Third Division North and South The southern group of the Third Division was established in 1920, with the northern group following the next year. The two regional third tier leagues existed in parallel until 1958 when the national Fourth Division was established. In that era,
Walsall faced the most re-election campaigns - seven. Clubs that lost their league place during that time were
Aberdare Athletic (1927),
Durham City (1928),
Ashington (1929),
Merthyr Town (1930),
Newport County (1931),
Nelson (1931),
Gillingham (1938) and
New Brighton (1951). Geographically, all newly elected clubs were located further south than the club they replaced, a shift away from northern England to the south. Of those, Gateshead was the first to lose its league place, after only two seasons in the Fourth Division. The club had joined the Football League in 1930 and fought a successful re-election campaign in 1937. The club was convinced it would be re-elected, especially with Southport making their third consecutive re-election bid. However, on 28 May 1960, Gateshead only achieved 18 votes, with Southport the next lowest at 29. Gateshead lost their league place to Peterborough United, who were making their 21st attempt to gain entry to the Football League. Gateshead was followed ten years later by former First Division side Bradford Park Avenue. The club had been a league member since 1908 and had faced re-election five times before, being successful in 1956, 1958, 1967, 1968 and 1969. Faced with the process for the fourth year running in 1970, the club received only 17 votes and dropped out of the league while Cambridge United was voted in with 31. Unsuccessful, Wigan Athletic even achieved a higher vote then Bradford Park Avenue, reaching 18. Two seasons later, Barrow was replaced by Hereford United Workington faced two successful re-election campaigns in its first two seasons in the league but then did not have to apply again from 1953 to 1974. After three more successful campaigns in 1974, 1975 and 1976 the club's league membership came to an end on 17 June 1977 when Wimbledon received 27 votes and Workington only 21, finishing fifth in the tally. The last club to lose their Football League status through a vote was Southport, who were replaced by Wigan Athletic in 1978. Southport was tied with Wigan on 26 votes and a second round between the two was necessary which Wigan carried by nine votes. The closest any team lost their place in the Football League after Southport was voted out in 1978 up until the introduction of direct promotion for the Football League in 1986, was in 1980 when
Altrincham lost out by a single vote to
Rochdale. The following clubs had to face the re-election process during the Fourth Division era: • While not voted out, in 1962
Accrington Stanley resigned from the league and in its place
Oxford United was elected. In 1968
Port Vale was forced to face the re-election process after having been expelled that season. Between 1958 and 1986, many of the clubs who finished in the bottom four of the Fourth Division were the same ones who had been in the bottom two of the regionalised Third Division. However, several clubs more familiar with the higher reaches of English football were also faced with the re-election process. Bradford Park Avenue, who had played in the First Division during the
1914-15 season and for two seasons after the resumption of league football following
World War I, were voted out of the Football League in 1970 and replaced by
Cambridge United. Oldham Athletic, who spent nine seasons in the First Division leading up to 1923 and had been league runners-up in 1915, had to apply for re-election at the end of the first two campaigns of the new Fourth Division. Two clubs who had been successful more recently were also faced with having to apply for re-election during the final years of the system.
Blackpool, FA Cup winners in 1953 and First Division members as recently as 1971, had to apply for re-election in 1983, as did
Preston North End, who had won the first two
Football League titles in 1889 and 1890, as well as winning the FA Cup as late as 1938 and playing in the First Division as late as 1961. Hartlepool United had to apply for re-election 11 times in 28 seasons after finishing in the bottom four of the Fourth Division, but were successful every time. ==References==