Carabine was born in
Blantyre, South Lanarkshire to John and Agnes (née Scullion). His paternal first cousin was the footballer
Dan Kelly. In the club game, Carabine was most closely associated with
Third Lanark, serving as a player from 1931 to November 1946 and then taking over as manager, until May 1950. As a player, he won the
1934–35 Scottish Division Two title a year after suffering relegation from the top tier, then featured on the losing side in the
1936 Scottish Cup Final. In the three major competitions he made 262 appearances and scored 19 goals for the club. As an international, Carabine represented
Scotland in three official matches, appearing against
the Netherlands (21 May 1938),
Ireland (8 October 1938) and
England (15 April 1939). He also featured in two unofficial games against Eastern United States and the
American Soccer League (in which he scored a hat-trick) in a 1939 tour, and ten wartime internationals (all but one against England, his last being an 8–0 defeat on 16 October 1943). On resigning from his role as manager of Third Lanark in 1950, Carabine noted 'I've had enough'. In the months following his resignation he began writing sports columns for the
Daily Express. ==See also==