Powell was born in Cerney, near Wrexham, and played his early football in the nearby village of Summerhill.
[1] His first international cap came on 23 March 1885 at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham when the Welsh suffered an 8–1 defeat at the hands of Scotland,[4] with Joseph Lindsay scoring a hat-trick.
Towards the end of the 1889–90 season, Powell joined West Bromwich Albion of the Football League on a wage of £2 per game plus expenses.
Powell then spent a season with Burton Swifts without making any League appearances before moving to Chester, then playing in The Combination, before returning to Oswestry United.
as secretary and spent twenty years in the 2nd Volunteer Battalion of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry.