Toronto Wolfpack almost had their first-ever home match cancelled after their pitch dramatically failed an inspection.
The Wolfpack were due to face Oxford in their debut match at Lamport Stadium back in May 2017 but were told just days before the match that their artificial pitch didn’t pass the criteria.
In a new documentary, Toronto: Destination Super League, former CEO Eric Perez revealed he received a call from Ralph Rimmer about the match, whilst Oxford were on the plane to Toronto!
“When you’re using an artificial pitch you have to have it approved and there are only a few companies in the world who can do it,” he explained on the documentary, with premieres tonight at 10 PM on FreeSports.
“We got it tested six or seven months prior and it passed, but I got a call from Ralph Rimmer and he said ‘We have a major problem here. LaboSport have just called and said they’ve made a mistake and actually you slightly failed one of the tests’
“The day before the game I spoke to Ralph and he told me that if it failed again they couldn’t let Oxford play and there would be no game.
“LaboSport showed up with their machines. I threw up a few times. Normally they go back to the lab but they know the results while it is happening as they’ve got a reader, so I’m hovering over the lady doing the test, they’ve got like $500,000 of equipment around, but to the credit of the City of Toronto grounds crew, we passed the test and could play the game.
“But that was one of the biggest hiccups in the Toronto Wolfpack’s history, we almost didn’t play our first home game.”
Toronto Wolfpack: Destination Super League, is on FreeSports at 10 PM New Year’s Eve and 1:30 on New Year’s Day.
Freeview 64, TalkTalk 64, BT TV 64, Sky 422, Virgin 553 (HD), Freesat 252