http://www.cbc.ca/story/sports/natio...ing051025.html
(Note that the "suspension" ends before the playoffs begin)
Football hazing incident at Ontario private school
WebPosted Tue, 25 Oct 2005 10:56:54 EDT
CBC Sports
The recent wave of hazing incidents has extended to one of Canada's most prestigious private schools.
According to The Toronto Star, The Ridley College junior football team in St. Catharines was forced to forfeit its final regular-season game after 17 of its players admitted taking part in a hazing.
Jonathan Leigh, the headmaster at the private high school said yesterday that the 14-year-old rookies were goaded into rubbing a substance that gives a burning/stinging sensation on to their "lower private parts."
The hazing took place a month ago on a chartered bus returning from a game in Toronto and was not detected by five coaches sitting at the front of the bus.
"We deplore things like this and the entire team has paid the price," Leigh told the Star. "They know ... we don't tolerate this nonsense and I know the message has got through to them. Any re-occurrence and players will be asked to go somewhere else (for their education)."
The players confessed to the hazing last Thursday in the wake of two other hazing incidents that attracted national media coverage.
The names of the players involved have not been disclosed. Leigh said that the school is in the midst of notifying parents of the incident, which he described as "grotesque" and "embarrassing."
Besides the forfeiture, all players were forced to write a 1,000-word essay on the problems of hazing and players boarding at the school have lost some privileges.
However, Leigh is allowing the team to play tomorrow's home playoff game against St. Thomas of Villanova, a semifinal leading to the Conference of Independent Schools Athletic Association championship.
Ridley College was established in 1888, becoming co-educational in 1973.
Famous alumni include actors Colm Feore and Hume Cronyn, and journalist Peter Gzowski. The school has also fostered several future Olympians, including rower Fiona Milne and triathlete Samantha McGlone.
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