49-1285: SFL may refer to: Sports leagues [ edit ] Association football [ edit ] Southern Football League , an association football league in England Geo Super Football League , an inter-city football league in Pakistan Scottish Football League , a former association football league Southern Football League (Scotland) , wartime league Sunday Football League (Lithuania) Swiss Football League Australian rules football [ edit ] Southern Football League (South Australia) Southern Football League (Tasmania) , Australia Southern Football League (Victoria) , Australia Sunday Football League , Perth, Western Australia Other sports [ edit ] Spring Football League , former American football league Stars Football League , Grand Rapids, Michigan, US Super Fight League , mixed martial arts league, India Swedish Futsal League Other uses [ edit ] Saskatchewan Federation of Labour , Canada Scandinavian Ferry Lines Sci-Fi-London ,
98-602: A 'B' section, with the winners of each section contesting a play-off for the Division Two championship. For the 1910–11 season, the league again reverted to the previous format. At the end of the 1919–20 season, the majority of the clubs in the First Division moved into the new Third Division of the Football League. The Southern League was therefore split into two sections for England and Wales, with
147-628: A Southern League to mirror the existing Northern and Midlands based Football League. However, this venture failed in the face of opposition from the London Football Association , and Woolwich Arsenal instead joined the Football League as its only representative south of Birmingham in 1893. Additionally, an amateur league, the Southern Alliance , was founded in 1892, with seven clubs from the region, but that folded after one incomplete season. Nonetheless, another attempt
196-527: A film festival in England Students for Liberty , American organization System Function Language of the ICL VME operating system Systemic functional linguistics , language as a social semiotic system Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title SFL . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
245-646: A given district, and may be little more than derbies, such as the Gloucestershire Cup , which originally included all teams in Gloucestershire , but then came to be contested as a Bristol derby . Level one in the pyramid, the top division of English football, is run by the Premier League (which gives its name to the competition in that division), the winners of which are regarded as the champions of England. Levels two to four are run by
294-586: A league in the English men's football league system. The pyramid for women's football in England runs separately into ten tiers. There are no official definitions of any level below 11 for men or below 10 for women. Any references to the structure at lower levels should not be regarded as definitive. Some England-based men's clubs play outside the English football league system . The world's first association football league, named simply The Football League ,
343-522: A nation-wide division (also called the National League ) (level 5) of 24 clubs, and is the lowest level with a single nationwide league. This division, like the four above, is a full-time professional competition, although some promoted clubs retain part-time status. There are two divisions at level 6, covering the north ( National League North ) and south ( National League South ), with 24 clubs each. Some of these clubs are full-time professional and
392-458: A pyramid of leagues, bound together by the principle of promotion and relegation . A certain number of the most successful clubs in each league can rise to a higher league, whilst those that finish the season at the bottom of their league can be sent down a level. In addition to sporting performance, promotion is usually contingent on meeting criteria set by the higher league, especially concerning appropriate facilities and finances. In theory, it
441-408: Is possible for a lowly local amateur club to achieve annual promotions and within a few years rise to the pinnacle of the English game and become champions of the Premier League . While this may be unlikely in practice (at the very least, in the short run), there certainly is significant movement within the pyramid. The top five levels contain one division each and are nationwide in scope. Below this,
490-731: The English Football League . Together, these four divisions make up what is known as "league football". The leagues below level four are classed as "non-League football", meaning they are outside the EFL. The leagues at levels five to ten comprise the National League System (NLS), and come under the direct jurisdiction of the Football Association. The top level (level 5) of the NLS is known as "step 1",
539-688: The Football League XI and the Scottish Football League XI . They won the inaugural inter-league equivalent of the British Home Championship in 1910, defeating the Football League 3–2, Scottish League 1–0 and the Irish League 4–0. In 1907, it accepted newly converted-to-Association and future Football League club Bradford , a northern club, as a member, reflecting its senior position at
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#1732773198736588-461: The Isle of Man also competing. The system has a hierarchical format with promotion and relegation between leagues at different levels, allowing even the smallest club the theoretical possibility of ultimately rising to the very top of the system, the Premier League . Below that are levels 2–4 organised by the English Football League , then the National League System from levels 5–10 administered by
