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Brother act: Neil King makes his CFL debut for the Ticats against brother Ryan and the Esks

Andrew Bucholtz

The CFL's seen some interesting brother combinations over the years, including the Forzanis in Calgary and the Muambas in Winnipeg, but it's rare to see a player get to take part in his first CFL game against his brother. That happened for the Tiger-Cats' Neil King Saturday in the Guelph rain, though, as the Hamilton backup safety and long-snapper made his CFL debut against Edmonton, where brother Ryan is a long-snapper and backup linebacker. The King brothers were even on the field at the same time on special teams plays, although they didn't wind up colliding directly. Ryan told The Edmonton Sun's Gerry Moddejonge that it proved to be a memorable game, though, between the brother act, their parents being in the stands and it happening in such unusual conditions:

“It’s going to stick in my mind definitely because it was my little brother’s first game, and second, I’ve never played in a game like that ever in my life as a snapper,” said Ryan, referring to the deluge of rain that bombarded the field from the end of the first quarter on, making playing conditions challenging for everyone. “So I’m going to learn a lot from this game and it’s a game I’ll never forget.

“(The rain) is terrible. The ball was twice as heavy as it usually is. It was soaking wet, it was pouring rain. They were not letting me get downfield, blocking me right off the snap. So I’m emotionally drained right now. It was a stressful game, but it was good.”

Unfortunately, the two brothers never ran into each other when special teams took to the field.

“We didn’t end up going against each other, but we were on the field at the same time a couple times,” Ryan said. “I was head-hunting for him a little bit, like: ‘We’ve got to at least make this happen.’ Right?”

The Kings, born and raised around Edmonton, didn't quite make brother-on-brother violence happen Sunday, but they may face each other again. It's been an odd path to this point for both, though. Ryan's path to the CFL was especially unusual, as he was the victim of an odd CIS rule change regarding junior football eligibility: he played four years of junior football with the Edmonton Wildcats as a linebacker and long-snapper before fulfilling those same duties for Saint Mary's for three years, but that left him out of CIS eligibility a year before he was eligible for the CFL draft. He was eventually taken 38th overall by Edmonton in the 2012 draft and made the the team in camp that year, starting 15 games before suffering a season-ending injury. Neil also followed his brother's path from the Wildcats to the Huskies, but wasn't hurt by that rule and was selected 41st overall by Hamilton in this year's draft after training with famed former CFL receiver Kamau Peterson.

Given how late they were taken, neither King is guaranteed to have a long CFL career. They've both impressed thus far, though, so this might be the first of many CFL clashes between the duo. Regardless of how things go for them from here on out, though, they at least provided their family with a memorable game to watch Sunday...even if family members had to split their allegiances by switching shirts at halftime. That's a small price to pay to see two of your family members facing each other in CFL action.