For nearly one hundred years 'The Blues' competed in local league football before becoming members of the Hellenic League in 1971. Six years later the club made the switch to the Athenian League, where they performed consistently near to the top of the table.
In 1977-78 ‘The Blues’ reached the last eight of the FA Vase and then in 1983 they went out at the semi-final stage against the eventual winners Halesowen Town. The following year they once again switched competition to join the London Spartan League, becoming champions at the first attempt.
With Hillingdon FC struggling at the time, they merged with Burnham and became known as Burnham & Hillingdon FC and taking Hillingdon's place in the Southern League, before reverting to becoming Burnham FC in 1987 while performances in the higher league dipped.
In 1995 the club was relegated back to the Hellenic League where they became one of the top performers. In 1998-99 the club were crowned as Hellenic League champions, to regain their place in the Southern League Eastern Division.
In their first season back, Burnham reached the FA Trophy Fourth Round before going out to Scarborough after a replay. Much work was carried on the clubs’ home ground of The Gore, which was once shared with Burnham Cricket Club.
Investment was put into the club as the team progressed to the first round of the FA Cup for the first time in 2005-06; going out 3-1 at home to Aldershot Town. Former England international cricketer and Test Match umpire Ian 'Gunner' Gould was the club Chairman for a short spell around this period.
The Blues reached the semi-final of the Division One South & West play-offs in 2006-07, going out to Swindon Supermarine. Burnham again reached the play-offs in 2009-10; this time in Division One Midlands, which ended in a semi-final defeat to Chesham United.
Under the managership of Martin Stone, Burnham were crowned champions of the Southern League Division One Central in 2012-13. This led to promotion to the Premier Division, which was the highest level that the club had ever achieved.
The 2014-15 season ended in relegation to Division One South & West in a season that saw Stone’s replacement, Gary Meakin, resign to be replaced by joint-managers Danny Gordon and Gareth Risbridger.
Mark Tallentire followed in the hot seat for a short while, and then after another appointment the former top flight centre back Dave Tuttle took over at the helm. The 2015-16 was a disaster and ended in a second successive relegation; this time to the Premier Division of the Hellenic League.
Former England international Luther Blissett had assisted with coaching before taking on the managers role overseeing an inexperienced squad before the ex Watford player Gifton Noel-Williams took over.
He was succeeded by joint-managers Jon Palmer and Mark Betts, as the club slumped to new depths on and off the pitch. The club was reprieved of a third successive relegation after another club; Ardley United, resigned their place.
However, there was to be no reprieve in 2017-18 as Burnham were relegated with new boss Alan Paris being replaced by Paul Shone in February 2018. Shone re-organised the team as Burnham won the Division Hellenic League Division One East title in 2018-19 to return to the Premier Division.
The Blues sat in seventh place when the 2019-20 season ended early owing to the outbreak of Coronavirus. Ashleigh James replaced Shone in August 2020 as player-manager, with his side reaching eleventh when the pandemic also curtailed the 2020-21 campaign.
James departed during the 2021-22 season as the club was transferred to Premier Division North of the Combined Counties League, prior to Manny Williams having a spell in charge of the side before he left in January 2022. Ben Murray was appointed in his place.
He took the side to fourth place and then sixth position in 2023-24.
Burnham FC will pay in the Combined Counties League Premier Division North in the 2024-25 season.
My visits
Burnham 1 Scarborough 1 (Saturday 5th February 2000) FA Trophy Fourth Round (att: 469)
I had moved to London just before Scarborough's relegation from the Football League in April 1999. The move had opened up a whole new avenue of venues to watch games at and when Boro went on a run in the Trophy I was delighted at Lord's one Monday lunchtime when the draw gave them an away draw at Burnham.
Many fellow fans were scratching their heads as to where Burnham was, let alone their playing record, but I was more than happy with the thoughts of a lie in and a relatively short journey on the train from Paddington.
The big day arrived and I met Simon Keane for a pre train livener at Paddington. We were to meet Steve Walker at Burnham station. He lived on the outskirts of Oxford at the time, so it was a short journey for him as well.
He came with the explicit instructions not to drink too much from Sarah, his girlfriend of the time. Her parents were down from Scarborough and they were due to go out for a Saturday evening meal. We wandered around trying to find a pub around midday, but there didn't seem to be much happening in the sleepy little town.
We were given some directions by a local and as we approached the hostelry Guy Watson, Frazer Armitage and Dave Cammish appeared as if by magic. We had one beer in a rather soulless family pub suited more to dining before setting off again. A local pointed us in the direction of the High Street.
We were in heaven as we found three pubs to embark on a mini pub crawl before ordering taxis to the ground. We didn't realise just how close the ground was. The drivers got an easy job from us! At the ground it was quickly apparent that plenty of Seadogs had made the journey south and we outnumbered the home fans.
The Gore was a pretty basic venue. There was flat standing round all four sides, with the touchline to our left having the cricket pitch next to it. Opposite was a small seated stand. At the end by the entrance was a two storey building, which housed the changing rooms, clubhouse and a viewing balcony.
Plenty of my old pals had come down on their own mini bus. It was just like the good old days. Even better was the fact that Burnham were keen on maximising profits, so they allowed us to buy beer in plastic glasses and stand behind the goal with it. This was quite a novelty at the time to us, but an experience we would grow all too used to before the end of the decade.
Boro played pretty poorly against a limited Burnham side who played their hearts out. While the beer being freely available appealed to many, it also led to raised emotions which Boro boss Colin Addison didn't appreciate in the way of feedback as the sides trudged off after a limp first half.
Boro went ahead in the second half through an O'Sullivan own goal but the home side scored an equaliser. All the match a small gaggle of blokes stood near the clubhouse trying to wind the Boro fans up by shouting abuse and generally looking for trouble. This was not a good idea looking around at how many Seadogs were 'in ale', including Steve who seemed to have had an amnesia attack.
