2021–22 Spartan South Midlands Football League

The 2021–22 Spartan South Midlands Football League season is the 25th in the history of the Spartan South Midlands Football League, a football competition in England. The league operates three divisions, two of which are in covered in this article, the Premier Division, at Step 5 and Division One at Step 6 of the English football league system.

The league constitution for this season was based on allocations for Steps 5 and 6 that were announced by The Football Association on 18 May 2021, and were subject to appeal.[1][2]

After the abandonment of the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England, numerous promotions were decided on a points per game basis over the previous two seasons.[3][4][5]

Premier Division
Spartan South Midlands
Football League
Premier Division
Season2021–22

At the end of the previous season, eight teams left the Premier Division:

The remaining 13 teams, together with the following, formed the Premier Division for 2021–22:

Cockfosters, initially allocated to this division from the Essex Senior League, successfully appealed and the transfer was rescinded.[6]

Premier Division table

Prior to the first match(es) being played the Pos column shows alphabetic sequence of teams rather than league position.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation
1 Risborough Rangers 16 13 3 0 48 10 +38 42 Promotion to Step 4
2 Leighton Town 21 12 5 4 52 23 +29 41 Promotion to Step 4 or qualification for inter-step play-offs[lower-alpha 1]
3 New Salamis 17 13 1 3 49 18 +31 40
4 Harpenden Town 19 11 4 4 37 27 +10 37
5 Hadley 17 11 2 4 32 21 +11 35
6 Leverstock Green 19 10 2 7 43 28 +15 32
7 Arlesey Town 18 8 3 7 34 36 −2 27
8 Aylesbury Vale Dynamos 19 8 2 9 38 40 −2 26
9 Flackwell Heath 16 8 1 7 26 17 +9 25
10 London Colney 20 7 2 11 23 47 −24 23
11 Harefield United 17 6 4 7 39 29 +10 22
12 Broadfields United 15 7 1 7 25 28 −3 22
13 Milton Keynes Irish 18 6 4 8 25 28 −3 22
14 Oxhey Jets 18 6 4 8 34 50 −16 22
15 Dunstable Town 20 6 3 11 23 40 −17 21
16 Ardley United 15 6 2 7 24 17 +7 20
17 Holmer Green 18 4 2 12 23 60 −37 14
18 Tring Athletic 18 3 4 11 19 35 −16 13
19 Baldock Town 15 3 1 11 15 30 −15 10 Possible relegation to Step 6[lower-alpha 2]
20 Crawley Green 18 2 4 12 22 47 −25 10 Relegation to Step 6
Updated to match(es) played on 7 December 2021. Source: FA Full Time
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) number of matches won; 5) head-to-head results[9]
Notes:
  1. The 10 runners-up from Step 5 with the most points per game (PPG) will be automatically promoted. The remaining six runners-up will contest one-off inter-step play-off matches with six next-to-bottom clubs with the lowest PPG from the eight divisions at Step 4 at the end of the 2021–22 season. The winner of each match will rise to or stays in Step 4 for the 2022–23 season, while each loser will drop to or remains in Step 5.[7]
  2. Twelve clubs with the most PPG out of 16 that are second-from-bottom in Step 5 will be reprieved.[8]

Division One
Spartan South Midlands
Football League
Division One
Season2021–22

At the end of the previous season, eight teams left Division One:

The remaining nine teams, together with the following, will form Division One for 2021–22:

Division One table

Prior to the first match(es) being played the Pos column shows alphabetic sequence of teams rather than league position.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation
1 Stotfold 19 15 1 3 57 16 +41 46 Promotion to Step 5
2 Winslow United 16 14 1 1 62 13 +49 43 Qualification for the play-offs
3 Ampthill Town 18 11 3 4 47 31 +16 36
4 Buckingham Athletic 19 11 2 6 41 24 +17 35
5 Bedford 19 10 4 5 53 38 +15 34
6 Long Crendon 18 10 3 5 50 24 +26 33
7 Wellingborough Whitworth 17 10 2 5 52 33 +19 32
8 Thame Rangers 21 9 4 8 35 41 −6 31
9 Northampton Sileby Rangers 19 9 3 7 47 38 +9 30
10 Rushden & Higham United 19 8 3 8 27 44 −17 27
11 Langford 18 8 1 9 33 37 −4 25
12 Letchworth Garden City Eagles 18 7 3 8 27 31 −4 24
13 Shefford Town & Campton 14 7 1 6 37 23 +14 22
14 Penn & Tylers Green 17 5 7 5 41 30 +11 22
15 Kidlington Development 16 6 2 8 25 41 −16 20
16 Raunds Town 20 5 3 12 31 53 −22 18
17 London Tigers 20 5 1 14 24 60 −36 16
18 Amersham Town 19 4 2 13 28 49 −21 14 Possible relegation to feeder leagues
19 Burton Park Wanderers 17 1 4 12 20 57 −37 7
20 Irchester United 20 1 2 17 15 69 −54 5
Updated to match(es) played on 4 December 2021. Source: FA Full-Time
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) number of matches won; 5) head-to-head results[9]

References
  1. "We have provided an update on NLS allocations at Steps 3-6 for the 2021-22 season". The Football Association. 18 May 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  2. "Provisional constitution for 2021-22 season". 23 May 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  3. "Coronavirus: All football below National League to end". BBC Sport. 26 March 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  4. "FA provides update on NLS Steps 3-6". The Football Association. 24 February 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  5. "EXPROAINED: The 2021-22 Non-League restructure". The Non-League Paper. 12 April 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  6. "Revised Premier Division Constitution As Cockfosters Win Appeal". Essex Senior Football League. 27 June 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  7. Bayliss, Ollie [@Ollie_Bayliss] (2 November 2021). "One of the other significant changes is promotion from Step 5 to Step 4. At Step 5, the best 10 second-placed teams now go up automatically. The other second-placed teams at Step 5 will play a play-off against a club third-bottom in Step 4" (Tweet). Retrieved 4 December 2021 – via Twitter.
  8. Bayliss, Ollie [@Ollie_Bayliss] (2 November 2021). "As a result of gaps in the non-league pyramid, the FA has clarified its position on promotions & relegations this season: ♦ Just 1 club per division will be relegated from the National League North & South ♦ Just 9 [recte 8] Step 3 clubs will be relegated (rather than 16 [recte 15])" (Tweet). Retrieved 4 December 2021 – via Twitter.
  9. "The FA Handbook 2020/2021 Part 29 Standardised Rules Section 12.2". The FA.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.