Saskatchewan Roughriders

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For current information on this topic, see 2009 Saskatchewan Roughriders season.

Saskatchewan Roughriders
Founded	1910
Based in	Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Home field	Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field
League	Canadian Football League
Division	West Division
Colours	green, white, black, and silver
Nickname(s)	Riders, Roughies, the Green and White
Head coach	Ken Miller
General manager	Eric Tillman
Owner(s)	Community owned
Grey Cup wins	1966, 1989, 2007
Mascot(s)	Gainer the Gopher
Website	www.riderville.com
Uniform

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a Canadian Football League team based in Regina, Saskatchewan, founded in 1910. They play their home games at Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field, the location that they have played at through their entire history, but is significantly different from the original facility. Originally known as the Regina Rugby Club from 1910 to 1923, they changed their name to the Regina Roughriders in 1924 and finally to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1948. The team draws fans from across Saskatchewan and Canada who are affectionately known as the "Rider Nation". The team is the current West Division Champions and have won three Grey Cups over their 100 year history. The fans are known for their loyalty and "Rider Pride", and it is not odd to find a group of Rider fans following the team on their road games across the country. The team also sells more merchandise[1] and draws the highest TV ratings of any team [2] in the CFL, despite playing in the smallest market by far in the league. The Roughriders play in the CFL's West Division. The team has had 17 players inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame . Their rivalry with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers is arguably the most passionate and intense in the league, as games between the two are often sold out before the beginning of the season. [3]

[edit] Team facts

Formerly known as: Regina Rugby Club 1910 to 1923, Regina Roughriders 1924 to 1947

Helmet design: Green helmet with a black and white "S" and stalks of wheat on each side with a black background.

Retro helmet design: Green helmet with logo of a green wreath surrounding a green S on a white background

Uniform colours: Green and white, with black and silver accents

Nickname: The green and white, jolly green giants

Western 1st place regular season finishes: 7—1951, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1976, 2009

Grey Cup final appearances: 17;—1923 (lost), 1928 (lost), 1929 (lost), 1930 (lost), 1931 (lost), 1932 (lost), 1934 (lost), 1951 (lost), 1966 (won), 1967 (lost), 1969 (lost), 1972 (lost), 1976 (lost), 1989 (won), 1997 (lost), 2007 (won), 2009 (lost)

Grey Cup wins: 3—1966, 1989, 2007

Hosted the Grey Cup two times: 1995 (83rd Grey Cup), 2003 (91st Grey Cup)

Main rivals: Winnipeg Blue Bombers (see Labour Day Classic and Banjo Bowl), Edmonton Eskimos, Calgary Stampeders.

2009 regular season record: 10 wins, 7 losses, 1 ties. 21 points

Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field prior to a CFL match

Roughriders helmet

Gainer the Gopher

[edit] History

Organized football in Saskatchewan began on Tuesday, September 6, 1910 with the formation of the Regina Rugby Club. The original idea was for the team to be a rowing club, but three-down football soon found its way to Saskatchewan. The original colours of the Regina Rugby Club were gold and purple. The team lost its first game 7-6 to Moose Jaw. [4]

The next season, the team changed its colours to blue and white to match the Regina Amateur Athletic Association. A third colour change occurred in 1912 when they changed to red and black, which they would keep for the next 36 years. In 1924, the team changed its name from the Regina Rugby Club to the Regina Roughriders.[5]

Ottawa's Rugby Club had been called the Rough Riders since the 1890's, but dropped it in favor of the "Senators" in 1924. Regina jumped at the chance to adopt the name "Roughriders".

There are two theories on where the name "Roughriders" came from. One states that it came from the North West Mounted Police who were called Roughriders because they broke the wild horse broncos used by the force. The other states there was a Canadian contingent who fought with Teddy Roosevelt in the Spanish-American War. Roosevelt’s troops became known as the Roughriders. Following the war, the troops returned to Canada, part settling in Ottawa, and the rest moving out West. The colours of the Roosevelt infantry were red and black. [6]

In 1921, East-West interlocking games began being played for the Canadian Championship symbolized by the Grey Cup.

