Howell was a highly skilled player despite his small size, playing as a nippy half-back or inside right. He began his career with the Sheffield club Ecclesfield and also played for Rotherham Swifts before signing along with two other Swifts players, Arthur Watson and Michael Whitham for newly formed Sheffield United in March 1890. Although he made his debut as a striker Howell was soon moved to defence where he played for the remainder of his career. He won promotion with the Blades to the First Division in 1893, and, in 1897–98, a Championship medal. "Rab Howell," observed the player's Sheffield United teammate Ernest Needham, Howell often fell foul of the club hierarchy who imposed strict codes of conduct on their players, and regularly appeared in front of the Football Committee on charges of 'misconduct' although this often resulted in him being offered a pay increase and asked to 'mend his ways'. More serious allegations were to be levelled at him however, as in his final seasonat the club he was believed to have attempted to throw a game against rivals for the Championship Sunderland, scoring two own goals. No charges were ever brought but Howell only played one more game for United before being quietly sold to Liverpool. He left Bramall Lane having played for 5 years, making over 200 appearances for the club. There is no evidence of match fixing, however. A more likely explanation for his sudden departure is his extra-marital affair: he set up another family in Lancashire after he left for Liverpool. Such a scandal inVictorian times would have been hushed up.
In April 1898 Howell was transferred to Liverpool for a fee of £200, making his debut for the club in a game against Aston Villa. He played 68 times for Liverpool, scoring no goals. Three years later he moved on to Preston North End, where his career was ended by broken leg in 1903.
International career
Howell scored once for the national team, on his debut in a 9–0 rout of Ireland in April 1895. His second and last appearance came in a win against Scotland four years later.
It seems likely that Howell was born, and lived as a child, in a Romani encampment in Sheffield. His father's profession is listed on his birth certificate as a "besom-maker." By the time of the 1871 census, however, the family were living in a house in Stocks Hill in Ecclesfield. Some of the misinformation about Rab comes from people believing an interview he gave to a match day programme in 1897 where he says amongst other things, spinning people along, that he lived in a caravan: which he clearly didn't as census returns show.
