Talk:Charlie Athersmith

The umbrella legend
I have been trying to pin down the match in question, and I can't. Athersmith never scored in a senior match against Sheffield United. If the tale is correct, it must have been a friendly or a game in one of the minor competitions (eg, Staffordshire Senior Cup etc). In 1901 Villa played League games against Sheff United on 30 March (0-0) and 16 September (1-2, with Villa's goal scored by Albert Wilkes). They also played two FA Cup games, Garraty and Devey scoring for Villa - Athersmith did not score, umbrella or not. (Source: Aston Villa, A Complete Record, and also, The Aston Villa Chronicles by John Lerwill.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:C7D:3266:6300:2872:4CBD:3916:B581 (talk) 20:04, 7 December 2018 (UTC)
 * The umbrella incident happened, but it wasn't 1901, it was November 1894 (5–0 at Perry Barr). Don't know who was officially credited with the goals, your books will tell you: judging from contemporary reports, the weather conditions were so bad that I doubt anyone could reliably identify the scorers. Wasn't really a funny story: the Villa players, being at home, had a half-time change of kit available, but the visitors didn't, and by the end of the match several had gone off with exposure/frostbite. I'll clean it up a bit and add a couple of sources, but it probably won't be till after the weekend. cheers, Struway2 (talk) 21:02, 7 December 2018 (UTC)