AFC Totton
TENACIOUS MIDFIELDER ADAM TOMASSO has left AFC Totton, after five seasons with the club.
Originally an AFC Totton youth player between 2010 and 2012, Adam then spent several seasons with Winchester City before joining the Blackfield & Langley side that went on to be crowned Southern League Division One South Champions in 2018/19. However, due to ground grading issues and subsequent financial concerns, The Watersiders resigned from the Southern League the following season to return to the Wessex League Premier Division, and Adam was among a number of players who followed manager Glenn Howes in making the short trip to the Testwood Stadium in May 2020.
After the COVID-19 pandemic cut the 2020/21 season short, Adam’s start to the 2021/22 campaign was hampered by injury and he briefly fell out of favour with Howes’ managerial successor Dan Sackman, leading to a loan spell in the Wessex League with AFC Portchester. But The Totton Terrier returned in time to get his name on the scoresheet in The Stags’ 5-0 away demolition of Concord Rangers in the Second Round of the FA Trophy on a freezing cold Saturday afternoon in late-November 2021, going on to re-establish himself in the team.
New manager Jimmy Ball named Adam as team captain three times during the end of season run-in, and selected him in the starting XI that beat Folland Sports 3-0 at St. Mary’s Stadium in May 2022, leading to Totton lifting the SDFA Southampton Senior Cup for the first time in 40 years.
Adam’s versatility and tough competitive edge proved to be crucial ingredients of the treble-winning season of 2022/23. Across 35 starts in all competitions, he lined up at right-back, left-back, centre-back and in central midfield, as The Stags sauntered to the Southern League Division One South title, claimed the Champion of Champions Super Cup and retained the Southampton Senior Cup at St. Mary’s by defeating Sholing, while he also contributed goals in away league wins at Larkhall Athletic and Wimborne Town.
Although never a prolific scorer, Adam bagged two goals in the same game in the 3-1 home win over Swindon Supermarine in September 2023, helping The Stags on their way to the Runners-Up spot in the Southern League Premier Division South. Among 41 starts in all competitions, he played the full 120 minutes as a midfielder in the extra-time victory over Bracknell Town in the Play-Off semi-final, before starting at right-back against Salisbury in the final.
Adam’s bravery and selfless determination to win the ball, block shots and give everything to the AFC Totton cause was epitomised during that end of season run-in when, with The Stags’ Play-Off participation already secured, he took a 20-yard piledriver in the face at Plymouth Parkway and then got another bloody nose from a similar incident during the 4-0 win at Dorchester Town just five days later. Such competitive commitment does not go unnoticed among teammates, and Adam was deservedly voted Players’ Player of the Year for 2023/24.
AFC Totton boss Jimmy Ball presents Adam Tomasso (right) with the Players' Player of the Year award at the end of the 2023/24 season.
In the recently completed 2024/25 campaign, Adam made 36 starts to help Totton to a second successive Runners-Up spot in the Southern League Premier Division South, reserving his only goal of the season for his return to his former club Winchester City in the 4-1 Boxing Day win. He was a starter in the dramatic Play-Off semi-final victory over Dorchester Town and stepped off the bench in the final against Gloucester City in May 2025 to shepherd The Stags safely into the National League South for the first time in the club’s history.
In total, Adam has made 187 appearances in all competitions for AFC Totton, including 151 starts, scoring seven goals.
Manager Jimmy Ball commented:
“Adam has been a brilliant player for me throughout my time here, one of those who – no matter what position I ask him to play or what role I ask him to perform – can always be relied upon to give 110-per-cent.
“I’ve always seen a bit of myself in him; he might not be the tallest but he’s as tough and as competitive as they come, and he never backs out of a challenge. We rightly pride ourselves on playing good football but Adam has been part of the glue that has made this team stick, and there have been plenty of times when he has enabled us to dig in and fight to battle our way to a result.
“I’m immensely proud of everything that we’ve achieved at this football club over the last few years, and nobody has deserved that success more than Adam. We talk about wanting to be the most professional semi-professional football club and he’s delivered on that by constantly demonstrating a fantastic attitude and working incredibly hard. It’s been a real privilege to work with him, and I wish him and his family every success in the future.”
AFC Totton would like to thank Brenda & Chad Andrews and New Forest Fencing for sponsoring Adam Tomasso throughout the 2024/25 season.
By Ben Rochey-Adams and Malcolm Tombs (Club Historian)
Images courtesy of Sayers Sports Photography (top) and Tom McKenzie (bottom).
