Carabine was born in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire to John and Agnes (née Scullion).
[citation needed] In the club game, Carabine was most closely associated with Third Lanark, serving as a player from 1931 to November 1946 and then taking over as manager, until May 1950.
[7] As an international, Carabine represented Scotland in three official matches, appearing against the Netherlands (21 May 1938), Ireland (8 October 1938) and England (15 April 1939).
He also featured in two unofficial games against Eastern United States and the American Soccer League (in which he scored a hat-trick) in a 1939 tour, and ten wartime internationals (all but one against England, his last being an 8–0 defeat on 16 October 1943).
[11] This biographical article related to association football in Scotland, about a defender born in the 1910s, is a stub.