They`ve Played for Your Club…..AFC Totton

Continuing the series on players who have represented the current clubs in the Southern Football League.

AFC Totton came into existence due to the amalgamation of Totton FC and Totton Athletic in 1974/75.

The Stags started life in Hampshire League Division Two and that is where they remained until 1979/80 when they finish in second place behind Horndean and this saw the club promoted to Hampshire League Division One, which was then Step 4 of the non-League Pyramid.

The 1980/81 season saw the Stags win the Southampton Senior Cup. However, the achievements of the 1981/82 season will remain long in the memory of those older Stags supporters as Trevor Parker’s side unbelievably won the Hampshire League Division One title, the Russell Cotes Cup, the Southampton Senior Cup, the Echo Trophy, the Reg Mathieson Trophy, and the Hampshire Intermediate Cup!

The following 1982/83 campaign saw the club retain the Hampshire Intermediate Cup, then in 1984/85, the Stags won their second Hampshire League Division One championship in four years, finishing two points above their city rivals Sholing Sports.

In 1989/90 AFC Totton were the Wessex League Cup winners, but it took a decade for more silverware to arrive at Testwood Park and it came in the shape of the Russell Cotes Cup when they defeated Moneyfields 1-0 in the final.

The Stags won the 2002/03 Wessex League Cup, beating Eastleigh 2-1 in the final and won the competition once again in 2005/06, beating Andover 1-0 in that year’s final.

was building quite a side at Testwood Park.

Ritchie started his career at Aston Villa where he made one substitute appearance against Manchester United at the age of 19.

He then signed for Crewe Alexandra without making any first-team appearances before moving onto Waterford United and then into non-League football, playing for Bashley, Havant & Waterlooville and AFC Totton.

Ritchie joined Totton as a player before being appointed as player-manager in 2004, steering the side through promotion from the Wessex to Southern League in 2008 and then into the Southern League Premier in 2011.

Under Ritchie the Stags also enjoyed significant cup success, most notably when coming runners-up to Truro City in the FA Vase Final in 2007 – played before a record setting attendance of 36,232 at Wembley Stadium.

He left to become manager of neighbours Havant & Waterlooville at the beginning of May 2012 but was dismissed from his role 10 games into the 2012/13 season after a disastrous start saw the Hawks in the relegation zone.

In 2007/08, Totton won the Wessex Premier crown, finishing on an incredible 106 points and winning promotion to the Southern League for the first time in their history.

In 2009/10 the Stags won the Hampshire Senior Cup, beating Aldershot Town 4-0 in the final at Dean Court.

The following 2010/11 season, the club secured promotion to the Southern Premier Division by winning the Division One South & West title and also retained the Hampshire Senior Cup by beating Sholing 3-1 at St Mary’s.

The 2011/12 season will also be fondly remembered by the club’s supporters for seeing their Stags side reach the FA Cup Second Round before eventually being knocked out by then-League Two Bristol Rovers live on National TV.

The club also finished third in the league, and so entered the play-offs to gain promotion to the Conference beating Chesham United 3–2 in the semi-final, but then lost 4–2 to Oxford City in the final.

The club finished the season in the Hampshire Senior Cup final at St Mary's Stadium, but could not make it three wins in a row as they lost to Eastleigh 2–0.

After finishing mid-table in 2012/13, the club were relegated back to Division One South & West at the end of the 2013–14 season and struggled to find the form of previous years and had mid-table finishes but were enjoying a good 2020/21 campaign until the pandemic caused a second lockdown.

Stuart Ritchie`s right-hand man during his time in charge of AFC Totton and then Havant & Waterlooville was Sean New.

He was a decent defender in his playing days, having a couple of spells with Fareham Town in between stints with Basingstoke Town and Eastleigh.

It was in 2004 that New arrived at AFC Totton alongside Ritchie and together they led the club to repeated success including reaching the FA Vase Final at Wembley in 2007.

The name Mike Gosney is synonymous with the Stags.

Originally with Winchester City, he joined AFC Totton in August 2005 and a then-19-year-old Gosney played at Wembley in the Vase final and trained with AFC Bournemouth for three weeks which eventually came to nothing – he also interested Wycombe Wanderers and Southampton.

He spent a season away at Gosport Borough before returning to Testwood Park in the summer of 2014.

He made over 350 appearances for the Stags, scoring more than 150 goals.

He was rewarded with a testimonial by the Stags in 2016 and went on to play for Andover Town, Lymington Town and, most recently, Alresford Town in the Wessex League.

The goalkeeper at Wembley in May 2007 was Iain Brunnschweiler.

A former Southampton youngster, he played professional cricketer for Hampshire as a wicketkeeper/batsman from 1999 until 2003.

He scored the winning runs against Steve Waugh’s Ashes legends, during Hampshire’s first season at the Rose Bowl in 2001, before turning his hand to coaching.

