining clubs continued as the Southern League, known also as the

English League North The English League North was the top-flight ice hockey league in northern England from 1978, when it alongside the English League South it replaced the Southern League. In 1982, it was replaced by the British Hockey League, running on a nation ...

in 1981-82. A Second or "B" Division and a junior league was also contested in most seasons.

Champions

*1970-71: Sussex Senators *1971-72: Sussex Senators *1972-73: Altrincham Aces *1973-74:

Streatham Redskins Streatham IHC (formerly Streatham Redskins and RedHawks) is a British ice hockey club based in Streatham, London, England. Amongst the oldest British ice hockey teams still in existence, they were founded in 1932 as Streatham, and added the na ...

*1974-75:

*1975-76:

*1976-77:

*1977-78:

Solihull Barons The Solihull Barons are an English ice hockey team from the town of Solihull who play at Solihull Ice Rink on Hobs Moat Road. The current team, which is the third incarnation of the Barons, was formed in 2005; they are named after the original ...

Notes

Sussex Senators were coached by ex Paisley player Scot - Joe Conway led the senators on their first season. All games played away as there was no home rink. Brighton was a silver blades rink for figure skating. Players such as Mike O'Brien, Jim Thomson, John Rost and John Baxter played during the two seasons that Senators won the league.

References

{{British Ice Hockey seasons Defunct ice hockey leagues in the United Kingdom Sports leagues established in 1970 1970 establishments in England 1978 disestablishments in England Southern England