1978–79 Southern Football League

The 1978–79 Southern Football League season saw Worcester City win the Premier Division title. At the end of the season the Alliance Premier League was established as a new, national top division of non-League football. Thirteen clubs from the Premier Division joined the new league, leading to a restructuring of the Southern League for the 1979–80 season, in which it was divided solely into Midland and Southern Divisions.

Due to the forthcoming changes, there was no relegation or promotion between the Southern League's divisions, although the Premier Division clubs that remained in the Southern League had effectively been relegated one level, being placed in the Midland or Southern Divisions the following season. Several clubs left the Division One North at the end of the season to join the Northern Premier League, which had also lost clubs to the new Alliance Premier League, whilst Premier Division Atherstone Town folded.

Final tables

Premier Division

The Premier Division featured four new clubs, all of which had been promoted from the North and South Divisions the previous season:

• Bridgend Town
• Margate
• Dorchester Town
• Witney Town

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Worcester City	42	27	11	4	92	33	59	65	Left league to establish Alliance Premier League
2	Kettering Town	42	27	7	8	109	43	66	61
3	Telford United	42	22	10	10	60	39	21	54
4	Maidstone United	42	18	18	6	55	35	20	54
5	Bath City	42	17	19	6	59	41	18	53
6	Weymouth	42	18	15	9	71	51	20	51
7	AP Leamington	42	19	11	12	65	53	12	49
8	Redditch United	42	19	10	13	70	57	13	48
9	Yeovil Town	42	15	16	11	59	49	10	46
10	Witney Town	42	17	10	15	53	52	1	44	Transferred to Midland Division at end of season
11	Nuneaton Borough	42	13	17	12	59	50	9	43	Left league to establish Alliance Premier League
12	Gravesend & Northfleet	42	15	12	15	56	55	1	42
13	Barnet	42	16	10	16	52	64	−12	42
14	Hillingdon Borough	42	12	16	14	50	41	9	40	Transferred to Southern Division at end of season
15	Wealdstone	42	12	12	18	51	59	−8	36	Left league to establish Alliance Premier League
16	Atherstone Town	42	9	17	16	46	65	−19	35	Folded at end of season
17	Dartford	42	10	14	18	40	56	−16	34	Transferred to Southern Division at end of season
18	Cheltenham Town	42	11	10	21	38	72	−34	32	Transferred to Midland Division at end of season
19	Margate	42	10	9	23	44	75	−31	29	Transferred to Southern Division at end of season
20	Dorchester Town	42	7	11	24	46	86	−40	25	Transferred to Southern Division at end of season
21	Hastings United	42	5	13	24	37	85	−48	23	Transferred to Southern Division at end of season
22	Bridgend Town	42	6	6	30	39	90	−51	18	Transferred to Midland Division at end of season

Football League election

Runners-up Kettering Town were the only Southern League club to apply for election to the Football League. However, all four Football League clubs were re-elected.

Club	League	Votes
Doncaster Rovers	Football League Division Four	50
Crewe Alexandra	Football League Division Four	49
Darlington	Football League Division Four	43
Halifax Town	Football League Division Four	37
Altrincham	Northern Premier League	13
Kettering Town	Southern League	12

Division One North

Division One North featured three new clubs:

• Alvechurch (promoted from the West Midlands (Regional) League)
• Bedford Town (relegated from the Premier Division)
• Grantham (relegated from the Premier Division)

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Grantham	38	21	10	7	70	45	25	52	Left to join Northern Premier League at end of season
2	Merthyr Tydfil	38	22	7	9	90	53	37	51
3	Alvechurch	38	20	10	8	70	42	28	50
4	Bedford Town	38	19	9	10	74	49	25	47
5	King's Lynn	38	17	11	10	57	46	11	45
6	Oswestry Town	38	18	8	12	63	43	20	44	Left to join Northern Premier League at end of season
7	Gloucester City	38	18	8	12	76	59	17	44
8	Burton Albion	38	16	10	12	51	40	11	42	Left to join Northern Premier League at end of season
9	Kidderminster Harriers	38	13	14	11	70	60	10	40
10	Bedworth United	38	13	14	11	41	34	7	40
11	Tamworth	38	15	8	15	47	45	2	38	Left to join Northern Premier League at end of season
12	Stourbridge	38	15	7	16	64	61	3	37
13	Barry Town	38	14	9	15	51	53	−2	37
14	Enderby Town	38	14	8	16	46	55	−9	36
15	Banbury United	38	10	13	15	42	58	−16	33
16	Wellingborough Town	38	13	6	19	50	71	−21	32
17	Cambridge City	38	9	9	20	37	62	−25	27
18	Bromsgrove Rovers	38	6	14	18	33	61	−28	26
19	Milton Keynes City	38	7	9	22	37	87	−50	23
20	Corby Town	38	5	6	27	40	85	−45	16

Division One South

Division One South featured four new clubs:

• Dover (relegated from the Premier Division)
• Dunstable (transferred from the Midland Division)
• Gosport Borough (promoted from the Hampshire League)
• Minehead (relegated from the Premier Division)

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Dover	40	28	9	3	88	20	68	65
2	Folkestone & Shepway	40	22	6	12	84	50	34	50
3	Gosport Borough	40	19	11	10	62	47	15	49
4	Chelmsford City	40	20	7	13	65	61	4	47
5	Minehead	40	16	13	11	58	39	19	45	Transferred to Midland Division at end of season
6	Poole Town	40	15	15	10	48	44	4	45
7	Hounslow	40	16	12	12	56	45	11	44
8	Waterlooville	40	17	10	13	52	43	9	44
9	Trowbridge Town	40	15	12	13	65	61	4	42	Transferred to Midland Division at end of season
10	Aylesbury United	40	16	9	15	54	52	2	41
11	Taunton Town	40	16	9	15	53	51	2	41	Transferred to Midland Division at end of season
12	Bognor Regis Town	40	17	7	16	58	58	0	41
13	Dunstable	40	18	4	18	57	55	2	40
14	Tonbridge	40	15	10	15	43	47	−4	40
15	Salisbury	40	13	10	17	47	51	−4	36
16	Basingstoke Town	40	12	11	17	49	62	−13	35
17	Addlestone	40	12	9	19	56	64	−8	33
18	Andover	40	12	6	22	47	69	−22	30
19	Ashford Town	40	10	10	20	28	53	−25	30
20	Crawley Town	40	9	9	22	44	75	−31	27
21	Canterbury City	40	6	3	31	31	98	−67	15