Background
Houghton was born in England and was one of two sons of Joseph Houghton.
Houghton was born in England and was one of two sons of Joseph Houghton.
Houghton was signed by Street Helens RLFC from Liverpool City in 1907, however he never played a first team match for the club Houghton then moved to New Zealand and played for Auckland in their third ever match on 17 September 1908 against Taranaki. He again played for Auckland that year and toured Australia with New Zealand.
On 3 July he played for New Zealand in the third Test against Australia.
Houghton served as an official at the North Sydney Bears club in the NSWRL Premiership.
Joseph served as the chairman of the Northern Union before migrating to Auckland with Thomas and helping set up the Auckland Rugby League. He was then part of the City combination that played against the North Shore on 24 July 1909 in the Auckland Rugby League"s first ever sanctioned match. Houghton joined the new Newton Rangers club and played for them in the inaugural Auckland Rugby League competition in 1910.