Home Competitions

League Level III South

History

The Football League Division 3 South (D3S) was founded in 1920 when the old Southern League Division 1 was amalgamated in the Football League as Division 3 with the exception of Cardiff, who were elected straight to Division 2, and Grimsby, who were relegated from Division 2. It became Division 3 South the following season with the formation of a corresponding Division 3 North, with Grimsby transferring and being replaced with Charlton. With an extension to 24 teams each in 1950, the two regional sections continued until 1958 when they were reorganised as the national Division 3 and Division 4.

The list of southern champions is as follows: Bristol City (3), Charlton Athletic (2), Ipswich Town (2), Millwall (2), Notts County (2), Plymouth Argyle (2), Swansea City (2), Brentford (1), Brighton & Hove A (1), Bristol Rovers (1), Cardiff City (1), Coventry City (1), Crystal Palace (1), Fulham (1), Leyton Orient (1), Luton Town (1), Newport County (1), Norwich City (1), Nottingham Forest (1), Portsmouth (1), Queens Park Rangers (1), Reading (1), Southampton (1). Note that a number of teams played in both Division 3 South and Division 3 North (namely Coventry, Grimsby, Mansfield, Port Vale, Shrewsbury and Walsall) but none won titles in both sections.

All-time Table

There is an all-time Division 3 South table, ranked by two points per win and goal average.

Summary of Results

PL W D L GF GA GD P3/PL
TOTAL 1124 480 260 384 1892 1585 +307 1.512
HOME 562 353 107 102 1231 581 +650 2.075
AWAY 562 127 153 282 661 1004 −343 0.950

Results by Opponent

PL W D L GF GA GD P3
1 Northampton Town 52 28 10 14 103 73 +30 94
2 Exeter City 52 29 7 16 94 73 +21 94
3 Watford 52 24 8 20 90 74 +16 80
4 Newport County 48 22 12 14 85 64 +21 78
5 Southend United 52 20 14 18 90 82 +8 74
6 Swindon Town 52 20 14 18 78 74 +4 74
7 Queens Park Rangers 44 21 9 14 64 49 +15 72
8 Aldershot Town1 38 20 10 8 93 57 +36 70
9 Crystal Palace 44 18 13 13 82 54 +28 67
10 Bristol Rovers 42 19 9 14 74 59 +15 66
11 Torquay United 40 18 11 11 87 62 +25 65
12 Brighton & Hove A 52 16 17 19 81 78 +3 65
13 AFC Bournemouth2 46 18 10 18 73 63 +10 64
14 Norwich City 42 18 10 14 74 65 +9 64
15 Millwall 40 18 9 13 57 41 +16 63
16 Leyton Orient3 36 16 10 10 74 42 +32 58
17 Gillingham 42 16 8 18 62 57 +5 56
18 Bristol City 38 14 9 15 59 66 −7 51
19 Luton Town 24 13 2 9 38 37 +1 41
20 Walsall 30 11 8 11 36 38 −2 41
21 Coventry City 22 11 5 6 32 31 +1 38
22 Colchester United 16 10 1 5 40 23 +17 31
23 Cardiff City 18 8 6 4 29 24 +5 30
24 Port Vale 16 9 2 5 26 18 +8 29
25 Ipswich Town 22 9 2 11 36 40 −4 29
26 Brentford 24 8 5 11 35 40 −5 29
27 Charlton Athletic 14 6 5 3 16 13 +3 23
28 Shrewsbury Town 14 5 5 4 28 22 +6 20
29 Merthyr Town 12 5 4 3 18 12 +6 19
30 Plymouth Argyle 20 5 4 11 26 28 −2 19
31 Notts County 16 5 1 10 20 29 −9 16
32 Mansfield Town 8 4 3 1 20 11 +9 15
33 Southampton 14 4 3 7 16 26 −10 15
34 Aberdare Athletic 10 4 2 4 8 9 −1 14
35 Swansea City4 14 3 4 7 22 27 −5 13
36 Portsmouth 8 1 4 3 6 10 −4 7
37 Nottingham Forest 4 1 2 1 4 5 −1 5
38 Thames 2 1 1 0 5 1 +4 4
39 Fulham 2 1 1 0 7 5 +2 4
40 Grimsby Town 2 1 0 1 4 3 +1 3
1 includes Aldershot
2 includes Bournemouth & BA
3 includes Clapton Orient
4 includes Swansea Town

Summary of Seasons

PL W D L GF GA GD PTS
20 1920-21 (D3) 42 12 7 23 42 59 −17 31
13 1921-22 (D3S) 42 14 10 18 40 47 −7 38
19 1922-23 (D3S) 42 10 14 18 36 55 −19 34
18 1923-24 (D3S) 42 13 9 20 51 57 −6 35
14 1924-25 (D3S) 42 14 10 18 37 38 −1 38
1 1925-26 (D3S) 42 23 11 8 77 52 +25 57
2 1931-32 (D3S) 42 23 9 10 97 67 +30 55
4 1932-33 (D3S) 42 19 13 10 103 71 +32 51
3 1933-34 (D3S) 42 21 12 9 82 50 +32 54
2 1934-35 (D3S) 42 21 11 10 89 65 +24 53
3 1935-36 (D3S) 42 26 2 14 87 62 +25 54
5 1936-37 (D3S) 42 19 11 12 76 60 +16 49
6 1937-38 (D3S) 42 20 11 11 71 63 +8 51
5 1938-39 (D3S) 42 16 14 12 69 59 +10 46
9 1946-47 (D3S) 42 16 11 15 83 74 +9 43
10 1947-48 (D3S) 42 15 11 16 56 58 −2 41
2 1948-49 (D3S) 42 25 5 12 77 50 +27 55
10 1949-50 (D3S) 42 17 8 17 70 64 +6 42
3 1950-51 (D3S) 46 21 15 10 88 53 +35 57
2 1951-52 (D3S) 46 29 3 14 112 60 +52 61
11 1952-53 (D3S) 46 19 8 19 69 64 +5 46
8 1953-54 (D3S) 46 20 9 17 86 73 +13 49
18 1954-55 (D3S) 46 13 15 18 65 73 −8 41
17 1955-56 (D3S) 46 15 9 22 70 79 −9 39
13 1956-57 (D3S) 46 18 9 19 80 81 −1 45
5 1957-58 (D3S) 46 21 13 12 79 51 +28 55