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 team draws fans from across Saskatchewan and Canada who are affectionately known as the "Rider Nation". 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 Roughriders play in the CFL's West Division.

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Team facts

Franchise history

The team was founded as the Regina Rugby Club in 1910. They changed their name to the Regina Roughriders in 1924 and officially to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1948, the same year the team changed their team colours from red and black to green and white. The formation of what became the CFL brought them into the same league as the similarly named, but differently spelled, Ottawa Rough Riders. The Ottawa team was named for the log rollers of the region's rivers. The presence of two teams whose names were pronounced the same in one league came about only when two leagues merged, and the teams were reluctant to change (and allowed to keep) their established nicknames.

Tragedy

The Roughriders' darkest day came in 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 Beckett, 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. ^[1]

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 first time and their 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.

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.

Mascots

The Roughriders have had various mascots over the years. From the 1980s through today, Sandy Montieth of Saskatoon, aka 'The Flame' (named after the Cheap Trick number one song), who has a helmet that emits flames. Each time the Roughriders score, a 12-to-15-foot flame will shoot up from his helmet.

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 is a common animal on the Canadian Prairies.

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. ^{[2] [3]}

Players of note

Current roster

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

Retired numbers

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

Recent regular season and playoff results

The 1990s

Legend:
F = For, A = Against

Season	Coach	Won	Lost	Tied	Points	F	A	Home	Away	Division	Standing	Playoff Results
1990	John Gregory	9	9	0	18	557	592	-	-	4–6	3rd	Lost West Semi-Final 43–27 to Edmonton
1991	Gregory/Matthews	6	12	0	12	606	710	-	-	3–7	4th	Missed Playoffs
1992	Don Matthews	9	9	0	18	505	545	-	-	6–4	3rd	Lost West Semi-Final 22–20 to Edmonton
1993	Don Matthews	11	7	0	22	511	495	-	-	5–5	3rd	Lost West Semi-Final 51–13 to Edmonton
1994	Matthews/Jauch	11	7	0	22	512	454	-	-	4–6	4th	Lost West Semi-Final 36–3 to Calgary
1995*	Ray Jauch	6	12	0	12	422	451	-	-	5–7	6th*	Missed Playoffs
1996	Jim Daley	5	13	0	10	360	498	-	-	3–7	4th	Missed Playoffs
1997	Jim Daley	8	10	0	16	413	479	-	-	5–5	3rd	Won West Semi-Final 33–30 over Calgary Won West Final 31–30 over Edmonton Lost Grey Cup 47–23 to Toronto
1998	Jim Daley	5	13	0	10	411	525	4–5	1–8	2–8	4th	Missed Playoffs
1999	Cal Murphy	3	15	0	6	370	592	3–6	0–9	1–9	4th	Missed Playoffs
Totals	-	73	107	0	146	4667	5341	-	-	-	-	-

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

The Danny Barrett era

Season	Won	Lost	Tied	Points*	F	A	Home	Away	Division	Standing	Playoff Results
2000	5	12	1	11	516	626	2–6–1	3–6	3–6–1	4th	Missed Playoffs
2001	6	12	0	12	308	416	2–7	4–5	3–7	4th	Missed Playoffs
2002	8	10	0	18*	435	393	7–2	1–8	4–6	4th	Crossover: Lost East Semi-Final 24–14 to Toronto
2003	11	7	0	22	535	430	7–2	4–5	7–3	3rd	Won West Semi-Final 37–21 over Winnipeg Lost West Final 30–23 to Edmonton
2004	9	9	0	18	476	444	6–3	3–6	4–6	3rd	Won West Semi-Final 14–6 over Edmonton Lost West Final 27–25 to B.C. in OT
2005	9	9	0	18	441	433	5–4	4–5	6–4	4th	Crossover: Lost East Semi-Final 30–14 to Montreal
2006	9	9	0	18	465	434	6–3	3–6	4–6	3rd	Won West Semi-Final 30–21 over Calgary Lost West Final 45–18 to B.C.
Totals	57	68	1	117*	3176	3176	35–27–1	22–41	31–38–1	-	-

* 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.

The Post-Barrett Era

Season	Coach	Won	Lost	Tied	Points	F	A	Home	Away	Division	Standing	Playoff Results
2007	Kent Austin	12	6	0	24	530	434	6–3	6–3	6–4	1st	Won West Semi-Final 26–24 over Calgary Won West Final 26–17 over B.C. Won Grey Cup 23–19 over Winnipeg
2008	Ken Miller	12	6	0	24	500	471	7–2	5–4	5–5	2nd	Lost West Semi-Final 33–12 to B.C.
2009	Ken Miller	3	3	0	6	161	199	1-2	2-1	2-2	3rd	-
Totals
26	14	0	52	1147	1046	14–7	12–7	12–10	--	--

See also

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

References

1. http://www.riderfans.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58521
2. http://www.saskriders.com/shares/
3. http://www.leaderpost.com/Business/Role+Riders+board+changed/1127623/story.html