637-982: The National League System (NLS), and are feeder divisions, mainly to the National League South but also to the National League North . Feeding the Premier Divisions are two regional divisions, Division One Central and Division One South, which are at step 4 of the NLS. These divisions are in turn fed by various regional leagues. The league has its administrative head office at Eastgate House in Gloucester. Professional football (and, indeed, professional sports in general) developed more slowly in Southern England than in Northern England . Professionalism
686-607: The National League System and come under the jurisdiction of The Football Association . In May 2014 The FA announced provisional plans for a new division between the English Football League and the National League which would include "B" teams of higher-level clubs. They later reneged on the plan to include Premier League "B" teams in the new division and shortly thereafter scrapped the idea altogether. The English football league system does not include
735-689: The Northern Premier League , and the top Southern clubs of the day joined the new league. In turn, the APL (renamed Football Conference in 1986 and National League in 2015) would eventually succeed in becoming a feeder to the Football League. The league lost more of its top clubs in 2004 when the Conference added two regional divisions below the existing National League , the Conference South and Conference North . In May 2017,
784-651: The South and Midlands of England, and South Wales . Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English football league system . The structure of the Southern League has changed several times since its formation in 1894 , and currently there are 87 clubs which are divided into four divisions. The Central and South Divisions are at step 3 of
833-473: The Third Division North . Of the original founder members, six – Gillingham (formerly New Brompton), Luton Town, Millwall, Reading, Southampton and Swindon Town – went on to be Football League clubs. For the next six decades, the Football League and Southern League would occasionally exchange a limited number of clubs as a result of the older league's re-election process . From 1920 onward,
882-435: The 1958–59 season the Southern League was again divided into two sections: North-Western and South-Eastern. The winners of each section contested a playoff for the Southern League championship. The following season saw the two sections merged to form a Premier Division, and a new Division One introduced. For the 1971–72 season Division One was regionalised. For the 1979–80 season, thirteen Premier Division clubs joined
931-611: The 2009–10 season, Division One Midlands was renamed Division One Central. For the 2017–18 season, the Central and South & West divisions were renamed back into East and West respectively. For the following season, the Premier Division was regionalised, becoming the South Division, and a Central Division was added. The East and West divisions were realigned into Central and South again. The 2019–20 season
980-414: The 2020–21 season the league has been sponsored by Pitching In, Entain 's grassroots sports investment programme. At the time of announcement, Entain went by its former name GVC Holdings. Under this partnership, the Southern League is marketed as one of the three Trident Leagues, alongside its Isthmian and Northern Premier counterparts. This section lists
1029-498: The English Football League are all full-time professional clubs. Before the establishment of the Premier League in 1992, the Football League, as it was called then, included all 92 clubs, in four divisions. Clubs outside the Football League were referred to as non-League clubs, and this naming continues for clubs below the four professional divisions. The top tier of non-League football is the National League . It contains
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#17327731987361078-607: The FA , and thereafter Regional feeder leagues run by relevant county FAs on an ad hoc basis. It also often happens that the Premier Division of a Regional Feeder League (Step 7 or Level 11) has its constitution given to it by the FA. They have to accept it or appeal but cannot reject it at an annual general meeting. The exact number of clubs varies from year to year as clubs join and leave leagues, merge, or fold altogether, but an estimated average of 15 clubs per division implies that more than 7,000 teams of nearly 5,300 clubs are members of
1127-576: The FA chose the Southern League to add an additional division at step 3 as part of another restructuring in the NLS; the two Premier Divisions were set at 22 clubs each. The new Central Division started playing in the 2018–19 season. The first sponsor of the Southern League was Beazer Homes who sponsored the league from 1987 to 1996. The sponsors after Beazer Homes to the present day are: Dr Martens (1996–2004), British Gas (2006–2009), Zamaretto (2009–2011), Evo-Stik (2011–2013), Calor Gas (2013–2014), Evo-Stik (2014–2019) and BetVictor (2019–2020). From
1176-761: The Midlands), Southern Football League South (which covers south and southwest of England, with one club from South Wales ) and the Isthmian League (which includes clubs from the south-east of England as well as Guernsey from the Channel Islands ). All of the leagues have Premier Divisions of 22 teams (level 7). Below these, and split by region, the Southern Football Leagues has two parallel divisions of 20 teams (level 8). The Isthmian League and Northern Premier League each have three parallel level 8 divisions of 20 teams each. Level 9 contains