Sure enough when Burnham scored the abuse reached a rescendo. The reserve team, who were well behaved on the balcony celebrated as they were well entitled to. Unfortunately, a Boro fan, who will remain nameless!, thought it was them insulting us.
We were in heaven as we found three pubs to embark on a mini pub crawl before ordering taxis to the ground. We didn't realise just how close the ground was. The drivers got an easy job from us! At the ground it was quickly apparent that plenty of Seadogs had made the journey south and we outnumbered the home fans.
The Gore was a pretty basic venue. There was flat standing round all four sides, with the touchline to our left having the cricket pitch next to it. Opposite was a small seated stand. At the end by the entrance was a two storey building, which housed the changing rooms, clubhouse and a viewing balcony.
Plenty of my old pals had come down on their own mini bus. It was just like the good old days. Even better was the fact that Burnham were keen on maximising profits, so they allowed us to buy beer in plastic glasses and stand behind the goal with it. This was quite a novelty at the time to us, but an experience we would grow all too used to before the end of the decade.
Boro played pretty poorly against a limited Burnham side who played their hearts out. While the beer being freely available appealed to many, it also led to raised emotions which Boro boss Colin Addison didn't appreciate in the way of feedback as the sides trudged off after a limp first half.
Boro went ahead in the second half through an O'Sullivan own goal but the home side scored an equaliser. All the match a small gaggle of blokes stood near the clubhouse trying to wind the Boro fans up by shouting abuse and generally looking for trouble. This was not a good idea looking around at how many Seadogs were 'in ale', including Steve who seemed to have had an amnesia attack.
Sure enough when Burnham scored the abuse reached a rescendo. The reserve team, who were well behaved on the balcony celebrated as they were well entitled to. Unfortunately, a Boro fan, who will remain nameless!, thought it was them insulting us.
He appeared on the balcony and a misunderstanding took place. From my recollection one of the other lads went and got him down and offered apologies on his behalf. The game ended in a draw. Our three earlier companion's hung around for a pint in the clubhouse, while Simon and I took Steve back to the station before he could try to pour any more ale in.
It was the least I could have done for Sarah! Even on the way out the clowns continued to goad us. It was pointless by now as they could have saved themselves a lot of energy if they wanted to thump us, by just blowing us over.
We dispatched Steve and laughed how we'd love to be a fly on the wall at the meal, before we went to Paddington and decided to have some more beers. The other three were with us within the hour. I can't remember too much what went on, but looking at the photos and going by experience, we'd have talked cobblers about politics, football and pubs.
It was a lively day out to say the least. Boro won the replay six nil!
Tuesday 22nd May 2012
I woke after completing my set of seven night shifts on a beautiful lunchtime. My destination was to be the Madejski Stadium for the Reading Senior Cup Final that evening, but on route I decided it would be good to retrace my footsteps from over a decade previously and see the ground improvements at The Gore.
I got off the train from Paddington and set off on a lot longer walk than I remembered. The modern family pub had been turned into a Tesco store. The walk near the old village was very pleasant with a nice green opposite High Street. After around fourty minutes I arrived at the stadium to find bigger changes than I could have imagined.
The old area behind the goal was now the car park for the ground, conference centre and gym which formed part of the new Main Stand. The clubhouse was gone. The ground was surrounded by a modern metal grey high fence. Fortunately the entrance gate was open in the near corner.
##
The previous small seated stand was now for standing spectators. There was not too much room behind the goals. The main feature though was the new stand. It was a very impressive building with a few rows of seats in front of the facilities with a roof finishing it off.
I left the ground and walked back towards the village. I had seen a bus stop and I investigated on the way back. I love walking, but it was a long way back. A bus was due for Bracknell via Maidenhead.
For a short while I considered staying on to the end of the route and sneaking in an extra venue, but instead I got out after a lovely ride to the attractive town of Maidenhead in time for a train to Reading.
Burnham had certainly done well with The Gore. I just wished it was a bit nearer the station!
We dispatched Steve and laughed how we'd love to be a fly on the wall at the meal, before we went to Paddington and decided to have some more beers. The other three were with us within the hour. I can't remember too much what went on, but looking at the photos and going by experience, we'd have talked cobblers about politics, football and pubs.
It was a lively day out to say the least. Boro won the replay six nil!
Tuesday 22nd May 2012
I woke after completing my set of seven night shifts on a beautiful lunchtime. My destination was to be the Madejski Stadium for the Reading Senior Cup Final that evening, but on route I decided it would be good to retrace my footsteps from over a decade previously and see the ground improvements at The Gore.
I got off the train from Paddington and set off on a lot longer walk than I remembered. The modern family pub had been turned into a Tesco store. The walk near the old village was very pleasant with a nice green opposite High Street. After around fourty minutes I arrived at the stadium to find bigger changes than I could have imagined.
The old area behind the goal was now the car park for the ground, conference centre and gym which formed part of the new Main Stand. The clubhouse was gone. The ground was surrounded by a modern metal grey high fence. Fortunately the entrance gate was open in the near corner.
##
The previous small seated stand was now for standing spectators. There was not too much room behind the goals. The main feature though was the new stand. It was a very impressive building with a few rows of seats in front of the facilities with a roof finishing it off.
I left the ground and walked back towards the village. I had seen a bus stop and I investigated on the way back. I love walking, but it was a long way back. A bus was due for Bracknell via Maidenhead.
For a short while I considered staying on to the end of the route and sneaking in an extra venue, but instead I got out after a lovely ride to the attractive town of Maidenhead in time for a train to Reading.
Burnham had certainly done well with The Gore. I just wished it was a bit nearer the station!
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