Allegations that Rob Ford struck a student are total bunk

Allegations that Rob Ford struck a student are total bunk

Remember those allegations reported (somewhat timidly) in the Toronto Star that a long time ago in a field far, far away, Rob Ford had yelled at and possibly even struck a student he was coaching in high school football? It seems the story is all bunk, as the Globe and Mail has found the young man in question, and he explicitly denies any violence. Jonathan Gordon, now a member of the Canadian Forces, gave his version of events in today’s Globe.

Coach Ford had yelled at the team for failing to meet his expectations, Mr. Gordon recalled. “The way he worded things, I didn’t like it.”

Mr. Gordon returned for the start of the second half anyway. Instead of playing hard, he let pass an opposing player he could have tackled easily, and then started walking off the field.

“Ford lost his temper, started yelling at me,” he said. “I took my helmet off, threw it off the field [and] basically told him he ‘can go fuck himself.’ We got into a heated argument. We were pretty close, face to face and then we got separated by the assistant coach [Peter Bowman] and that was it.”

Gordon is probably not the first person of any age to want to use that kind of language with Ford. The best part of the article is Gordon’s addendum: “Trust me, if he had slapped me, I would have beat the crap out of him. No word of a lie.”

• Former student football player says Rob Ford never hit him [Globe and Mail]