[2] Ashworth (or ‘Basher’ as he was known to his friends and colleagues) came to prominence when at the age of fourteen, he played in the local school team that won the Cumberland Silver Shield, a knockout competition open to boys aged sixteen and under.
[4] In 1924 the majority of the team were runners-up in the Cumberland Under 18’s Challenge Cup, after they were narrowly defeated by Silloth.
In 1925, Ashworth captained the side that won the same competition, defeating Egremont by 11 points to nil.
[5] By 1925 he was a regular member of the senior squad and won a runners-up medal in that years Challenge Cup, when Aspatria were narrowly defeated by Workington.
Ashworth played in Oldham's 26–7 victory over Swinton in the 1927 Challenge Cup Final during the 1926–27 season at Central Park, Wigan, in front of a crowd of 33,448.