He then had a six-year spell with England under-17s involved working closely with the likes of England Test star Sam Curran.

After a year as the strategic lead for talent and performance coaching at UK Coaching, a subsidiary of UK Sport, he returned to Southampton as the club’s coach development manager.

Strapping central defender Ross Bottomley had two spells with the Stags.

His first stint at Testwood Park came in 2009 after joining from Eastleigh.

He went on to play for Bashley and then re-joined Eastleigh in 2010, becoming a regular in the Spitfires Conference South side.

In the summer of 2011, he returned to Totton and played 66 times before he helped Hamble Club win the Hampshire League title in 2015/16.

He signed for Winchester City in the summer of 2016 and then joined Wessex Leaguers Lymington Town in November 2016.

He then joined Hythe & Dibden in February 2020.

Mark Osman was one of the most gifted non-League players of the 2000s in Hampshire.

Previously with Ordnance Survey FC and Totton United, he signed for the Stags in 2000.

The twinkle-toed forward lit up Wembley for AFC Totton in the 2007 FA Vase final, having scored in both Vase semi-final legs against Billingham Synthonia to get the Stags marching to Wembley to make Osman’s name forever etched in Totton football history.

His skills were lost to the game after calling time on his career after AFC Totton’s Southern Premier play-off final defeat at Oxford City in May 2012, ending a twelve-year stay with his home-town club but he came out of retirement in March 2015 to aid Totton & Eling’s Wessex Premier survival fight.

Whilst with the Stags, Osman won numerous honours as well as his Wembley visit, and was rewarded with several players` players, managers` player, committee players and supporters` player of the year awards.

He left Testwood Park having made over 400 appearances and scoring more than 150 goals for the club.

Another player to give over 11 years’ service to AFC Totton was a former striking partner of Mark Osman`s, Nathaniel Sherborne.

More than a decade of devotion is rare in modern-day football but, ironically, it was the striker’s admirable loyalty that cost him the chance to fulfill every footballer’s dream: to play on the hallowed turf of Wembley.

The Stags were progressing nicely in the 2006/07 FA Vase when then-manager Stuart Ritchie made his move for a bright, young striker from Alton Town.

But Sherborne felt it was only right and proper to see out the season with the Brewers before pinning his colours to the Stags’ mast, therefore missing Totton`s big day.

He suffered a serious leg injury during the 2012/13 pre-season and did not feature at all during that campaign.

He then spent more time on the sidelines in 2013/14 but went on to complete almost 400 appearances for the Stags, with almost 200 goals before calling time on his career at the end of the 2017/18 season.

A more recent player for AFC Totton was midfielder >strong>Adam Wilde.

Wilde, who works as a barber in Southampton, boasts a wealth of experience with the likes of Cambridge United, Cambridge City and Weymouth and was capped for England C in 2003 whilst on Worcester`s books.

He also had spells with Salisbury City, St Albans City, Eastbourne Borough, Sutton United and Farnborough.

In 2008, he joined Totton, making over 50 appearances for the Stags, prior to joining Gosport Borough’s meteoric rise to the National League South.

In November 2016, Wilde ended his seven-year, 270-appearance stay at Gosport to return to Testwood Stadium to become player/assistant manager.

However, Wilde left the Stags in March 2020 along with manager Louis Langdown after new investors came into the club.

From December 1982 until July 1983, one of the most prolific marksmen in the 1970s plied his somewhat ageing trade at Testwood Stadium.

That striker was Ted MacDougall, who, after starting out as an apprentice at Liverpool, first found his scoring boots with York City, netting 34 times in 84 games for the Minstermen in the Fourth Division.

A £10,000 move to AFC Bournemouth came in the summer of 1969 and what value that turned out to be as he netted 126 goals in just 165 appearances for the Cherries, including an amazing 9 goals in Bournemouth's 11–0 victory over Margate in the FA Cup First Round in 1971/72.

His goalscoring record soon attracted bigger clubs and in September 1972, he joined Manchester United for £200,000.

However, his stay at Old Trafford was a brief one as Tommy Docherty came in and swept a plethora of United players out of the door, including MacDougall, who joined West Ham United.

It was with Norwich City that he re-found his scoring boots, forming a lethal partnership with Phil Boyer.

He scored 51 times in 112 games for the Canaries and earned 7 full international caps for Scotland, scoring 3 times.

A move to Southampton, where the Boyer/MacDougall axis was re-united, saw him net 42 goals in 82 games for the Saints.

He had his first taste of Southern League football whilst at The Dell in a loan spell with Weymouth in 1978.

Later that year, he returned to Bournemouth, but his second spell was not as prolific as his first with 16 goals in 50 appearances, and after a brief spell at Blackpool as player-coach, he returned south to play in the Southern League with Salisbury City and Poole Town as well as Wessex Leaguers Gosport Borough.

