“Are there any footballing links to the Winter Olympics that we should know about,” asks Ross Quinn. “Competitors in both, family links, etc.”

“It might not come as a surprise that a Norwegian has merits in both football and winter sports,” writes Eivind Krohg, highlighting the illustrious multi-sporting career of Bjørn Wirkola. “He carried Norway’s flag at the Grenoble ‘68 opening ceremony, and won both league and cup with Rosenborg (as top scorer) in 1971, as well as giving the name to the often-used Norwegian idiom ‘jumping after Wirkola’. Oh, and he is still the only ski jumper to have won the Four Hills Tournament three years in a row.”

Dirk Maas has a contemporary example. “Håkon Holmefjord Lorentzen is a Norwegian footballer who currently plays for Sandefjord Fotball,” he writes. “He is the younger brother of Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen, who recently won gold in the 500m speed skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics.” Here’s an example of brotherly love as Håkon cheers him on.

Dirk is not finished. “Soviet athlete Vsevolod Bobrov competed in the 1952 Summer Olympics as a football player, scoring five goals in three matches, and in the 1956 Winter Olympics as an ice hockey player, winning gold. Bobrov is one of four Olympic football players who competed in the Winter Olympics as well. Louis van Hege, Arvids Jurgens and Sven Bergqvist are the others.”

Wiebe van der Werf has found a link to Pyeongchang 2018. “It’s perhaps a bit far fetched.” Go on. “But the daughter of former Southampton player Stuart McManus (Sara) was in the Swedish curling team,” he notes.

For those who don’t recall the career of Stuart McManus, he was a one-time Tottenham trainee who ended up playing as a forward for Saints, though made just two league appearances, both in the 1985-86 season. He even scored on his debut at QPR in March 1986, but when released that summer he began a long career in Scandinavia, playing for Örgryte, Sandvikens, and Gefle in Sweden and then Lillestrøm and Moss in Norway. After going back to Örgryte for a third spell, he closed out his career with Ljusne in the lower reaches of Swedish football. Sara McManus, in the Swedish team that humbled Team GB and won gold in Pyeongchang, was born in 1991 when her dad was in his second spell at Örgryte.

Sara McManus bites her medal after winning the women’s curling gold in Pyeongchang. Photograph: Morry Gash/AP

Players sharing names with Oscar winners

“I noticed Luis Figo made his league debut for Sporting, replacing Marlon Brandão. Are there any other footballers with the same/similar name as a film star, or ideally an Oscar winner?” muses Phil Taylor.

The award for this week’s most comprehensive answer goes to … Philip Smith:

“Chris Bale is a Welsh midfielder plying his trade in New Zealand, having made more than 100 appearances for various NZ Premiership teams, and has played in the Club World Cup four times with Auckland City and Waitakere United. Christian Bale won best supporting actor in 2010 for The Fighter.

“Tony Hopkins made nine appearances for Aldershot in 1991, the same year Sir Anthony won his Oscar for his portrayal of Dr Hannibal Lecter. John Mills was a full-back for Chester in the 1946-47 season. A different John Mills won a 1970 Oscar for Ryan’s Daughter. Gary Cooper played for England at youth level and helped Birmingham City to the Second Division title in 1995. Gary Cooper won best actor for High Noon in 1952.

“George Kennedy was a Scottish footballer who played for Lincoln City and Chelsea in the early 20th century. His namesake won the 1967 supporting actor Oscar for Cool Hand Luke. Tony Quinn played as a forward for Wigan and Southport throughout the 1980s. Anthony Quinn won an supporting actor Oscar for Lust for Life in 1956.

“Two footballers named William or Bill Holden have played throughout the years: a centre forward who made over 400 league appearances in the 1950s and 60s, and a goalkeeper who played once for Blackburn Rovers, losing 1-0 to Preston in 1888. The actor William Holden won Best Actor in 1953 for Stalag 17.

“Wikipedia lists five footballers named James or Jimmy Dunn, from Scotland and the US. I would assume that none of them are the same James Dunn whose performance as Johnny Nolan in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn won the Academy Award in 1945. Finally, when American Thomas Mitchell won best supporting actor in 1939 for Stagecoach, his British namesake was managing York City, having had a playing career, mainly with Leeds United, in the 1920s and 30s.”

Knowledge archive

“What is the coldest recorded temperature that a football match has been played in?” wondered Stephen Robbins in 2010.

We couldn’t find a definitive answer but earlier that December, Rosenborg hosted Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League. The temperature had plunged below -14C by the time the match had kicked off. Meanwhile former Morton striker Marko Rajamaki criticised the SFA for a rash of postponements during a cold snap in Scotland and said: “There’s a league club, RoPs, in Lapland, where it gets down to -30C. But they have access to a full-sized indoor training pitch so they can still work.”

Andrey Arshavin hasn’t played in conditions quite that testing but had a fair amount of experience of cold weather during his playing days in Russia: “The coldest temperature I have ever played in was probably about -10C,” he said.

Finally, Football’s Strangest Matches by Andrew Ward provided a chilly anecdote. In December 1891 Blackburn travelled to Burnley to take on the Clarets in freezing temperatures and heavy snow. They might have wished they hadn’t bothered – Rovers were 3-0 down inside 25 minutes. Half-time couldn’t come quickly enough, but after the break the visiting team failed to appear. Blackburn eventually re-emerged, a few fisticuffs followed and soon after all the Blackburn players bar goalkeeper Herby Arthur left the field. Burnley attacked, were, unsurprisingly caught offside and, after a lengthy spell of time-wasting by Arthur, referee JC Clegg abandoned the game. Rovers later apologised, saying their players had been numb with cold and couldn’t continue.

2018 update: “Colorado Rapids and Toronto FC recently played a Concacaf Champions League match in Denver where the temperature at kick-off was -15C,” writes Mike Coroneos. Any more for any more?

Love a snowy floodlight, us. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA

Can you help?

“Visiting Elland Road last week, I noticed all the seating and signage in the ground is yellow and blue, whereas Leeds play in white. Are there any other teams who own their own stadium but do not decorate it in their official colours?” asks Paul Hawkins.

“Earlier this month, Cammy Keith scored both goals for Keith FC in their 3-2 defeat to Rothes. What other instances are there of a goalscorer with the same name as their team?” – Chris W.

“Seven of the 44 managers in the top two tiers have managed Crystal Palace (Roy Hodgson, Sam Allardyce, Alan Pardew, Neil Warnock, Tony Pulis, Steve Bruce and Ian Holloway) – that’s 16%. Is this a record?” – Hamish Nisbet.