AFC Totton
AFC TOTTON WELCOME new signing Harvey Rew to the Snows Stadium, having signed the 21-year-old defender from divisional rivals Gosport Borough.
Rew was born in Gosport in September 2002 and educated at Brune Park Community School. As a child, he played for the now-defunct Gosport FC, before joining Portsmouth’s youth ranks as an Under-12. He progressed through the Pompey ranks to sign his first professional contract as a 17-year-old in October 2019, and he made his senior debut in the same week in an EFL Trophy match against Oxford United. By then, he had already been capped nine times by Wales at U16 and U17 levels.
A natural left-footer who stands at 6’2”, Rew is equally comfortable operating in central defence or at left-back, and has also frequently been deployed as a defensive midfielder. His former Pompey boss Kenny Jackett described him as having “a lovely left foot and is a nice passer.”
When his two-year contract expired in 2021, Rew trained with Shaun Gale’s Gosport Borough team to keep himself fit for trials at West Ham United, Southampton, Sheffield United, Brighton & Hove Albion and Millwall. But when those trials failed to produce a firm contract offer, he followed in his father’s footsteps by signing for his hometown club; Ian Rew was a long-serving centre-half who skippered Gosport to the Wessex League title in 2006/07. Rew Jr.’s arrival at Privett Park formally reunited him with his former Portsmouth Academy teammates Harry Kavanagh, Matt Casey and Bradley Lethbridge.
In his first season with the club, Rew helped Boro’ to a 10th place finish in the Southern League Premier Division South in 2021/22, and to 17th in 2022/23. In the recently completed 2023/24 season, Rew scored Gosport’s second goal in their 2-0 home victory over AFC Totton in September – one of five league goals he scored during the course of the campaign. He was an unused substitute in the late-January return match at the Snows Stadium, and came on as a late sub during Gosport’s last-gasp defeat to Salisbury in the Promotion Play-Off Semi-Final at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium at the beginning of May.
“I watched Harvey a couple of times two seasons ago and again a few times last year, when he was playing for Gosport Borough. He scored against us in the game at their place early in the campaign, but then injury disrupted his season not long after that.
“I believe he is one of the best young talents in this league, so once I discovered that there was a genuine possibility of signing him, I was keen to get the deal done as quickly as possible and I’d like to thank Gosport for their cooperation in getting everything sorted out so efficiently. Harvey is keen to come here and play, to prove how good he is, and to kick on in his career. He has bags of potential and I’m really looking forward to seeing him in a Totton shirt.”
By Ben Rochey-Adams
