A forward, he signed for Blackburn Rovers, and made his debut in the Football League with the club.
[3] He joined West Ham United for the 1908–09 season, in which he scored 3 goals in 19 games in all competitions, of which 15 were in the Southern League.
[1] He then moved back to the Football League with Birmingham, but despite a return of three goals in the four Second Division games he played,[4] he was unable to establish himself as a first-team player.
Burton joined Cardiff City in 1911, alongside his brother George,[5][6] top scoring for the club as captain in the 1912–13 season as they finished in first place in the Second Division of the Southern Football League.
In February 1913, he scored a bicycle kick in the second South Wales derby during a Welsh Cup semi-final that saw several of his opponents stop to shake hands with him in appreciation of the goal.