Structure of State league

The league comprises 24 teams. Over the course of a season, which runs annually from May to the following August, each team plays twice against the others in the league, once at ‘home’ and once ‘away’, resulting in each team competing in 46 games in total. Three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. The teams are ranked in the league table by points gained, then goal difference, then goals scored and then their head-to-head record for that season. In the event that two or more teams finish the season equal in all these respects, teams are separated by alphabetical order, unless a promotion, relegation, or play-off place (see below) is at stake, when the teams are separated by a play-off game, though this improbable situation has never arisen in all the years the rule has existed.

At the end of the season, the top two teams and the winner of the State League play-offs are promoted to the Afeez National League and the bottom three teams are relegated to Football League One. The State Football League play-offs is a knock-out competition for the teams finishing the season in third to sixth place with the winner being promoted to the Afeez National League. In the play-offs, the third-placed team plays against the sixth-place team and the fourth-placed team plays against the fifth-place team in two-legged semi-finals (home and away). The winners of each semi-final then compete in a single match in a Neutral ground stadium with the prize being promotion to the Afeez National League and the State League play-off trophy.