Lacking suitable opposition in this province, in 1936, Regina banded with Winnipeg to form the Western Conference. [7]

The year 1948 was a milestone one for the Roughriders. With the folding of both clubs in Moose Jaw and Saskatoon, the Regina Roughriders became a provincially-owned and -operated club, surviving only on the undying support from the entire province. They became the Saskatchewan Roughriders.[8]

The team also changed its colours in 1948 to the familiar Green and White. The team was in bad need of new uniforms, and when executive member Jack Fyffe found a set of green and white jerseys at a surplus store in Chicago, for pure economic reasons, the 50 year legacy of the "Green and White" was born and has existed to this day.

In 1956, the Roughriders suffered a terrible tragedy when players Gordon Sturtridge (#73), Mel Beckett (#40), Ray Syrnyk (#56) and Mario DeMarco (#55) were killed in a plane crash while returning from an all-star game in Vancouver. Flight #810 crashed into Mt. Slesse in the Coastal Mountains just south of Chilliwack, British Columbia. The four players’ uniforms are among the eight Roughrider numbers retired by the club. Dave Ridgway (#36), Ron Lancaster (#23), George Reed (#34) and Roger Aldag (#44) are the others. [9]

Ten years removed from the tragic accident, the Roughriders, with coach Eagle Keys at the helm, saw their first great achievement. By defeating the Ottawa Rough Riders 29-14 in Vancouver's Empire Stadium on November 26th, 1966, Saskatchewan captured its first Grey Cup championship. Lancaster and Reed played key roles in leading the Riders to their first national title. [10]

The Riders remained one of the best teams in the CFL for nearly 15 years, making the post-season every year from 1962 to 1976. Included in that span was five Grey Cup appearances, 1966 (which they won), 1967, '69, '72 and '76

The Roughriders would update their look one more time in 1985, adding black and silver to the Green and White, and featuring a new stylized ‘S’ logo.

The team had several lean years during the late-‘70s and early 1980s, where poor on-field performances led to even worse gates. However, fans remained positive that a turn-around would soon come and it did during the 1989 season.

On November 26, 1989, kicker Dave Ridgway nailed a 35-yard last minute field goal to seal the Roughriders’ second ever Grey Cup championship with a 43-40 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Toronto’s SkyDome. The Roughriders has now made the playoffs eight straight years, including five[11] appearances in the Western Division Finals since 2003.

[edit] 2007 season

The Roughriders celebrate their 2007 Grey Cup victory

In the 2007 season, the Riders jumped out to a 7–2 start, their best since 1976. Notable was a last-minute victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the annual Labour Day Classic. The Riders wore retro uniforms for the first time and helmets hearkening back to their glory days.

The 2007 season brought along with it the Roughriders' first home playoff game since 1988, which was played at Mosaic Stadium on November 11 against the Calgary Stampeders. The Riders once again wore their retro uniforms and took a close victory 26–24. This was also their first home playoff win since 1976.

The team followed up on November 18 with a 26–17 win at BC Place over the BC Lions in the West Division final to give the Roughriders a berth in their first Grey Cup final since 1997.

On November 25, 2007, the Riders played the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the 95th Grey Cup. This marked the first time that two Labour Day Classic opponents played each other in a Grey Cup game. Saskatchewan won 23–19 in a game where James Johnson recorded three interceptions , a Grey Cup record. He was named MVP of the 2007 Grey Cup, with Roughrider Andy Fantuz being named the Canadian MVP in the game. He had 70 yards receiving and the game-winning touchdown.

[edit] 2008 season

A month and a half after capturing the 2007 Grey Cup, Kent Austin stepped down as head coach to become the offensive co-ordinator at Ole Miss. In accepting this position in the NCAA, Austin turned down a very lucrative contract that the Riders had offered. On February 6, 2008, Roughriders GM Eric Tillman announced that the new head coach would be Ken Miller. Miller was formerly an offensive coordinator under Austin.

On April 5, 2008, a report was released saying that the Roughriders set a new record for earnings in a single season. In 2007 the Roughriders generated $22,950,489 in revenue, with a profit of $1,737,377. These earnings were due in part to the championship season the Roughriders sported, which included 8 home game sellouts and their first home playoff game in 19 years.

The 2008 season began with a 6–0 record with wins shared between three quarterbacks. This is the team's best record since 1934 when they were still known as the Regina Roughriders. This was despite suffering 6 broken legs and a total of 18 injuries.