He spent a year `down under` with Floreat Athena and St George-Budapest before returning to England and signing for Hampshire League side AFC Totton in 1982.

He finished off his playing days with a short spell back in the Southern League with Andover.

In June 1998 he re-joined Alan Ball as reserve team coach at Portsmouth but was sacked with Ball in December 1999.

MacDougall also spent time based in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was youth director of coaching with the Atlanta Silverbacks.

Formerly a trainee with Portsmouth, midfielder Carl Pettefer signed his first full contract for the club in November 1998 and went on to play in 3 senior matches for them.

He joined Exeter City on a season-long loan in October 2002, and although the season was disastrous for Exeter, who were relegated to the Conference, Pettefer was a regular in the side.

Returning to Portsmouth, he signed for Southend United in February 2004 and made 74 appearances in two seasons for the Shrimpers.

Pettefer then joined Oxford United in the summer of 2006 and again stayed for two seasons, making 62 outings and scoring one goal.

He was transfer-listed in January 2008 and was eventually released three months later.

After a successful trial with AFC Bournemouth, he signed a week-to-week contract for them for the start of the 2008/09 campaign, but only made one league appearance.

He then played for then-Conference South outfit Bognor Regis Town in 2008 but quickly moved on to sign for the Stags.

He went on to make around 230 appearances for them before leaving in 2013 and signed for Poole Town where he made another 176 appearances.

He finished off his career with another Southern Premier Division South side, Wimborne Town.

Going back to Totton`s Hampshire League days, the Stags signed goalkeeper in 1926 from Southern League Division Two (South West Section) side Andover.

Scriven was a pig farmer when he joined Division Two outfit Southampton on amateur forms in December 1929. He duly turned professional and made his debut, early the following season.

He established himself as first choice at The Dell in September 1931 and retained that status until March 1935 when he gave way to Bill Light.

When Light left for West Bromwich Albion a year later, Scriven returned, hardly missing a game until he retired at the end of the 1936/37 season and took over the Bear & Ragged Staff at Michelmarsh in the Test Valley.

Having retained his registration, Southampton gave permission for him to come out of retirement, during Easter 1938, to help out then-Western League side Salisbury City in a goalkeeping crisis.

After the War, Scriven moved to a farm just outside Marlow.

He passed away in 2001 at the age of 93.

Nottingham-born Graham Clarke came to Southampton in the close season of 1953 as an 18-year-old with an impressive pedigree, having been capped at schoolboy level and having then captained England Youth.

In defiance of his father, who wanted him to complete his apprenticeship as a motor mechanic, he signed part-time professional terms.

He was the only new arrival that summer as the club regrouped following the previous season’s relegation from Division Two.

Converting from wing-half to full-back, Clarke waited two-and-a-half seasons for his reserve debut, but in 1957/58, he made their number two shirt pretty much his own, apart for 3 games for the first team.

His opportunities at senior level were limited as Ron Davies commandeered the right-back position and at the end of the 1958/59 season, Clarke was allowed to leave The Dell.

He signed for Southern League side Ashford Town, where he spent two seasons, before moving back to his home city of Nottingham where he played for Midland League outfit Heanor Town and then rivals Arnold.

Then, moving back to Southampton, he worked for the Post Office and signed for Totton until hanging up his boots in 1969.

He passed away in Southampton in 2010, aged 74.

AFC Totton have had several international players wear the white & blue, including Ted MacDougall as mentioned earlier and their current Guadeloupe international Stephane Zubar, a goalkeeper who has actually represented THREE different countries also had a short spell with the Stags.

That`s James Baird, who started his career in his native Scotland with Livingston, Alloa Athletic and Stenhousemuir before hopping on a plane to move to the Faroe Islands, aged just 18 to play for Tvøroyrar Bóltfelag.

He returned to Scotland with Berwick Rangers and then East of Scotland League side Edinburgh United but then decided to go all the way to the Caribbean and set up a new life and new home and Tobago United.

Baird enjoyed a successful time with Tobago and also played for TT Highlanders and North East Stars as well as a season back on the Faroes with Miðvágs Bóltfelag.

He combined coaching with playing and even had a spell as technical director of the West Indies FA.

Capped by Scotland at under-17 and under-18 level, he looked like becoming a full international for the British Virgin Islands, having played 3 times for their under-23s, but red tape eventually got in the way.

In 2009, after a brief stop off in England, Baird turned out for Totton in the Southern League Division One South & West before returning to the West Indies.

His next country to ply his trade in was North America, where he turned out for Galveston Pirates, subsequently called the Galveston County Rangers, and then Central FC.

He spent six months in Iceland with Third Division side Snaefell having left Trinidad & Tobago.

As well as playing, Baird has also been technical director of MB 1905 Ladies, Trinidad & Tobago Highlanders, Navassa Island FA and Guyana United.

AFC Totton Web Site