Famed for many years as the most dashing centre forward in the county of Kent, Arthur Rule was an Admiralty civil servant by profession and appeared for a number of Southern League clubs as his work took him to Whitehall and several other centres of naval activity; from 1893 to 1899 he played for his local club, Sheppey United, and also assisted New Brompton (now Gillingham), Tottenham Hotspur, Portsmouth, and the Isle of Wight club Ryde.
In 1894-95 he bagged no fewer than 22 goals in just eleven games as New Brompton romped away with the Southern League Division Two title in their first season as a professional club. Registered as a professional by the Albion on 29 September 1905, he played in a 2-1 defeat of Norwich City at the Goldstone the following day which turned out to be his only appearance for the club.
Arthur had represented the Thames & Medway Combination select XI against the United League in November 1898, when the latter side triumphed 4-2 at Northumberland Park, Tottenham.