Toronto Wolfpack 52, Swinton Lions 10, Lamport Stadium, Toronto, ON

The Toronto Wolfpack RLFC is a Canadian professional rugby league club, based in here Toronto, which competes in the British Rugby Football League system.  In 2018, the club competed in the Championship, having begun to play in 2017 in League 1 and won a promotion in its inaugural season.  Gord and I have been going to the most of the games since 2017 and have been season ticket holders for the last two years.

The club is noted as being the first North American team to play in the Rugby Football League system, the first fully professional rugby league team in Canada and the world's first transatlantic rugby league team.  Their home stadium is Lamport Stadium (aka "The Den"), which is just a couple blocks from where Gord and I live.

Today the Wolfpack (10 wins/1 loss) were playing the Swinton Lions (2 wins/9 losses) in the Wolfpack's home opener.

The Wolfpack store, which is across the street from Lamport, was open.

There was a band playing outside Lamport as we were entering.

Here are me and Gord in our Wolfpack gear.

WWE wrestler Brian Cage was scheduled to sign autographs outside the east entrance of the stadium.  He was introduced before the game started.

The team flags were laid on the ground.

Here come the Wolfpack players!

God Save the Queen and O Canada were sung before the game.

And the game began ...

Section 35 - the Wolfpack's unofficial cheering section

The attendance at today's game was a Wolfpack record of 9,562!

Looking east towards downtown Toronto

The score at the end of the first half was Toronto Wolfpack 24, Swinton Lions 6.

The Wolfpack dancers entertained.

At the end of last season, the costume for Jefferson, the Wolfpack mascot, was stolen and not found.  There was a few moments to remember Jefferson.

Last week, the Wolfpack revealed their new mascot, Gordo.  There wasn't a lot of support for Gordo on the Internet and the Toronto Star even wrote about it.  He was introduced at today's game and was booed by the crowd when it was revealed that his favourite hockey team was Boston and he supported the current premier of Ontario.

Then ... surprise!  Jefferson came out and the crowd cheered!  Welcome back, Jefferson!  I've got to admit that I was really happy to see him!

There seemed to be a bit of tension between Jefferson and Gordo but I think they worked it out.

Gord was happy to see Jefferson again!  I gave Jefferson a big hug!

Then the second half began.

This guitarist played bits of tunes throughout the game

It was obvious that Gord and I weren't the only ones happy to see Jefferson back as he said hello to the crowd on our side (the west side).

Jefferson cut in front of us to visit more fans

Our friends, Malcolm & Mary and Roger joined us for the game.

Gord, Malcolm, Mary and Roger

The Wolfpack won 52 - 10.  Yay!

Blake Wallace and Ashton Sims were interviewed after the game.

Some of the Toronto and Swinton players interacted with their fans after the game ... shaking hands, giving high-fives (I got some!) and signing autographs.

The beer garden was a popular spot after the game.