By Tristan Fitzpatrick



Eric Perez was channel surfing one night in Birmingham, England, when he stumbled across a sport he was not expecting.



It felt oddly familiar.



“It was very Canadian,” he said. “It was the most Canadian sport that I’d ever seen before. That I’d never heard of.”



What he stumbled upon was the league version of rugby, and it would ultimately direct the path of his career. A Toronto native, Perez is now the chief executive of the Toronto Wolfpack, the newest entry in the third tier of the English rugby league — known as the Kingstone Press League 1.



The Wolfpack are the first-ever trans-Atlantic pro team, part of a bold gamble on a sport with only a cult following in this country. The organization’s goal is to reach the very pinnacle of rugby league in short order, overcoming the obvious disadvantages they face competing against teams...