1225-570: The South are now enrolled in the ranks of the Southern League". Two Southern League clubs, Southampton (in 1900 and 1902 ) and Tottenham Hotspur (in 1901 ) reached the final of the FA Cup around the turn of the twentieth century. Tottenham Hotspur remain the only club from outside the Football League (and since its inception, also the Premier League) to have won the FA Cup. Several of
1274-549: The Southern League sides began to seriously rival the Football League in the FA Cup. A preview of the 1900–01 season in the Daily News described the league as "now, without a doubt, second only in importance and the strength of its clubs to the Football League itself. With the exception of Woolwich Arsenal, who prefer to remain members of the Second Division of the Football League, all the best professional teams in
1323-401: The Southern League's status as a semi-professional league was firmly established. In 1977, Wimbledon became the last Southern League club to successfully achieve election into the Football League. With its clubs seeking a more regular means of advancing to the Football League, in 1979 the Southern League became a feeder to the new Alliance Premier League along with the Isthmian League and
1372-429: The amateur version of the game often called Sunday league football . These leagues are independent entities with no promotion or relegation involving the football pyramid. However, some Sunday league clubs have been known to join pyramid leagues if they desire to progress higher. There are also some Saturday leagues which are not officially part of the pyramid, although teams frequently leave these for pyramid leagues. At
1421-613: The best players in England moved from the Football League to the Southern League around this time, due to the restrictions on their freedom of movement and wages implemented by the Football League between 1893 and 1901, and the failed efforts of the Association Footballers' Union (the AFU) to relax the restrictions. This ended in 1910 when the League came to a reciprocal agreement with the Football League. The champions of
1470-455: The first season started and were replaced by Southampton St Mary's . Woolwich Arsenal attempted to add their reserve side to the second division but this application was refused due to the club's existing membership of The Football League. The Southern League soon became the dominant competition below The Football League in Southern and Central England, and by the turn of the century a few of
1519-513: The league the club is in, and depends on the number of Level 9 clubs participating. For instance, the 2017–18 FA Cup saw 77 teams compete from level 10 out of the 338 in total at that level. Below level 11 the pyramid becomes regional and the cups become accordingly regional. Further down the pyramid is split on a county basis, counties having their own cups accordingly. This excludes some tournaments marked "Senior Cups", which often are competitions between teams representing top professional clubs in
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1568-492: The league's formation in 1894, the following clubs have won promotion to higher levels of the English football league system - English football league system#The 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
1617-430: The levels have progressively more parallel leagues, with each covering progressively smaller geographic areas. Many leagues have more than one division. At the lower levels the existence of leagues becomes intermittent, although in some of the more densely populated areas there are leagues more than twenty layers below the Premier League. There are also leagues in various parts of the country which are not officially part of
1666-471: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SFL&oldid=1232123203 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Southern Football League The Southern League is a football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia,
1715-527: The newly formed Alliance Premier League. The Premier Division and Division One were subsequently merged, and two regional divisions formed. For the 1982–83 season, the Premier Division was re-introduced, above the regional divisions. For the 1999–2000 season, the regional divisions were renamed the Eastern and Western divisions. For the 2006–07 season, the two regional divisions were renamed Division One Midlands and Division One South & West. For
1764-685: The next (level 6) as "step 2", and so on. Until 2020, level 11 divisions were designated as "step 7", but that year were re-designated as "Regional Feeder Leagues". After the 2023–24 season, four runners-up competed in the play-offs where an additional club was guaranteed promotion from each step 5 division, with the number of relegations from each of the eight level 8 divisions remained at two as each step 4 division increased its divisional size to 22 teams. The resulting 16 vacancies at step 5 were filled by relegating only one club per level 9 division, rather than two. Ahead of 2024–25, two promotions out of each step 5 division into its step 4 counterpart remained and
