A game of Car Football between England and Poland.
Car Football is the name of a game played using cars on the British motoring television show Top Gear. Its rules are very similar to that of regular football, except the ball is much larger and softer for ease of contact.
Appearances[]
- Series 6, Episode 1
- Series 8, Episode 5
- Series 15, Episode 1 (cameo)
- Top Gear Festival Sydney
- Clarkson, Hammond and May Live
Series 6, Episode 1[]
The first game of Car Football in 2005.
The game was first played on the premiere episode of Series 6, as part of testing the then-new Toyota Aygo. Richard Hammond theorised that in order to be a good city car, the Aygo needed to be quick, light on its "feet", good at changing direction, and be able to dart in and out of traffic. To test this, it was decided that two teams of Aygos would play a game of Car Football. Each team would be comprised of five players, with Hammond as one team captain and "José Mayrinho" as captain of the other. The team selections were as follows:
| Selection | May | Hammond |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Russ Swift | Paul Swift |
| 2 | Matt Neal | Tim Harvey |
| 3 | Dan Eaves | Ben Collins |
| 4 | Robert Huff | Tom Chilton |
First Half[]
After some initial scuffling, May would be first to score a goal. Hammond would then attempt to equalise but would be thoroughly intercepted. May tried for a second goal but was stopped by Hammond. A final goal attempt from May would be thwarted when he ran into the side of his own team-mate
Second Half[]
Almost immediately, Hammond took possession of the ball after James had kicked off and steamed straight for the goal, scoring a point and successfully equalising the game. May kicked off again, passing to Russ Swift who promptly punts it towards Hammond. The ball then goes back and forth with no clear winner, and with a few minutes to go the match got dirty, with members of both teams hitting each other and Hammond nearly being flipped. There was also a "door ball" (analogue of football's "hand ball") which was not allowed, before May lined up to take control of the ball but stalled at the last second, allowing Hammond to score the winning goal of 2-1.
Series 15, Episode 1[]
The game of Car Football which interrupted the Bentley's power lap.
Mid-way through The Stig's Power lap of the Bentley Continental Supersports, footage of the car racing around the Top Gear test track was suddenly interrupted by a group of Hyundai i30s having a game of Car Football. While this was happening, commentary for Stig's lap suddenly reached high levels of absurdity, reporting on alleged events such as Stig crashing the Bentley in an explosive rollover and having to dodge naked waitresses and a tiger, before shaking hands with Elvis. Of course, none of this was seen due to the short game between the group of Hyundais, and was used as a satirical take on commercial networks' coverage of sport, often missing crucial events due to the breaks in between.