Plus: Other severe weather games, players knocking out linesmen, and the advent of footballers' gloves. Send your questions and answers to knowledge@guardian.co.uk and follow us on Twitter

"What is the coldest recorded temperature that a football match has been played in?" wondered Stephen Robbins last week.

We couldn't find a definitive answer for this one but earlier this month Rosenborg – who play in Trondheim, Norway – hosted Bayer Leverkusen in a Europa League tie. The temperature had plunged below -14C by the time the match had kicked off. We'll forgive players for wearing mittens on string for that one. Meanwhile former Morton striker Marko Rajamaki recently criticised the SFA for the rash of postponements during the 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 (in an interview, sadly he didn't email in). "In those situations the only thing for it is to wear something warmer and keep moving around."

Finally, Football's Strangest Matches by Andrew Ward provides this 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 on the field. 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 timewasting by Arthur, referee JC Clegg abandoned the game. Rovers late apologised, saying their players had been numb with cold and couldn't continue.

Have you seen even more frozen football in your part of the world? Let us know at the usual address.

WALSALL GET WET AND WILD

"While we're on weather what is the hottest, wettest, highest amount of snowfall and windiest conditions during a match," asks Paul Grocott.

Robert Davies writes in to tell us about a drenching at the end of the 90s. On 30 October 1999, Stockport played Walsall at Edgeley Park. During the game there was such a torrential downpour that the referee took the players off the pitch for 10 minutes. Pity the hundred or so Walsall fans who were on the uncovered terrace and got absolutely drenched."

Anton email from Israel with footage of a match in South Africa between Orlando Pirates and Black Leopards when the wind was strong enough to blow the advertising boards across the pitch (there are 12m or so views of this on YouTube so we imagine a few of you have seen in already.

WHEN LINESMEN ATTACK

"Has a player in a top league ever been injured by a linesman's flag?" asks Chris Brooks. "How about a fourth official's board? A whistle?"

Simon Garland steps up with this story: "My story involves a player injuring a linesman but I'll tell it anyway. Last season at Tranmere Rovers Michael Ricketts was warming up on the touchline when he collided with the linesman. Both were moving sideways at speed and neither had spotted the other. Ricketts was barely bothered, but the official was knocked out cold, such that Les Parry ran up the pitch to stop the guy swallowing his tongue"

A player named Orlando Brown lost more than three years of his career due to an incident that occured in 1999.

In American football, to signal that a foul has occured (and that a gridiron equivalent of the advantage rule is in effect) officials will throw a flag at the spot of the infraction. Such flags are weighed down by BBs.

A GLOVE STORY

"Who was the first player that we know to wear gloves on the pitch?" wondered Nick Higgins last week.

Jack Cunha brings us thetale of Carlos Alves who was wearing gloves back in the pre-war period in the distinctly non-chilly surroundings of Portugal. "Alves was a defender who played in the late 1920s, early 30s. As the story goes, prior to a derby match against Benfica, he was given a pair of black kid-gloves by a 12-year-old girl he knew. She told him that the gloves would bring him luck if he wore them. With his team losing at half-time, he decided to wear them in the second-half. The team came from behind to win the match, and Alves never played another match without wearing the gloves.

"Alves's grandson, Joao Alves, was also a Portuguese international (36 caps) who played for Benfica, Boavista, PSG, and Salamanca. When his grandfather passed away in 1970, Joao decided to honor his legacy and he began wearing the black gloves as well." Here's a link to a photo of the younger Alves sporting the gloves, which must have needed some top needlework to patch them up by then.

KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE

In homage to Leyton Orient's 8-2 extra-time thumping of Drolysden last week, here's Guffen Helleve in 2005: "In the Norwegian women's Cup final earlier this month, the score between Asker and Strømmen was 0-0 after 90 minutes, but finished 4-0 to Asker after extra-time. Has any team won by a bigger margin after extra-time?"

Surprisingly they have, Guffen: look no further than the third-round Norwegian men's Cup clash between Tromsø and local rivals Tromsdalen in 1996. As Nils Ragnar Løvhaug explains, "the score was 3-3 after 90 minutes, but Tromsø went on to win 8-3 after extra-time, with Birmingham flop Sigurd Rushfeldt scoring five goals."

But Rugby were on the receiving end of an even greater added-time thrashing, in last season's Southern League Cup third round meeting with Sutton Coldfield. With a minute of normal time remaining, Rugby led 2-0; when the final whistle blew it was 2-2. Rugby, fielding a host of youth team players and reserves continued the capitulation by conceding a further six in extra-time to lose 8-2. "The heads dropped and their legs went in extra-time," admitted Rugby boss Tony Dobson afterwards.

Special mention, however, must be given to Walsall's 1995 FA Cup second-round replay with Torquay at the Bescot. Three apiece after 90 minutes, a Kyle Lightbourne-inspired Walsall pushed on to seal a memorable 8-4 win.

For thousands more questions and answers take a trip through the Knowledge archive

CAN YOU HELP?

"When was the last time that orange orb of delight, the snowball, was used in a top-flight English match?," asks Thom, who doesn't provide a surname.

"My Polish Premier League team of choice, Slask Wroclaw, currently hold the record for the joint longest winning run so far this season (four games) and the longest unbeaten run (eight games) but also the longest winless streak (also eight games)," says Ekstraklasa fan Peter Newbitt. "However, they don't quite complete the set, as Cracovia currently have the longest losing run (six games). Have any teams ever won this unwelcome league quadruple?"

Has there ever been an all out fight between two managers during a game, and were there any criminal charges?" wonders Ben Kippin, opening a whole can of worms.

Send your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com