Fred Carter represented "The Whites" at loose forward against "The Reds" in the 1920 Great Britain Lions tour trial match at Watersheddings, Oldham on Monday 1 March 1920, and represented "The Whites" at loose forward, and scored a try in the 26-18 victory over "The Reds" in the 1924 Great Britain Lions tour trial match at Headingley, Leeds on Wednesday 9 January 1924, ultimately he was not selected for either tour.

Fred Carter won a cap for Yorkshire while at Batley; he played loose forward in the 30-12 victory over Cumberland in the County Championship match during the 1921–22 season at Thrum Hall, Halifax on Monday 14 November 1921.

Fred Carter played loose forward in Batley's 13-7 victory over Wigan in the 1923–24 Championship Final during the 1923–24 season, at The Cliff, Broughton, Salford on Saturday 3 May 1924, in front of a crowd of 13,729.

Fred Carter played loose forward in Batley's 0-5 defeat by York in the 1922–23 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1922–23 season at Headingley, Leeds on Saturday 2 December 1922, in front of a crowd of 33,719, and played at second-row in the 8-9 defeat by Wakefield Trinity in the 1924–25 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1924–25 season at Headingley, Leeds on Saturday 22 November 1924, in front of a crowd of 25,546.

Fred Carter made his début for Leeds against York at Headingley, Leeds on Saturday 12 December 1914, he was transferred from Leeds to Batley on Thursday 8 January 1920, he made his début for Batley as a loose forward, and scored a try in the 13-0 victory over Hull Kingston Rovers at Mount Pleasant, Batley on Saturday 10 January 1920, during his time at Batley, he scored eighty-two tries; seventy-five playing as a forward; including five hat-tricks, and a further seven tries playing as a wing, he played his last match for Batley in the 2-6 defeat by Hunslet at Parkside, Hunslet on Saturday 3 September 1927, by which time he had become Batley's all-time record try-scoring forward, he was transferred from Batley to Castleford for £75 on Monday 26 September 1927 (based on inflation equivalent to £5,655 in 2023) (based on increases in average earnings approximately equivalent to £12,460 in 2016),[4] over his career he scored in excess of 100 tries as a forward, this is an outstanding achievement in this era, and may even rugby league's record pre-World War II try-scoring forward.