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Who was Gordon Brasted?
Gordon A. Brasted was born in 1933 in Burnham on Crouch. As a boy, he played for Burnham Ramblers until 19th March 1953, when he went to Arsenal, which is the other team that LR supports. He made 89 appearances, most of which were in the Eastern Counties League. His goal tally for Arsenal was 68. A cartilage problem forced him to move on to Gillingham in July 1956. Here he was able to play in the Football League. However, his knee soon forced him out of playing football, and he threw himself enthusiastically into the administration of the game.
He took Burnham Ramblers out of the Junior and Intermediate leagues into the Essex Senior League in 1985, and successfully organised a move from the traditional Wick Road ground to the beautiful Leslie Field.
He was presented with the Award of Merit by the ECFA in the 1998-99 season for 30 Years honorary service to football in Essex.
Apart from football, Gordon Brasted also played cricket, and he opened bat with Dennis Compton at Arsenal.
When he died of a heart attack at the age of 66 on Friday, 4th February 2000, he left behind him his wife Doreen and two sons. He was laid to rest in the shadow of St. Mary's Church on Thursday, 17th February 2000, and a large number of the community of Burnham on Crouch paid their last respects.
What is the Gordon Brasted Memorial Trophy?
The Gordon Brasted Memorial Trophy was introduced in the season 2001-2 to replace the Harry Fisher Cup. Since Harry Fisher was very much associated with East Ham, and East Ham merged with a Ryman club and was therefore no longer playing in the Essex Senior League, the family of Harry Fisher decided to withdraw the Harry Fisher Cup. So a replacement was needed. What better replacement could be found than the Gordon Brasted Memorial Trophy. Gordon Brasted was an enthusiastic and energetic chairman and general secretary of Burnham Ramblers, and had died in 2000.The History of the Gordon Brasted Memorial Trophy
The Gordon Brasted Memorial Trophy was first played for in the 2001-2 season, which was also Enfield Town FC's first season. The trophy has therefore never been won by anyone, at least not yet!
The very first match in this competition was played at Burnham Ramblers. This, however, was not the way it was planned. The weather obviously decided that it would be appropriate to kick-off the tournment in this way. The other matches scheduled to be played on the same day were all postponed, and Burnham Ramblers won the first match 4-2 against Ilford.
The first winners of this competition were Leyton, who beat Burnham Ramblers 3-0 in the first ever final on Saturday, 20th April, 2002.
Enfield Town's Full Record
Season 2001-2
Enfield Town did not complete a match in this competition that season. At noon on 26th January 2002, Enfield Town started a match at home to arch-rivals Leyton. Playing against the wind on a pitch which more resembled a swimming pool than a football pitch, Enfield Town were 2-0 down at half-time, when the referee quite rightly decided to abandon the match.
After the silly decision of the Foresters Essex Senior League that there should be four policemen patrolling the ground for the second attempt to play the match, Enfield Town rightly decided to withdraw from the competition. Many clubs have confirmed that the Enfield Town fans are very well-behaved, but the league committee prefers to believe the eccentric Leyton chairman, who attempted to provoke the away fans at Leyton's league match with Enfield Town.
So Enfield Town had to wait for the next season to complete a match in this trophy, and thus to honour the great man after whom it is named.
Season 2002-3
17th September, 2002
Eton Manor 1 Enfield Town 4
Enfield Town scorers: Bunn 15, 73; Clarke 16; Brotherton 68
So James Bunn is Enfield Town's top scorer in this competition with two goals.
Webmaster
This page was created by Colin Moore on 2nd January 2002.
The last update was on 18th September 2002.
My e-mail address is colin.moore@bigfoot.com
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