2022–23 Spartan South Midlands Football League

The 2022–23 season was the 26th 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 12 May 2022, and were subject to appeals.^[1]

Leighton Town were champions, winning first Spartan South Midlands League title and returned to the Southern League after seven seasons in the Spartan South Midlands League. Runners-up Stotfold won inter-step play-off match and joined then achieving second straight promotion.

Premier Division

Spartan South Midlands
Football League
Premier Division

Season	2022–23
Champions	Leighton Town
Promoted	Leighton Town Stotfold
Relegated	Hoddesdon Town London Colney
Matches played	380
Goals scored	1,249 (3.29 per match)
← 2021–22 2023–24 →

The Premier Division featured twelve clubs which competed in the division last season, along with eight new clubs.

• Transferred from the Essex Senior League:
  • Cockfosters
  • Hoddesdon Town
• Transferred from the United Counties League:
  • Biggleswade United
  • Potton United
• Promoted from Division One:
  • Shefford Town & Campton
  • Stotfold
• Plus:
  • Colney Heath, relegated from the Southern League
  • St Panteleimon, transferred from the Combined Counties League

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Leighton Town	38	29	4	5	97	31	+66	91	Promoted to the Southern League
2	Stotfold	38	22	11	5	69	33	+36	77	Qualified for an inter-step play-off, then promoted to the Southern League
3	Risborough Rangers	38	23	5	10	100	56	+44	74	Transferred to the Combined Counties League
4	Dunstable Town	38	21	11	6	75	37	+38	74
5	St Panteleimon	38	19	7	12	65	55	+10	64
6	Cockfosters	38	17	13	8	74	47	+27	64
7	Leverstock Green	38	15	12	11	60	51	+9	57
8	Biggleswade United	38	16	8	14	64	70	−6	56
9	Tring Athletic	38	15	9	14	59	60	−1	54
10	Potton United	38	14	11	13	51	47	+4	53
11	Harpenden Town	38	15	8	15	56	59	−3	53
12	Crawley Green	38	16	4	18	71	65	+6	52
13	Aylesbury Vale Dynamos	38	15	4	19	67	75	−8	49
14	Ardley United	38	13	9	16	70	69	+1	48	Transferred to the Combined Counties League
15	Shefford Town & Campton	38	14	5	19	73	81	−8	47
16	Baldock Town	38	11	8	19	56	75	−19	41
17	Arlesey Town	38	8	9	21	39	66	−27	33
18	Colney Heath	38	8	6	24	34	76	−42	30
19	Hoddesdon Town	38	6	10	22	39	87	−48	28	Relegated to the Eastern Counties League
20	London Colney	38	4	4	30	30	109	−79	16	Relegated to the Combined Counties League

Source: The 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^[2]

Inter-step play-off

Dereham Town v Stotfold

29 April 2023	Dereham Town	0–2	Stotfold	Dereham
15:00		Report	Alleyne   5', 31'	Stadium: Aldiss Park Attendance: 287

Division One

Spartan South Midlands
Football League
Division One

Season	2022–23
Champions	Real Bedford
Promoted	Real Bedford Rugby Borough
Relegated	London Tigers Thame Rangers
Matches played	380
Goals scored	1,496 (3.94 per match)
← 2021–22 2023–24 →

Division One featured 14 clubs which competed in the division last season, along with six new clubs:

• Eaton Socon, promoted from the Cambridgeshire County League
• Holmer Green, relegated from the Premier Division
• Lutterworth Athletic, transferred from the United Counties League
• Moulton, promoted from the Northamptonshire Combination League
• Northampton ON Chenecks, relegated from the United Counties League
• Rugby Borough, promoted from the Leicestershire Senior League

Also, Bedford changed their name to Real Bedford.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Real Bedford	38	32	3	3	123	29	+94	99	Promoted to the Premier Division
2	Northampton ON Chenecks	38	28	6	4	102	37	+65	90	Qualified for the play-offs
3	Rugby Borough	38	26	2	10	129	53	+76	80	Qualified for the play-offs, then promoted to the United Counties League
4	Amersham Town	38	22	10	6	100	52	+48	76	Qualified for the play-offs, then transferred to the Combined Counties League
5	Northampton Sileby Rangers	38	25	1	12	109	71	+38	76	Qualified for the play-offs
6	Ampthill Town	38	21	7	10	80	47	+33	70
7	Lutterworth Athletic	38	21	4	13	82	63	+19	67	Transferred to the United Counties League
8	Moulton	38	19	4	15	97	77	+20	61
9	Winslow United	38	16	6	16	70	62	+8	54
10	Eaton Socon	38	15	9	14	60	64	−4	54
11	Burton Park Wanderers	38	13	7	18	60	75	−15	46
12	Letchworth Garden City Eagles	38	12	6	20	52	69	−17	42
13	Wellingborough Whitworth	38	11	7	20	65	92	−27	40
14	Rushden & Higham United	38	10	7	21	57	102	−45	37
15	Raunds Town	38	11	4	23	43	94	−51	37
16	Holmer Green	38	10	6	22	55	111	−56	36	Transferred to the Combined Counties League
17	Buckingham Athletic	38	7	13	18	51	97	−46	34	Merged into Buckingham
18	Langford	38	10	3	25	54	82	−28	33
19	London Tigers	38	7	6	25	57	106	−49	27	Relegated to the Middlesex County League
20	Thame Rangers	38	7	3	28	50	113	−63	24	Relegated to the Oxfordshire Senior League

Source: The 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^[2]

Play-offs

	Semi-finals					Final
	2	Northampton ON Chenecks	1 (5)
	5	Northampton Sileby Rangers	1 (4)
						2	Northampton ON Chenecks	0
						3	Rugby Borough	2
	3	Rugby Borough	4
	4	Amersham Town	0

Division Two

Spartan South Midlands
Football League
Division Two

Season	2022–23
Champions	Old Bradwell United
Promoted	Leighton Town development
Matches played	272
Goals scored	1,175 (4.32 per match)
← 2021–22 2023–24 →

Division Two featured 15 clubs which competed in the division last season, along with two new clubs:

• AFC Caddington
• Leighton Town development

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion
1	Old Bradwell United	32	27	0	5	135	28	+107	81
2	New Bradwell St Peter	32	24	1	7	96	39	+57	73
3	Leighton Town development	32	23	4	5	89	37	+52	73	Promoted to Division One
4	Totternhoe	32	21	7	4	90	41	+49	70
5	Aston Clinton	32	20	2	10	69	44	+25	62
6	Milton Keynes College Football Academy	32	16	6	10	77	59	+18	54
7	Eynesbury United	32	17	3	12	83	69	+14	54
8	Sarratt	32	14	5	13	49	54	−5	47
9	Codicote	32	13	7	12	76	60	+16	46
10	Bovingdon	32	12	6	14	64	63	+1	42
11	Berkhamsted Raiders	32	10	9	13	67	65	+2	39
12	Pitstone & Ivinghoe	32	11	5	16	74	73	+1	38
13	AFC Caddington	32	7	5	20	55	79	−24	26
14	Risborough Rangers development	32	8	2	22	48	86	−38	26	Resigned from the league
15	Tring Corinthians	32	7	4	21	37	83	−46	25
16	Buckingham United	32	6	1	25	49	114	−65	19	Merged into Buckingham
17	The 61	32	2	1	29	17	181	−164	7

Source: FA Full-Time
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

References

1. "The FA provides update on National League System club allocations at Steps 3-6". The Football Association. 12 May 2022.
2. "The FA Handbook 2022/2023 Part 29 Standardised Rules Section 12.2". The FA.