Aston Villa Athersmith played a key role in Villa's
title-winning sides of
1894,
1896,
1897,
1899 and
1900 as well as reaching three
FA Cup finals, finishing on the losing side in
1892 before gaining winners' medals in
1895 and the
Double-winning
final of the
1896–97 season. He was also a member of the team that were victims of a giant-killing in the
1899–1900 FA Cup at the hands of
Millwall Athletic. A league match
in November 1894 against
Sheffield United at
Perry Barr was played in driving freezing rain. Villa's players had dry clothes available, and were given hot drinks, a courtesy apparently not extended to the visitors. The Sheffield players were worse affected, severalincluding goalkeeper
Willie Foulkeneeding treatment for exposure, and by the end of the match only six were still on the field. before collapsing in the dressing-room afterwards.
Small Heath In 1901 he joined
Small Heath for £150, where he made 106 appearances and scored 13 goals.
Representative football Athersmith represented
England at
outside right on 12 occasions and scored three goals, each of which came against
Ireland. He also scored four goals from 9 appearances for the
Football League XI. ==References==