Members of Rob Ford’s staff raised questions with him early on in his term about the ethics of using taxpayer-funded staff and vehicles to help with football teams, but the mayor would not budge, sources told the Star.

Instead, staffers made sure the special assistant working with Ford’s football teams was also doing a “good amount of constituent work, just in case reporters ever came knocking.”

The amount of work devoted to football varied with the time of year, said one former staffer, but during the warm months and into the fall, it’s fair to say football was the focus.

MORE:Complaint over football activities goes to integrity commissioner

According to a former young political aide who witnessed senior members of Ford’s circle arguing with him about alleged misuse of city resources, the feeling was that Ford’s character transgressions — like the 911 calls and driving while talking on a cellphone — would not affect his core support.

But the football issue, “This is the one type of thing that could actually piss off Ford Nation, because it goes against the bedrock principle of not dipping into the trough.”

Added another former staffer: “That’s gravy,” of revelations that a car paid for by the city has been used to shuttle around high school athletes, that city cellphones are used to contact players, and that taxpayer-funded staff in the mayor’s office spend time working with the teams Ford coaches — the Don Bosco Eagles and Rexdale Raiders.

Ford employs about half a dozen special assistants in his office, who execute a variety of duties, from handling constituent calls to accompanying the mayor to official events. From the beginning of Ford’s term, one of those special assistant jobs, previously held by Isaac Shirokoff, was earmarked for the football file in addition to other duties. Shirokoff left the mayor’s office this summer to attend graduate school.

His duties appear to have been taken over by other special assistants, Chris Fickel and recently hired Andrew Gillis, who is a former University of Toronto quarterback.

The jobs, typically held by recent university graduates, start at about $35,000 a year, “and (then) a bump after they stay a certain amount of time,” said the young aide.

The job is a demanding one and working 60 hours a week is not unusual, said a former high-ranking staffer.

“It’s not volunteer. They’re just not being paid for it,” they said, noting unpaid overtime is an expectation for young staffers in many industries.

“So when Doug Ford says they’re working 40 hours a week and volunteering their time with football … he’s not far off,” the source said, acknowledging that when special assistants are asked to do football-related work by the mayor, they don’t have much choice.

The individual spoke specifically about the duties of Shirokoff. None of the sources who spoke to the Star are clear on how Fickel and Gillis spend their time.

On Thursday, the mayor again ducked questions about whether he is misusing taxpayer dollars. Councillor Ford was on talk radio defending his brother, reiterating his claim that special assistants who help with the mayor’s football teams are doing so on a volunteer basis, outside their base work hours.

It’s a defence the mayor’s office has not yet made.

Earlier this week, the mayor denounced councillors for going after his staff — although no one has criticized his staff, only the mayor’s use of them — saying: “Each and every one of them works hard every day for the taxpayers of this great city. They put in at least 40 hours of work for taxpayers every week. Often more …They can’t defend themselves in the media against elected officials.”

Councillor Adam Vaughan, a likely candidate to run against the mayor in the next municipal election, said that for a man who ran on a platform of “ending the gravy train” this most recent scandal is all the more juicy.

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“He’s violating his own principles. It’s not like he’s being held to a different standard here. He’s being held to his own standard. This will impact his base,” he said.

Last week, at the annual Ford Fest barbecue, where Ford announced to 6,000 supporters that the campaign for 2014 “started today,” the mayor declared: “You know what, we have to lead by example ... I said we were not going to have any more $12,000 farewell parties. That is why there are no more $12,000 farewell parties, folks.”

Neither Ford’s spokesperson nor chief of staff returned requests for comment about the mayor having been warned about misusing city resources by numerous former staff members.