On August 24, 2008, the team's General Manager, Eric Tillman, announced the acquisition of Quarterback Michael Bishop; the Toronto Argonauts backup quarterback at the time of the trade, he went 11–1 as a starter for the Argonauts in 2007. As predicted, this was the end of Marcus Crandell's run with the Roughriders, who released him four days later.

After the 6-0 start, the Riders would go on to finish the 2008 CFL Regular season with the same record they finished with in 2007, at 12-6. The Roughriders finished in second place in the CFL West Division and earned the right to host the CFL West Division Semi-Final for the second consecutive year.

A devastating 33–12 loss to the BC Lions in the western semi-final game on November 8, 2008, caused the Roughriders to announce that Michael Bishop had played his last game with the green and white.

[edit] 2009 season

See 2009 Saskatchewan Roughriders season

[edit] Mascots

The current official Rider mascot is Gainer the Gopher, who made his first appearance in 1976. "Gainer" is an anagram of Regina and the gopher, or more properly, Richardson's Ground Squirrel (not a Gopher) is a common animal on the Canadian Prairies.

[edit] Popularity

[edit] Fan Support

The Riders are famous for their fan support, and are continually referred to as the best fans in the league and were ranked the rowdiest fans of any sports team in Canada by MSN Sports, ranking ahead of the Canada men's national junior ice hockey team and the Montreal Canadiens.[12] The team is third behind the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs for merchandise sales of Canadian sports teams [13], and in 2009 the team played in 5 of the 6 most viewed games on television [14] as well as breaking a ratings record for the West Final against the Calgary Stampeders and a Grey Cup ratings record of 43% of the national population against the Montreal Alouettes. [15] The Riders typically bring an upsurge in attendance at all or most of their various away venues, drawing crowds of their own fans, as well as home-town fans whose interest is heightened when the Roughriders come to town. [16] The province of Saskatchewan went through tough economic times during the 1980's and 1990's and as a result millions of Rider fans left the province for work, particularly to Alberta. . In Edmonton and especially Calgary, Rider fans make up to half the crowd, and many violent clashes between fans have resulted in recent years between Roughrider and Stampeder fans. [17]Estimates of just exactly how many Rider fans there are range anywhere from 5-7 million people across Canada, representing roughly 1 in 5 Canadians. The Riders have led road attendance in the CFL every year this decade,[18] and local support has skyrocked in recent years due to the on-field success of the club, including the first sold-out season in 2008. [19] The Roughriders attendance record came in 1995 in a win over the Calgary Stampeders as 55,438 (more than 25% of Regina's population) fans watched on. [20] This crowd was attainable that year because of the increased capacity of Taylor Field in preparation of hosting the Grey Cup. Rider fans are also known for dressing up in unique and often bizarre Rider-themed costumes, the most popular being the watermelon helmet.

[edit] University Section

The University Section is a notorious group of season ticket holders who occupy Section 28 in the East Side bleachers at Taylor Field. They are known for their strict allegiance to the Riders, standing through the entire game, and often being merciless to opposing fans who sit in the section and cheer for the road team. They enjoy taunting the opposing team's bench with a series of chanting and slandering. The University Section got it's nickname from the section's main purpose in the 1980's and 1990's and was a discount section offered to university students in Saskatchewan. The section no longer serves as a university section but still retains the name because of the rowdy behaviour of the fans.[21]

[edit] Famous Fans

Many famous Canadians were also Roughrider fans, including former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, former Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas, hockey great Gordie Howe, curling great Sandra Schmirler, comedian Brent Butt, and TSN sportscaster Darren Dutchyshen. Current premier Brad Wall and mayor Pat Fiacco are also lifelong Rider fans. [22]

