Saskatchewan Roughriders

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a Canadian Football League team based in Regina, Saskatchewan, founded in 1910. They play their home games at 2940-10th Avenue in Regina, which has been the team's home base for its entire history, even prior to the construction of Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field. 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". They have won three Grey Cups over their 100 year history, despite playing in the championship game 18 times. The fans are known for their loyalty and "Rider Pride", and it is not unusual to find a group of Rider fans following the team on their road games across the country. 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.

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: Riders, 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: 18;—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). 2010 (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, Montreal Alouettes.
 * 2010 regular season record: 10 wins, 8 losses. 20 points

Franchise history
The team was founded as the Regina Rugby Club on Tuesday, September 13, 1910, adopting the colours of old gold and purple. Regina played their first game against the Moose Jaw Tigers on October 1, 1910 at the Moose Jaw Baseball Grounds where they were defeated 16-6. For the 1911 season, the team changed their colours to blue and white and changed them again in 1912 to red and black. They changed their name to the Regina Roughriders in 1924, then unofficially to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1946. Officially, they changed their team name to the Saskatchewan Roughriders on April 1, 1950 while changing their team colours from red and black to green and white in 1948.

The formation of what became the CFL brought them into an 8-team league which also included the Ottawa Rough Riders. Both teams were allowed to keep their established names, identically pronounced although different in spelling, and this situation continued until the Ottawa Rough Riders folded in 1996. The Rough Riders were named for the log rollers of the region's rivers, while the Roughriders were named for an elite North-West Mounted Police corps of expert horsemen.

Tragedy
The Roughriders' darkest day came on December 9, 1956 when four members of the team were killed in a plane crash while returning from the CFL All-Star game in Vancouver. Gordon Sturtridge, Mel Becket, Ray Syrnyk, and Mario DeMarco were killed when Flight 810 crashed into Slesse Mountain near Chilliwack, British Columbia. The team retired the numbers of the four players shortly after the tragedy.

Grey Cup championships
The franchise has won three Grey Cup championships; a 29–14 victory over the now-defunct Ottawa Rough Riders in 1966, a 43–40 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1989 and also a 23–19 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2007. Four times, the Roughriders and (Ottawa) Rough Riders met in Grey Cup finals, prompting joking predictions from sportswriters that 'the Riders' would win it all. Led by Hall of Fame quarterback Ron Lancaster, a string of 11 straight appearances in the Western finals 1966–76 remains a CFL record. The Roughriders also posted the best regular season record in all of pro football over that time period.

2007 season
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 occasion, with stylistic similarities to jerseys worn in the 1960s and 70s.

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.

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 for the franchise..

Mascots
The current official Rider mascot is Gainer the Gopher, who made his first appearance in 1977. "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.

Fan support
Rider fans have been 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. The team is third behind the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs for merchandise sales of Canadian sports teams, and in 2009 the team played in 5 of the 6 most viewed games on television 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. 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. The province of Saskatchewan went through tough economic times during the 1980s and 1990s and as a result thousands 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. The Riders have led road attendance in the CFL every year this decade,. and local support has skyrocketed in recent years due to the on-field success of the club, including the first sold-out season in 2008. 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. 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.

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 its nickname from the section's main purpose in the 1980s and 1990s 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.

Fight and theme songs
The Roughriders are unique among sports teams for the amount of songs written about them. The official Rider songs are played regularly at the stadium, and include "Green is the Colour", "Rider Pride", and "Paint the Whole World Green." In addition, during every fourth quarter intermission, the P.A. system plays the cult hit "The Last Saskatchewan Pirate" by Captain Tractor, and the Riders Cheer Team leads the crowd in a fourth quarter stretch. There are many other songs that have been created over the years to tribute the team as well. Many of these songs have proved so popular in Western Canada that they have become popular culture phenomena. The music selection at Mosaic Stadium is mostly consisted of mainstream popular music.

Radio and television
CKRM Radio launched in 1926, and serves as the primary home of the Saskatchewan Roughriders during the football season, and the Regina Pats during the hockey season. Rod Pedersen is the play-by-play announcer, and game broadcasts are available throughout much of Saskatchewan via CKRM and worldwide on the internet through the station's website. Sirius Satellite Radio also enjoys an exclusive deal with the CFL, including the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and all games are available on Sirius. On television in Canada, all Roughrider games are broadcast nationally in English on TSN and select games are available in French on RDS. Outside of Canada, some of the team's games can be viewed in the United States on NFL Network and on the Internet via ESPN3.

Public company
The Roughriders are one of only a few publicly owned professional sports companies in North America, complete with a board of directors. The Roughriders' public ownership model is similar to the Green Bay Packers where a limited number of shares have been sold to the public. It is not possible to resell these shares, no dividend payment is possible and no person may hold more than 20 voting shares. A recent public offering of Rider Shares — Series 1 — commenced in 2004 at an offering price of $250 per share In 2006 the Ottawa Sun reported that the Roughriders had sold around 3,000 at $250 each. The Series 1 offering closed in 2008 after all 6,000 shares were sold. A second public offering, Series 2, was launched in 2010 in honour of the team's 100th anniversary.

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
 * Don Narcisse
 * George Reed
 * Dave Ridgway
 * Martin Ruby
 * N. J. "Piffles" Taylor
 * Ted Urness
 * Kent Austin

The 1990s
Legend: F = For, A = Against

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

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.