Boardman was born in
Mortimer Common,
Berkshire and joined
Crystal Palace as a trainee in June 1999, turning professional on 7 July 2000. On 22 March 2001, he joined
Woking on loan to gain some first-team experience in the
Conference, returning to Palace at the end of the season. On 23 August 2001, Boardman accompanied his Palace teammate
David Woozley to
Torquay United and began a week's trial (whilst Woozley was signed on a month's loan). However, he returned to
Selhurst Park without being registered to play for the Gulls. It later transpired that Palace had thought he was joining Torquay on loan, whereas Torquay manager
Roy McFarland had simply wanted to see him in training. In October 2001, he joined Conference side
Margate on loan. Later that season he joined
Woking on loan, moving to the club on a permanent basis after three months on loan, on a free transfer in March 2002 after his release by Crystal Palace. He had not played a single first team game for Palace. He remained with Woking until May 2005 when he joined
Rochdale. He was a regular in his first season with Rochdale, but became a fringe player and had his contract cancelled by mutual consent on 22 January 2007. A week later he signed for
Conference National side
Dagenham & Redbridge. In June 2009, Boardman rejoined
Woking. In June 2010, Boardman joined
Isthmian League side
Kingstonian to help with their 2010–11 campaign to get into the
Conference South. However, after relocating back to Reading, Boardman decided to cancel his contract with Kingstonian and signed for
Hungerford Town in the Southern League Division one South & West. He was "Supporters Player" of the season in his first two seasons and in 2011–12 completed the hattrick after receiving "Players' Player" and "Manager's Player". In September 2017, he was appointed joint player-manager alongside
Ian Herring. Boardman used to write a monthly column for UK football magazine
Shoot Monthly. ==References==