Threats and goose scat: The allegations behind Rob Ford's coaching ban

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Hat tip, the Tornotoist: New Allegations Emerge About Rob Ford’s Time Coaching High School Football

According to Catholic school board documents, the mayor turned up drunk for practice, threatened a teacher, and forced players to roll in goose droppings.

By Graeme Bayliss • Photo by Christopher Drost

When Mayor Rob Ford was banned in May from coaching football at any Catholic school in the city, the decision seemed to stem from comments he’d made months earlier in which he said, among other things, that many of his players “come from gangs” and live in “broken homes”—but more than 300 pages of documents from the Catholic school board indicate that there is much more to the story.

Reports published today in the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail reveal some of the content of those documents, obtained through freedom-of-information requests, including allegations that Ford was profane, threatening, and sometimes inebriated during his time volunteering with the Don Bosco Eagles, the high school team he coached for 11 years. Ford has often adduced his involvement with the team—which he established with thousands of dollars of his own money—as evidence of his concern for and support of disadvantaged youth.

Threats and goose scat: The allegations behind Rob Ford's coaching ban

RENATA D’ALIESIO, Robyn Doolittle and Ann Hui
The Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Aug. 28 2014, 6:00 AM EDT
Last updated Thursday, Aug. 28 2014, 10:22 AM EDT

In the months before Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was banned from coaching high school football, he allegedly threatened a teacher, appeared inebriated for a crucial practice and at an equipment handout and forced his teenaged players to roll around in goose scat as he berated them with profanity after winning a big game.

The allegations against Mr. Ford are detailed in more than 300 pages of Toronto Catholic school board documents released Wednesday under freedom-of-information legislation. The disclosure occurred after The Globe and Mail appealed the board’s decision to keep details on Mr. Ford’s dismissal from Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School’s football program confidential.
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According to briefing notes prepared by director of communications John Yan, the mayor was upset that Mr. Royiwsky had banned practices until the start of the school year.
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The same document, titled “Critical incidents involving Mayor Ford,” outlines other serious accusations: Mr. Ford allegedly offered custodians cash to keep the school open an extra hour in the summer, but the custodians refused; he delayed mandatory criminal background checks for himself and his coaching staff and then had a staffer “rush” the paperwork through police Chief Bill Blair, according to a briefing note; he showed up late and appeared “visibly inebriated” at the final practice before the Metro Bowl championship game; he took players on an unsanctioned overnight trip to play a football team in Peterborough, Ont.; and he allegedly made his players roll around in goose scat and swore at them after a game against Father Henry Carr in October, 2012.