AFC Totton
AFC TOTTON’S PLAY-OFF final-winning goal-scorer Ethan Taylor has decided to call time on his Snows Stadium tenure after more than 200 appearances for The Stags, who will be competing in the National League South in 2025/26.
The 24-year-old winger – whose father James played for the club from 2008 to 2010, and younger brother Leo was a regular in last season’s Under-23s team – was still a teenager when he made his AFC Totton debut in an FA Cup Preliminary Round tie at Binfield in September 2020. He made his Southern League Division One South bow at home to Bideford a fortnight later, and only had to wait another four days to score his first AFC Totton goal at Willand Rovers on 30 September 2020.
His pace on the wing, ability to pick-out teammates with pinpoint crosses and a keen eye for goal saw Taylor quickly establish himself as a first team regular during the second season to be disrupted by the COVID pandemic, before going on to become a firm fans’ favourite amongst the Snows Stadium faithful during one of the most consistently successful periods in the club’s entire history.
He contributed 23 goals across all competitions in the 2021/22 season, when The Stags finished just outside the Step 4 Play-Off places but lifted the Southampton Senior Cup for the first time in 40 years with a 3-0 win over Folland Sports in the St. Mary’s Stadium final, in which he was awarded Man of the Match.
Taylor certainly played his part during the all-conquering treble-winning season of 2022/23, ending the campaign as the team’s second top goal-scorer with a 22-goal haul, including several key strikes to help Totton secure the Southern League Division One South title, both goals in the 2-1 victory over Berkhamsted in the Champion of Champions Super Cup, and the third in the 3-0 thrashing of Sholing in the Southampton Senior Cup final in May 2023.
Ethan Taylor takes aim during the Southampton Senior Cup final triumph against Sholing at St. Mary's Stadium in May 2023.
Injury prompted a slow start to Taylor’s 2023/24 campaign but a more productive second half of the season saw him finish with 16 goals, including the one that took the fateful Play-Off final at home to Salisbury to a penalty shoot-out. He also bagged Totton’s fourth in the 4-1 victory over Hythe & Dibden to seal a third successive Southampton Senior Cup triumph for the club.
Taylor celebrated his 200th AFC Totton appearance at Basingstoke Town on Good Friday in April 2025, and took his goals tally for the season to 15 with the all-important winner that defeated Gloucester City in the Play-Off final in May 2025, to secure Step 2 football for the first time in The Stags’ entire 139-year history.
That historic encounter took Ethan Taylor’s AFC Totton record to a total of 204 appearances in all competitions, scoring 80 goals.
Boss Jimmy Ball commented:
“Ethan has been an important player for us over the last few years, and he has contributed a lot to the success we’ve achieved. I was keen to keep him as we move up to the National League South but despite making a couple of revised offers to the player and his representative, we were unable to persuade them that Ethan’s immediate football future lies with us.
“So, he’ll be moving on over the course of this summer. Wherever he decides to play his football next season, that team will have signed themselves an excellent young player who I have very much enjoyed working with, and I wish him every success in the rest of his football career.”
By Ben Rochey-Adams
Images courtesy of Harvey Gerring (top, left), Dave Haines Photography (top, right) and Craig Hobbs Photography (mid-article)
