[2] Nicholson played junior rugby league for Hensingham before signing with Huddersfield in 1939, but due to the Second World War, he did not make his first team debut for the club until 1944.
[1] Nicholson played at second-row in Huddersfield's 4–11 defeat by Bradford Northern in the 1949 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1949–50 season at Headingley, Leeds on Saturday 29 October 1949.
Nicholson played second-row in Huddersfield's 2–20 defeat by Wigan in the Championship Final during the 1949–50 season at Maine Road, Manchester on Saturday 13 May 1950.
[5] Nicholson retired from rugby league in 1951, returning to Whitehaven and becoming the licensee of the Shakespeare Hotel.
Nicholson played at second-row in Cumberland's 5-4 victory over Australia in the 1948–49 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France match at the Recreation Ground, Whitehaven on Wednesday 13 October 1948, in front of a crowd of 8,818.