Football Football was a popular sport played on Earth . A team game , the object was to advance a ball , called " a football " , into the opposing team ' s net or goal . A single individual stood within the goal and defended it against attack when the opposing team attempted to kick the ball into the net . As the name implied , the ball was typically advanced with the feet . The Doctor and football . As a player . The Doctor had some personal experience playing the game . The Second Doctor once played " keepy - uppy " with a football in the TARDIS ' control room and all - time record was five but however , the football hit the control console and hit the harmonic resonator . ( AUDIO : " The Apocalypse Mirror " ) During World War I , the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler participated in a German / English football match on the front lines at Christmas in 1914 . ( COMIC : " The Forgotten " ) The Fifth Doctor also visited a battlefield during the Christmas truce and observed a similar football match with Edward Woodbourne . ( PROSE : " Never Seen Cairo " ) Later , the Tenth Doctor lived with Mickey Smith for a short period of time and played on Mickey ' s local team . ( COMIC : " The Lodger " ) As a spectator . The First Doctor had an unpleasant brush with the World Cup . A " Blessing Star " buried by Susan at I . M . Foreman ' s junkyard in 1963 was found by a rag and bone man in 1966 . After defeating WOTAN , the Doctor took advantage of being in London again by trying to find the alien jewel . Unfortunately for the Doctor , the man was using it while watching the 1966 World Cup Finals . Somehow , the thoughts of all of England focused through the Star . Though the Star helped England get a crucial goal over Germany , it exploded because it overloaded . The Doctor was highly displeased to have lost the jewel over the match . ( PROSE : " The Rag & Bone Man ' s Story " ) The Ninth Doctor remembered being at the 1966 World Cup final . ( COMIC : " The Love Invasion " ) The Fifth Doctor , though obviously a bigger fan of cricket , was at least a conversant fan of the sport . Soon after meeting her in Lanzarote , he took Peri to the 1936 FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium . There , they watched Arsenal take on Sheffield United . The Doctor tried to educate the young American in the sport of football . ( PROSE : " The Church of Football " ) His eighth incarnation was a positive fan of the sport . He once got involved with a mystery at the stadium of Delchester United that involved star Ray Stobbs . After solving that mystery , he happily set down in the stadium and enthusiastically cheered United on , even joining in with the typical human use of a football rattle . ( COMIC : " Doctor Who and the Nightmare Game " ) On another occasion , and much to Charley ' s disdain , the Eighth Doctor enthused over Italy ' s 3 - 1 World Cup victory over Germany and briefly joined in the public celebrations in the Italian village of Ferrara . Unbeknownst to the revellers , however , Ferrara ( and the world beyond ) was being invaded by the Threllip s . As part of the subterfuge to end the invasion , the Doctor convinced the Threllip that the jubilation in Ferrara was actually a sign of an illness called " World Cup Fever " , to which the Threllips were also susceptible . ( AUDIO : " Living Legend " ) He also once claimed encyclopaedic knowledge of Liverpool F . C . , and lamented the dismal quality of the 2013 - 2014 squad . ( AUDIO : " The Next Life " ) The Ninth Doctor admitted wearily to Mickey Smith that the TARDIS scanner could tune into football matches . ( TV : " Aliens of London " ) Mickey , in fact was a big fan of the sport . He suggested to Rose Tyler after Henrik ' s blew up that they go to a pub . Only when pressed did he admit to wanting to go there because there was a match on . ( TV : " Rose " ) The Eleventh Doctor wasn ' t just a proficient player , but also a bit of a fan . He once took Amy Pond and Rory Williams to England ' s 1966 World Cup victory , but the TARDIS deposited them at Wembley Stadium — several centuries in the past . The trio learned about the Viking history of Wemble ' s Lea before finally getting the TARDIS to take them to the game . ( COMIC : " They Think It ' s All Over " ) At another point in his timeline , the Eleventh Doctor and Rory attended a football game at the Leadworth Football Club . The Doctor was bored by the match because it lacked jetpack s and there were no women on the teams . The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver on the referee ' s glasses , causing him to be able to see every football game in the galaxy . Rory was mortified and wanted to leave , but the Doctor insisted the game just got interesting . ( COMIC : " Bow - ties for Goal Posts " ) In 2030 , Scotland played England in the World Cup final in Wembley Stadium , with the Eleventh Doctor calling it " one of the greatest football matches in history ! " He meant to take Amy Pond here , but instead they ended up on a space station . ( COMIC : " Apotheosis " ) The Twelfth Doctor thought football boring , and preferred darts . ( TV : " For Tonight We Might Die " ) Football and humanity . Football was popular among the general population , specifically males , and notably in the United Kingdom . ( TV : " Rose " ) It was not always played professionally , as K9 found out when a number of youths began kicking a football at him in the streets . In response he stunned several of them and set the football alight with his photon beam . ( PROSE : " The Old Rogue " ) Indeed , football was often an extra - curricular activity provided by schools like Park Vale Comprehensive School . Sarah Jane and Clyde once interviewed Steve Wallace about clown s , while he was practising on the school ' s football pitch . ( TV : " The Day of the Clown " ) As a teenager , Alan Ellis loved football . His father John Ellis bought him a football annual for his son Alan Ellis for Christmas 1953 . However , he was unable to do so due to his disappearance on 18 December . ( TV : " Out of Time " ) Luke Smith did not like football . ( TV : " The Lost Boy " ) Steven Taylor considered football to be " an idiotic sport for idiotic people " . ( AUDIO : " This Sporting Life " ) By the 347th century , football had been long forgotten . The rules were uncertain . Some scholars believed that the players were killed . ( PROSE : " The Slitheen Excursion " )