Fred Chartrand/CFL.ca
Just a few days before the 105th Grey Cup presented by Shaw, the Woodson family hasn’t decided if they will be wearing red and white or double blue in the stands at TD Place on Sunday.
If Anthony had it his way, they’d be wearing Stampeders colours. If Robert had to choose, they’d be decked out in Argonauts gear.
“I’ve been trying to pay off my parents to wear Stamps stuff,” chuckled Anthony during the Stampeders Media Day at the Shaw Centre in downtown Ottawa on Thursday afternoon. “I’m sure they’ll find a way of divvying it out so it’s half and half but we’ll see.”
Robert also mentioned he had yet to get confirmation from either of his parents of their game day outfits.
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Anthony Woodson is hoping to win a Grey Cup in his first year with the Stampeders (Fred Chartrand/CFL.ca)
“That’s what I’m about to find out,” Robert laughed. “We’ll see. I’m hoping they’re in that blue.”
The Woodson brothers will be going head-to-head for the coveted Grey Cup – Anthony with the Stampeders and Robert with the Argonauts.
In his first season with the Argos – Robert was drafted by the team in the fourth round of the 2017 CFL Draft – the defensive back is hoping to put the bow on the top of his rookie year with a Grey Cup ring.
Anthony, a vet that has spent time with the Bombers, Argonauts and Tiger-Cats before joining his hometown Stampeders as a free agent back in February, also hopes to head back home to Calgary with a little extra bling on his finger.
“We’ve always been close but obviously you always have that sibling rivalry a little bit,” Robert said. “But at the end of the day we’ve always wanted what’s best for each other. But we both want that ring, for sure.”
In his first season in the CFL, Robert Woodson is eager to win a Grey Cup ring (Fred Chartrand/CFL.ca)
Football was as much of a part of the Woodson home as family itself as the brothers grew up in Calgary, Alberta. Their father, Tony, played four seasons in the CFL including two with the Stampeders in the 1980s.
“He’s (Anthony) seven or eight years older than me so he started playing when I was little so I always kind of looked up to him and my dad as far as I wanted to play football too,” said Robert. “Then I kinda went down the same path that he did. We went to the same high school, the same college and stuff like that.”
Robert and Anthony both played for the University of Calgary Dinos but suited up on opposite sides of the ball.
Robert suited up for four seasons with the Dinos on defence. In 2016, Woodson was named a Canada West All-Star for the second consecutive season and was seventh on the team in tackles with 16 and recorded one forced fumble, an interception and a pass breakup.
He was ranked 14th on the third and final CFL Scouting Bureau rankings, up three spots from his previous ranking of 17 back in December. At the 2017 CFL Combine presented by Adidas, Woodson nabbed the second-fastest 3-cone time, finishing the drill in 7.03 seconds.
“I think it was maybe a little tougher for him in the sense that having to follow not only my dad’s shoes but my shoes as well,” said Anthony. “I think at times I put a little bit too much pressure on him.”
That pressure might have been the push that helped Robert get to the next level.
The younger Woodson brother was drafted by the Toronto Argonauts in the 2017 CFL Draft has played in 12 games this season. He’s been a standout on special teams while also pitching in as a rotational player in the defensive secondary. The older brother suited up in just three games for the Stamps this year and collected 18 yards on three carries.
Robert and the Argonauts played in the Eastern Final a few hours before Anthony and the Stampeders hit the field last weekend. That meant Anthony got to see if his brother would be making the trip to Ottawa for the Grey Cup before the opening kickoff in Calgary.
Knowing that his brother did, in fact, win that game didn’t exactly help to keep him his cool before the team’s must-win game against the Eskimos.
Anthony is in his seventh year in the CFL and is looking to win his first championship (Fred Chartrand/CFL.ca)
“When we saw that Robert won, when Toronto won, it kinda added a little pressure to the game,” Anthony admitted. “I was like, ‘okay, now we really have to win this game. We cannot lose.’”
And they didn’t.
Now, the Stampeders are in their second-straight Grey Cup and are hungry for redemption from their loss against Ottawa last year. On the other hand, the Argonauts are making an appearance after Marc Trestman helped to turn the team from bottom dwellers to East Division Champions.
Something has to give for one of these two teams and each brother is hoping it’s theirs.
“One of us will be crying the other will be happy,” Anthony said before breaking into a smile. “I think we’ll probably get together again as a family (after the game) and celebrate the fact that we’re both here and celebrate whoever won no matter what it is.
“Obviously, I’d like for it to be the Stamps and he’d like it to be the Argos but in the end one member of our family is going to have a Grey Cup ring.”