1813-471: The other two sections and did not contribute to the overall championship. For the 1936–37 season, the Eastern and Western sections were merged into a single division. Additional fixtures were obtained through the Midweek Section which did not contribute to the overall championship. For the 1945–46 season, the Midweek Section was not played due to power restrictions after World War II . For
1862-429: The others are semi-professional. Below level 6, some of the stronger clubs are semi-professional, but continuing down the tiers, soon all the clubs are amateur. Next down from the National League are four regional leagues, each associated with different geographical areas, although some overlap exists. They are the Northern Premier League (which covers the north of England), Southern Football League Central (which covers
1911-479: The past winners of the Southern League. Winners to 1993 source: For the 1898–99 season, Division Two was divided into London and South-West sections, with a playoff contested between the winners of each section. For the 1899–1900 season, the league reverted to the old format, after all the members of the South-West section resigned. For the 1909–10 season, Division Two was split into an 'A' section and
1960-422: The system as they do not have formal agreements with other leagues, but are recognised at various levels by county football associations. Clubs from these leagues may, if they feel they meet the appropriate standard of play and have suitable facilities, apply to join a league which does form part of the system. The six levels immediately below the Premier League and three-level English Football League are known as
2009-602: The time. Stalybridge Celtic and Stoke also joined before the First World War. In 1920, virtually the entire top division of the Southern League was absorbed by the Football League to become that league's new Third Division . A year later the Third Division was expanded and regionalised. The Third Division clubs from the previous season became the Third Division South , with the addition of
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2058-458: The top divisions of a large group of 16 sub-regional leagues. Each of these leagues has a different divisional setup, but they all have one thing in common: there are yet more leagues below them, each covering smaller and smaller geographical levels. Being members of a league at a particular level also affects eligibility for Cup, or single-elimination, competitions. In the case of the FA Cup, entrance from Level 10 clubs depends upon ranking within
2107-421: The top is the single division of the Premier League (level 1, which is often referred to as the "top flight"), containing 20 clubs. Below the Premier League is the English Football League (EFL) (formerly 'the Football League'), which is divided into three divisions of 24 clubs each: The Championship (level 2), League One (level 3), and League Two (level 4). The 20 clubs in the Premier League and 72 clubs in
2156-461: The two leagues during this period met in the annual Charity Shield . Out of the six meetings the respective league champions had in the Shield, however, only one was won by the Southern League champions – Brighton & Hove Albion , in 1910 , and this remains their only top level national honour. Up until World War I , the league also organised several representative 'inter-league' matches, against
2205-464: The winners of each section contesting a playoff for the Southern League championship. For the 1923–24 season, the league was split into two regional sections, with the winners of each section contesting a playoff for the Southern League championship. For the 1933–34 season an extra section, the Central Section was introduced to provide additional fixtures. The Central included clubs from
2254-515: Was created in 1888 by Aston Villa 's club director William McGregor . It was dominated by those clubs who had supported professionalism. The twelve founding members were six from Lancashire ( Accrington , Blackburn Rovers , Burnley , Bolton Wanderers , Everton and Preston North End ) and six from the Midlands ( Aston Villa , Derby County , Notts County , Stoke , West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers ). The system consists of
2303-552: Was first sanctioned by The Football Association as early as 1885, but when The Football League was founded in 1888 its member clubs were based entirely in the North and Midlands , as the county football associations in the South were firmly opposed to professionalism. Woolwich Arsenal (nowadays simply Arsenal) were the first club in London to turn professional in 1891 and were one of the prime motivators behind an attempt to set up
2352-418: Was made to form the Southern League, and this time it was successful. A competition for both professional and amateur clubs was founded in 1894 under the initiative of Millwall Athletic (now simply Millwall). Initially only one division was envisaged, but such was the enthusiasm for the idea, that eventually two divisions were formed. The sixteen original founder members were: 2nd Scots Guards withdrew before
2401-429: Was terminated on 26 March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic ; the teams listed here were in first place in the standings at the time of the termination, but were not recognised as champions. The 2020–21 season was also terminated on 24 February 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic; the teams listed here were in first place in the standings at the time of the termination, but were not recognised as champions. Since
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