Woodhouse was born in
Warrington and played as a teenager for
Monk's Hall in the
Cheshire County League, before joining
Bury in May 1921. At Bury he played at
inside right making six appearances in each of the 1921–22 and 1922–23 seasons. In
1923–24 he made eleven appearances, contributing three goals as Bury gained second place in the
Second Division table thus gaining promotion to the top flight. In a bid to strengthen the team for their return to the
First Division, Bury signed
Southampton's experienced
left half Bill Turner with Woodhouse and
John Callagher moving to the south coast as part of the deal. Woodhouse made his debut for Southampton on 30 August 1924 in the opening match of the season playing at inside left, before losing his place to
Cliff Price after six games. He made a few spasmodic appearances at inside left, before switching to
left half for a few matches near the end of the season. The following season he began to make the left half spot his own, lining up with either
George Harkus or
Bert Shelley on the right and
Alec Campbell or
Arthur Bradford in the centre. He soon established himself as "a half-back of some standing" and rarely missed a match over the next five seasons. In
1926–27 he only missed two league matches and appeared in all six
FA Cup matches in Saints' run to the
FA Cup Semi-final at
Stamford Bridge on 26 March 1927, which Southampton lost 1–2 to
Arsenal. During this season manager
Arthur Chadwick settled on his favoured line-up with eleven players featuring in at least 35 of the 42 league games; Woodhouse lined up in midfield alongside
Bert Shelley and
George Harkus in front of full-backs
Michael Keeping and
Ted Hough. Woodhouse was "an unsung player (who) was nevertheless a vital cog in the team – his probing passes were a special feature of his game". He continued to appear regularly although injury restricted his appearances in 1930–31 and 1931–32. For the start of the 1932–33 season he switched across to the right, with
Bill Luckett on the left (and Arthur Bradford in the centre) until February when Luckett was pushed forward and
Alec Campbell came in on the right of the half-backs, with Woodhouse reverting to the left. He continued to feature regularly on either flank for the next few seasons until age and injury caught up with him and, like his long-serving partner
Arthur Bradford, he retired at the end of
the 1935–36 season. Woodhouse spent twelve seasons at
The Dell, during which he made a total of 366 appearances (with 5 goals); all his league matches were in the Second Division in a period during which the Saints struggled financially and were generally forced to sell their better players to survive. At the time of his retirement, his total of 351 league appearances was only exceeded by
Bert Shelley. ==Later career==