‘A Professional-Grade Pitch’: Ex-Scientologist Claims Church Built Soccer Field For Tom Cruise To ‘Woo’ Famous Pal David Beckham

A former higher-up in the world of Scientology claimed the church once built a soccer field for Tom Cruise to entice star athlete David Beckham into joining, RadarOnline.com has learned.

The building went underway at the San Jacinto headquarters in California to make the plan come to fruition as Cruise was allegedly “doing his best to court celebrities other than those with whom he was working on films.”

The ground was leveled before irrigation was installed, the turf was laid, and goals were raised, wrote Mike Rinder in his gripping new memoir, A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology about their “professional-grade soccer pitch.”

Rinder, who served as a senior executive within the Church of Scientology from 1982 to 2007, said they had set their sights on David and his wife, Victoria Beckham.

“A full-time caretaker was appointed from the Gold staff … It was built for one purpose only: so Tom Cruise could woo his friend David to come to Gold. It never happened,” the author alleged.

In another excerpt, Rinder also wrote about the Hollywood heartthrob making a quip about wanting a “girlfriend” during a 2004 ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new Scientology center in Spain, prompting execs to take action.

He claimed church leader David Miscavige “took it to heart” and launched a special project for which “auditions” were held to find the Top Gun actor a suitable love match before he found his future spouse, Katie Holmes.

Rinder said that once Cruise’s sister became his publicist, his statements and behavior in public became more “outlandish,” even when he was dishing about his romantic life.

“He ultimately made a complete fool of himself by jumping on Oprah Winfrey‘s couch during their infamous May 23, 2005, interview when he revealed his love for Holmes,” wrote Rinder.

“He was the perfect example of what a Scientology celebrity should be doing — speaking with absolute certainty, unashamed of what we believed and knew to be true, no matter how bats— crazy,” the former head of their Office of Special Affairs added.

Rinder left the church in 2007 at the age of 52, claiming he has faced harassment and hacking attempts since becoming a whistleblower.

“Mike Rinder is an inveterate liar who seeks to profit from his dishonesty,” a Scientology spokesperson said. “He supports himself by orchestrating the harassment of his former Church and its leader through false police reports, incendiary propaganda and fraudulent media stories.”