New For 26/27 - Welcome

​A quick look at the new teams in the Southern Region Football League for the forthcoming season. Welcome, one and all. Looking forward to catching some of your games in the coming months and, n some cases, visiting some brand news grounds.

​Chesham United (Premier League)
United will be making a return to the Southern Region structure after almost a decade in the National League. They won the Southern Region Premier League in the 2017-18 season after completing the prefect campaign, winning all sixteen games and conceding just eight goals in total, and only one at home. Their best National League finish was in their third season, when they were runners-up in Division One South-West. After their move into the South-East section their fortunes waned somewhat, culminating in last season's relegation. They'll start the season as one of the favourites for the Premier League title.

​Finchampstead (Division One North)
Finchampstead were promoted from the third tier of the Thames Valley League at the end of the 2023-24. They went straight up to the top flight, finishing in a very creditable third position, behind Larkspur Rovers and Oxford City Dev. Last season they won 15 of their 16 league outings, only losing out to Eversley & California, on their way to winning the title by seven points.

​Barton United (Division One North)
Making their Step 6 debut, Barton United have climbed steadily through the Thames Valley Leagues in the past few years. They won Division 3 West in 2022, following that up with the Division 2 title in 2024. A season of consolidation in the top flight, ending in a fourth spot finish, was then followed by last season's runners-up slot behind Finchampstead.

​AFC Portchester Reserves (Division One South)
Demonstrating the strength in depth down on the south coast, Portchy's Reserves will take their place in the Southern Region Division One South, following in the footsteps of their first team. They'll be on a high after last season's trophy haul. Despite ending the Hampshire League campaign in second, below Shanklin, Portchester picked up the County Cup, defeating Millbrook on penalties, and the PDFA Plate, where they saw off Denmead in the final.

​Bognor Regis Town (Division One South)
The Rockettes make a lateral move from the London & South East Regional League, where they achieved a third place finish last season. This followed their runners-up spot the season before. They'll take their place in Division One South, alongside Havant & Waterlooville, who they met in the FA Cup last season. Two goals from Chelsie Hay, before he move to Winchester, saw the Hawks triumph 5-3 on the day.

​Millbrook (Division One South)
After winning Division 2 of the Hampshire League in the 2023-24 season, Millbrook took to Division One well, finishing fourth in the following year. They followed that up with a third place finish last season after some impressive results, including knocking the league champions out of the cup and going the season undefeated at home in the league.

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​Finally, with the new season approaching and the weekly SoReg Review planned to get under way a few weeks before the opening day, I would really like to establish modes of communications with every team. X has always been the chosen social media platform, but the engagement has begun to wane over the years (cheers Elon). Whilst it will not be going away, I am also going to be publicising posts and blogs through Facebook and Instagram. It would be good to get feedback from every team's media admins about how they plan to communicate during the season. In the background, it would be fantastic to establish an old-fashioned email link too. The mail address [email protected] is monitored constantly and can be used for any offline comms.