Boersma began his career with Liverpool, signing his first contract in September 1968. He made his debut in
1969 on 24 September, in a
League Cup 3rd round fixture against
Manchester City at
Maine Road. Boersma came off the substitutes bench in the 67th minute but could not help turn things around, with the Reds eventually losing 3–2. He went on loan to
Wrexham for 7 games in March 1970 before returning to Liverpool, scoring his first goal on 4 April against
Dinamo Bucharest at the 23 August Stadium. Boersma came off the bench to replace
Alun Evans after 15 minutes, scoring in the 47th, the goal helped the Reds draw the
European Fairs Cup 2nd round, 2nd leg tie 1–1. The Reds had already won the 1st leg at
Anfield 3–0 making the aggregate score 4–1. As a prominent figure during Liverpool's run to the
1973 UEFA Cup Final against
Borussia Mönchengladbach, bagging 4 goals on the way, Boersma gained a medal. While a non-playing substitute during the first leg at Anfield, he did, however, see 13 minutes of action in the 2nd leg when he came on for
Steve Heighway. The Reds also won the
First Division title that season, with Boersma contributing 7 goals from 14 appearances, enough to earn him a medal. In 1973/74 he featured in 22 of Liverpool's games scoring 4 times, including 5 appearances and 1 goal during the FA Cup run which took the
Merseysiders to
Wembley. He expected to be the substitute but was overlooked for
Chris Lawler, a full-back. Boersma did not take the news well and angrily left Anfield vowing he'd never wear the red of Liverpool again. Liverpool and Boersma managed to work things out. He started the following campaign in goalscoring form, scoring the Reds' goal in the
Charity Shield win over
Leeds United, a game that finished 1–1, with Liverpool winning 6–5 on penalties. He then scored a brace against
Chelsea at
Stamford Bridge on the last day of August, followed a week later by a first half
hat-trick against
Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield. He scored in a
League Cup win over
Brentford and twice more in the record 11–0 win over Strømsgodset I.F in the
European Cup. His 10th goal in this period came against
Stoke City, although the goals then dried up and he didn't hit the target for the remainder of the season. Always on the fringes of the first team, mainly due to the
Keegan/
Toshack partnership supported by
Steve Heighway, and the emergence of youngster
David Fairclough, Boersma failed to make an impact on the 1975/76 season for the Anfield club and
Bob Paisley allowed him to leave Liverpool in December 1975. He moved to
Teesside, joining
Middlesbrough for £72,000. He played generally as a midfielder, making his debut on 6 December '75 in a 0–0 draw at
Ayresome Park with
Manchester United. During his short 2-year spell at Boro he played 47 league games scoring 3 times. It was at Middlesbrough where Boersma struck up a friendship with
Graeme Souness: this friendship would pay dividends for Boersma later in his career. Boersma left Middlesbrough in the August 1977 and headed to
Kenilworth Road and
Luton Town, where he scored 8 goals in 36 league games. He left Luton to join up with former club colleague John Toshack who was in charge of Welsh club
Swansea City. It was during his time at Swansea that Boersma suffered a broken ankle in a game against
Swindon Town. ==Coaching career==