Football League Third Division South
The Football League Third Division South was between 1921 and 1958 - like the Football League Third Division North - within the Football League one of the two third-highest divisions in English football .
Overview
The Third Division South was created in 1921 from the Football League Third Division , which had been launched a year earlier by the Football League as a new single-track third English division. It was composed entirely of the top division of the Southern League , which de facto ended a long dispute between the Football League and the rival and ambitious Southern League. Before the start of the new Third Division, the southern English clubs had clearly been in the minority and only seven clubs (the six London clubs Arsenal , Chelsea , Clapton Orient , Fulham , Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United and Bristol City ) were in The Football League compared 37 teams from the industrial areas in the north and the central English Midlands .
With the formation of a parallel North Division in 1921, the original Third Division received the addition "South". The Third Division South went into the new season with almost the same line-up compared to the Third Division preseason. In addition to the champions and second division promoted Crystal Palace , Grimsby Town moved to the new "Northern League"; the two clubs were replaced by the newcomers Aberdare Athletic and Charlton Athletic . A strict separation of the two parallel leagues did not take place and so some clubs from the Midlands played in the Third Division South. These included, above all, Nottingham Forest and Notts County , although nearby Derby County operated in the Northern Division.
Only the master of the Third Division South could move up to the Football League Second Division above . The fight for the place in the second division was accordingly difficult and so the field of participants was relatively constant, which manifested itself in the fact that a large number of clubs completed the entire 30 seasons of the Third Division South - especially since the number of members was increased to 24 in 1950. The most prominent participants in this "Southern League" were the later English champions Ipswich Town , Nottingham Forest and Portsmouth FC . A direct sporting relegation from the Third Division South was not to be feared, but the bottom of the table as well as the penultimate of a season had to apply for a new "re-election" ("re-election") to play in the Football League - the request was in the Rule allowed.
Between 1934 and 1939, the participants of the Third Division South played their own cup competition with the Football League Third Division South Cup , with the 1939 final between Torquay United and the winner of the not yet played semi-final replay between the Queens Park Rangers and Port Vale the outbreak of the Fell victim to World War II .
In 1958, the two third leagues merged into a Football League Third Division and a new fourth-rate Football League Fourth Division .