Arthur Southern’s Southampton career consisted of three Southern League appearances in the space of eight days, during April 1911. A soldier based at Tidworth, he had signed for the club on Hampshire League forms at the beginning of the 1910-11 season, but had not had so much as a run-out with the Reserves until after he had left the army in March 1911. At which point, he was suddenly in demand at The Dell.

After one appearance in the Hampshire League side, scoring twice, he was in the first team for those three games, initially at inside-right, and then at centre-forward, in the middle of a depressing run-in made up of six defeats and one draw. He did his bit, even scoring what would be the team’s last goal of the season, with four games yet to go. He thereupon signed pro, but any hopes of his consolidating his position ended when he returned, still registered with Southampton, to Manchester. Following an unsuccessful trial with First Division Manchester City, he soon moved to Northwich, where he was re-instated as an amateur to play for the local Victoria.

In 1921 he was in the Ewell Ministry of Pensions Hospital recovering from neurasthenic injuries received during WW1 and in 1939 he was described as an 80% incapacitated war pensioner.