[edit] Criticism

With the large Rider fanbase and rowdiness of the fans, other teams' fans across the nation have come to dislike the Rider fans. The fans are often called rednecks, hillibillies, and inbreds particularly from fans of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Calgary Stampeders, and Edmonton Eskimos. Saskatchewan as a province has the highest crime rate of any in Canada, and Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field is located within the neighbourhood of North Central, the most dangerous neighbourhood in Canada. [23] Many fan incidents in recent years have become media sensations in Canada, including the 2004 CFL playoffs when Paul McCallum missed a crucial 18-yard field goal in an overtime game against the BC Lions. The Roughriders went on to lose the game, and outraged fans vandalized McCallum's northwest Regina home with eggs, dumped manure on his neighbour's property, and uttered death threats to his family. Rider fans are also known for their constant abuse of Calgary Stampeder and former Rider quarterback Henry Burris, as well as throwing beer cans at the BC Lions bench in 2008 that lead head coach Wally Buono to clear the Lion bench, and most recently at the 2009 Grey Cup in Calgary an unruly fan doused beer on Montreal kicker Damon Duval's wife and two small children, forcing the family to leave with four minutes left in the fourth quarter, missing Duval's game-winning field goal [24]. Hatred of the Riders is most apparent among Prairie fans of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Edmonton Eskimos, and Calgary Stampeders but extends to other places. It has become a tradition at many road games for the home crowd to chant "Riders Suck!"

[edit] Public company

The Roughriders are one of only a few publicly owned professional sports companies in North America, complete with a board of directors (although other teams are directly owned by publicly traded companies, such as the Toronto Blue Jays (Rogers Communications), New York Rangers and New York Knicks (Cablevision), and the Seattle Mariners (Nintendo of America)). The Roughriders' public ownership model is similar to the Green Bay Packers where a limited number of shares have been sold to the public. The most recent public offering of Rider Shares — Series 1 commenced in 2004 at an offering price of $250 per share, which added 6,000 new shareholders before the offering closed.^[1][2]

[edit] Players of note

[edit] Current roster

[edit] Canadian Football Hall of Famers

• Ron Atchison
• Roger Aldag
• Bill Baker
• Al Benecick
• "Gluey" Hugh Campbell
• Ken Charlton
• Bill Clarke
• Ray Elgaard
• Edwin "Eddie" "Dynamite" James
• Bobby Jurasin
• Ron Lancaster
• Ed McQuarters
• George Reed
• Dave Ridgway
• Martin Ruby
• N. J. "Piffles" Taylor
• Ted Urness

[edit] Retired numbers

• 23 Ron Lancaster
• 34 George Reed
• 36 Dave Ridgway
• 40 Mel Becket
• 44 Roger Aldag
• 55 Mario DeMarco
• 56 Ray Syrnyk
• 73 Gordon Sturtridge

[edit] Recent regular season and playoff results

[edit] Season-by-season records

[edit] The 1990s

Legend:
F = For, A = Against

* For the 1995 Season, all 8 Canadian teams were featured in the Northern Division.

[edit] The Danny Barrett era

* From 2000 to 2002, the CFL awarded a single point to teams losing in overtime. The Riders had two such losses during the 2002 season.

[edit] The Post-Barrett Era

[edit] See also

• Canadian Football Hall of Fame
• Canadian football
• List of Canadian Football League seasons

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Saskatchewan Roughriders Official Site
• Regina Leader-Post Roughriders coverage
• RiderFans.com
• RiderPrider.com

v • d • e Sports teams based in Saskatchewan Baseball WMBL: Melville Millionaires · Moose Jaw Express · Regina Red Sox · Saskatoon Yellow Jackets · Swift Current Indians · Weyburn Beavers · Yorkton Cardinals Football CFL: Saskatchewan Roughriders, CJFL: Regina Thunder · Saskatoon Hilltops Hockey WHL: Moose Jaw Warriors · Prince Albert Raiders · Regina Pats · Saskatoon Blades · Swift Current Broncos, AJHL: Lloydminster Bobcats, SJHL: Battlefords North Stars · Estevan Bruins · Flin Flon Bombers · Humboldt Broncos · Kindersley Klippers · La Ronge Ice Wolves · Melfort Mustangs · Melville Millionaires · Nipawin Hawks · Notre Dame Hounds · Weyburn Red Wings · Yorkton Terriers Soccer CMISL: Saskatoon Accelerators Lacrosse RMLL: Saskatchewan SWAT Rugby union RCNJC: Northern Saskatchewan Wolverines · Saskatchewan Prairie Fire, NWL: Saskatchewan Rugby Union Ringette NRL: Saskatoon Wild Canadian Interuniversity Sport University Of Regina Cougars, University Of Regina Rams (football), University Of Saskatchewan Huskies