Air date: July 13th, 2016 (UK)
One day, the Sodor United Football Team are having a football/soccer match against Barrow, with the Fat Controller being the referee. He summons Thomas and James to give them a job of transporting a lot of passengers to and from to the football/soccer field at Dryaw, adding that they must work together. Thomas and James' work goes on well at first, when they collect their first passengers, who cheer for them because of their paint matching the football teams' colours. The fans of the Sodor United team cheer for Thomas, while the fans of the Barrow team cheer for James. During their first journey to Dryaw, Thomas and James decide to have a competition to see which team is the best, despite Annie and Clarabel trying to remind them what the Fat Controller said about working together.
After dropping their first loads of passengers, Thomas and James continue collecting more loads of passengers throughout the day. James collects more Barrow fans from Brendam Docks, while Thomas collects more Sodor United fans from Kellsthorpe, and on each journey back to Dryaw, they both try to arrive first. Not long before the start of the football match, Thomas and James have to collect one last load of passengers each. James becomes impatient when his passengers are moving slowly, and decides to leave right away so to try and get to Dryaw before Thomas, unaware that his passengers are actually the Barrow football players. The guard tries to stop James, but to no avail. Meanwhile, Thomas decides not to stop at Kellsthorpe, unaware that the Fat Controller is waiting at the station while eating ice cream. The Fat Controller yells out to Thomas, but Thomas is too far away to hear him.
Thomas and James soon catch up with each other, and race back to Dryaw to try and win the competition. They both arrive at the same time, but they keep arguing on who got there first, before deciding to see which team is the best. However, they only find the Sodor United players, who are complaining about having no opponent team or referee. This makes Thomas and James immediately realise their mistakes, just as Percy arrives with the very cross Fat Controller and the Barrow players. With the Barrow players unhappily heading to the field, the Fat Controller issues Thomas and James a yellow card penalty for their rivalry. He also threatens to have them red carded, should they make another mistake, and explains that a red card means a football/soccer player is out of the game for causing bad behaviour. With Thomas admitting that he and James do not want to be sent to their sheds for their behaviour, the Fat Controller reminds them to work together to take everyone back home, no matter which team they support.
As the match starts, Thomas and James apologise to each other, admitting that it is better for them to work together. Just then, the ball is shot up into the air and lands, getting stuck, on Thomas' funnel. One of the players asks to have it back, so Thomas blows steam out of his funnel to shoot the ball back onto the field and into one of the goals.
Tropes featured in the episode:
- Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: "Red En-gine!" also "Blue Tho-mas!"
- Animation Bump: James' grimace upon the Sodor fans not cheering him and his and Thomas' determined grins as they race to the soccer field are much more fluid and exaggerated.
- Aside Glance: As James begins to chant with the Barrow fans, Thomas steams off and gives an eyeroll shortly before noticing something's wrong.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Percy quotes the narrator's infamous "And then there was trouble!" as Thomas and James realize their mistake.
- The Cameo: Some of the Sodor fans are Sir Robert Norramby, the mayor, and Duncan's grumpy passenger.
- Dark Reprise: The background music played throughout the episode becomes a sinister minor key variation as Thomas and James race to the soccer field.
- Oh, Crap!: Thomas and James when they realize their mistake when they see only one team on the field wondering where the other team is.Thomas: Uh, James?
James: Red engine! Red engine! Red—
Thomas: JAMES!
James: What?
Thomas: Shouldn't the match have started by now?
(Thomas and James look to see only the Sodor team on the field)
James: What's the hold up? GET ON WITH IT!
Thomas: But I can only see one soccer team.
James: What? Oh, yes. And where's the referee?
Both: Uh, oh...
(Percy arrives)
Percy: And then there was trouble.
(Out come the unhappy Barrow players... and a very annoyed Fat Controller)
Thomas and James: Uh, oh! - Rule of Three: The Sodor fans cheer for Thomas and Edward, but not James.
- Share Phrase: The Barrow fans' "Red En-gine! Red En-gine!"
- Stock Sound Effect: When Thomas unknowingly forgets to pick up Sir Topham Hatt, his line "Ah! Thomas! Thomas! Stop!" was recycled from The Adventure Begins.
- Truth in Television:
- The penalty cards Sir Topham Hatt shows to Thomas and James are actually true in real life. A yellow card is used as a warning for players; a red card is shown to a player to announce they're off the team.
- Barrow-in-Furness does have a real-life football team, playing in the National League (the fifth tier of English football). Their third kit is also red.
