John_Dee
Active Member
My personal speculation is that in addition to the already-known issues (his disparaging remarks about the student population at Don Bosco, embarrassment of the school by the scandal of using City staff and paid work time to "volunteer" , commandeering the TTC bus for his team, etc.) there will be at least one private complaint in the school's records made by a football player about unfair or rough treatment by Ford. Nothing like sexual abuse -- simply name-calling, bullying, pushing too hard or making him play while injured.
Ford rigourously objected when the Toronto Star wrote about the alleged altercation between him and a player from another school and he fought to clear his name about this. Sure, he left work to coach, took his staff, got City favours for his team, yadda, yadda, and actually BOASTED about that. But the report of that one alleged incident with a player got under his skin and he squelched it just the way he's trying to smother the Board's report now.
I realize the football player from that previous school claimed nothing happened, but as we all know from the numerous Catholic church scandals of recent years, young people are fairly easy to manipulate, especially when it's by "beloved" authority figures that they want to trust. And I can't help wondering if that kid was (a.) paid off, (b.) threatened in some way to keep his mouth shut, or (c.) was simply too embarrassed by the whole incident to admit to it. Young dudes poisoned by testosterone don't much enjoy looking weak in the eyes of others, and it wouldn't surprise me if the boy simply wanted to put this hypothetical unpleasantness between himself and Ford behind him and just forget about it. Creeps like Ford tend to count on such attitudes when it comes to choosing which victims to pick on. Pam MacConnell elected not to press charges against him after he physically body-slammed her, and he took it as an open invitation to continue menacing her whenever the mood struck him.
I forgot where I read this, but it was in some website comments' section (possibly Gawker). Somebody claimed there was an incident where Ford slammed a student's head against a toilet seat at one of the schools he coached at. I don't know if this was the episode under discussion, or if it occured at yet another school. How many has Ford volunteered at?
And yes, I know: Anonymous internet claim and all that, so I have no idea how true we can consider the alleged toilet seat incident. But unfortunately - and rather horribly - it's not exactly out of character for Mayor Assclown, is it?