The 1946–47 Southern Football League

Southern Football League

The Southern League is an English football competition featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs from the South West, South Central and Midlands of England and South Wales...

 season saw Gillingham

Gillingham F.C.

Gillingham Football Club is an English professional football club based in the town of Gillingham, Kent. The only Kent-based club in the Football League, they play their home matches at the Priestfield Stadium...

 win the championship. The league featured eight new clubs, including Football League members Millwall

Millwall F.C.

Millwall Football Club is an English professional football club based in South Bermondsey, south east London, that plays in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football. Founded as Millwall Rovers in 1885, the club has retained its name despite having last played in the...

, who also entered their first team in the Southern League. However, due to fixture congestion, they only played 24 matches, with the remaining fixtures all being awarded as 0-0 draws.

Final table

The eight new clubs were:

• Dartford
• Exeter City II
• Gillingham
• Gloucester City
• Gravesend & Northfleet
• Guildford City
• Merthyr Tydfil
• Millwall

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv1	Pts2	Notes
1	Gillingham Gillingham F.C. Gillingham Football Club is an English professional football club based in the town of Gillingham, Kent. The only Kent-based club in the Football League, they play their home matches at the Priestfield Stadium...	32	20	7	5	103	45	2.29	47
2	Guildford City Guildford City F.C. Guildford City Football Club is a football club based in Guildford, Surrey, England. The club was originally established in 1921, folded in 1974 and were reformed in 1996...	32	21	4	7	86	39	2.21	46
3	Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil F.C. Merthyr Tydfil Football Club was a Welsh football club based at the Penydarren Park ground in Merthyr Tydfil. In 2010 the club was liquidated and reformed under the name Merthyr Town, which was accepted into Division One of the Western League.-History:...	32	21	3	8	104	37	2.81	45
4	Yeovil Town Yeovil Town F.C. Yeovil Town F.C. are an English association football team based in Yeovil, Somerset. The club play in League One after having won the League Two championship in 2004–05...	32	19	6	7	100	49	2.04	44
5	Chelmsford City Chelmsford City F.C. Chelmsford City F.C. is an English semi-professional football club based in the town of Chelmsford, Essex. The club are currently members of the Conference South and play at the Melbourne Stadium.-Chelmsford:...	32	17	4	11	90	60	1.5	38
6	Gravesend & Northfleet	32	17	4	11	82	58	1.41	38
7	Barry Town Barry Town F.C. Barry Town FC are a football team based in Barry. They dominated the League of Wales during the 1990s, but finished bottom in 2003-04 and were relegated...	32	14	8	10	89	61	1.46	36
8	Colchester United Colchester United F.C. Colchester United Football Club is an English football club based in Colchester. The club was formed in 1937, and briefly shared their old Layer Road home with now defunct side Colchester Town who had previously used the ground from 1910....	32	15	5	12	65	60	1.08	35
9	Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town F.C. Cheltenham Town Football Club is an English football club playing in League Two, the fourth tier of English football. Founded in 1887, the team has played at four different grounds, namely Agg-Gardner's Recreation Ground, Carter's Field and now the Abbey Business Stadium, although it is more...	32	14	4	14	68	75	0.91	32
10	Millwall Millwall F.C. Millwall Football Club is an English professional football club based in South Bermondsey, south east London, that plays in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football. Founded as Millwall Rovers in 1885, the club has retained its name despite having last played in the...	32	8	13	11	59	57	1.04	29	Left league at end of season
11	Dartford Dartford F.C. Dartford F.C. are an English football club based in Dartford, Kent. After finishing as champions of the Isthmian League Division One North in the 2007–08 season, they compete in the Isthmian League Premier Division. They finished in 8th position in their first season...	32	10	5	17	71	100	0.71	25
12	Bedford Town Bedford Town F.C. Bedford Town F.C. is an English football club based in the Borough of Bedford. The club are currently members of the Southern League Premier Division and play at The New Eyrie in Cardington, a parish on the outskirts of Bedford....	32	8	8	16	63	98	0.64	24
13	Hereford United Hereford United F.C. Hereford United Football Club is an English professional football club based in the city of Hereford. Founded in 1924, they are competing in Football League Two in the 2011–12 season. Hereford have played at Edgar Street for their entire history and are nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites',...	32	8	7	17	37	85	0.44	23
14	Worcester City Worcester City F.C. Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club are currently members of the Conference North and play at St George's Lane.-History:...	32	8	6	18	55	90	0.61	22
15	Exeter City II Exeter City F.C. Exeter City Football Club is an English football club, based in Exeter, which is owned by its fans through the Exeter City Supporters Trust.The club was a member of the Football League from 1920 to 2003...	32	10	2	20	69	126	0.55	22
16	Bath City Bath City F.C. Bath City Football Club are a semi-professional football club based in Bath, Somerset. They play in the Conference National league after gaining promotion from the Conference South via the play-offs in May 2010...	32	7	7	18	52	93	0.56	21
17	Gloucester City	32	8	1	23	57	120	0.47	17

<sup>1 The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used up until the 1976-77 season.

2 The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.</sup>

Football League elections

Barry Town, Bath City, Chelmsford City, Colchester United, Gillingham, Gravesend & Northfleet, Guildford City, Merthyr Tydfil, Worcester City and Yeovil Town were amongst 27 non-League clubs to apply for election to the Football League. However, as the two clubs relegated from Division Two to the regional Division Threes were both from the south, the Football League secretary had suggested that electing new members could create an imbalance in the divisions' geographical boundaries, and that instead all four clubs (Halifax, Mansfield, Norwich and Southport) should be re-elected en bloc. This was accepted and no elections took place.