Saskatchewan Roughriders Team History

With the folding of both clubs in Moose Jaw and Saskatoon, the Regina Roughriders became a provincially community-owned club (and has remained so since), and, consequently, changed their name to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1946. It is the first recorded instance of a major-league team in North America branding itself as a statewide or province wide team. Prior to the 1948 season, the Roughriders were in need of new uniforms as their red and black ones had become old and worn out. While visiting a surplus store in Chicago, executive member Jack Fyffe found a set of green and white uniforms and purchased them for the Roughriders. Green and white have remained as the team’s primary colors to this day (although the team has also worn silver and black as accent colors since then at times). The name change was made official on April 1, 1950.

The 54th Grey Cup was hosted at Empire Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia on November 26, 1966. The Saskatchewan Roughriders won their first Grey Cup after 53 years of competition for this trophy, after losing eight times. With Eagle Keys as head coach the Roughriders defeated the Ottawa Rough Riders led by Frank Clair by a score of 29-14. George Reed was the MVP with 31 rushes for 133 yards and one rushing touchdown. Ottawa lost despite two TD passes of over 60 yards to the speedy long-ball threat Whit Tucker. The gooseneck or slingshot field goal posts, invented by Jim Trimble and Joel Rottman, were installed for this game, marking its first appearance in a football championship game. They made their debut a week earlier at Montreal’s new Autostade for the Eastern Conference finals. The game was called with four seconds left in regulation when fans swarmed the field in celebration.

The 77th Grey Cup was the 1989 Canadian Football League championship game played between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at SkyDome in Toronto. The Roughriders defeated the Tiger-Cats, 43 – 40 on Dave Ridgway’s winning field-goal.

The 95th Grey Cup was held in Toronto at the Rogers Centre on November 25, 2007. The Grey Cup, first awarded in 1909, is the championship game of the Canadian Football League. It was played between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, with the Roughriders winning 23 – 19. It was the first Grey Cup meeting between the two teams, and was also the first time any Labour Day Classic matchup has been played in the Grey Cup.

The 95th Grey Cup was the 46th Grey Cup hosted by Toronto since the championship’s inception in 1909 and the first it has hosted since 1992. SkyDome/Rogers Centre previously hosted the 77th Grey Cup in 1989 and the 80th Grey Cup in 1992. The game was announced as a sellout on November 19, 2007. Ticket prices ranged from $94 to $560.

The game was viewed by approximately 3.337 million viewers on CBC television, up from 3.202 million the previous year. This was the last Grey Cup and CFL game broadcast by CBC, as TSN became the exclusive TV home for the CFL the following season.

The 101st Grey Cup was a Canadian football game played between the East Division champion Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the West Division champion Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League to decide the Grey Cup champions of the 2013 season.

The game took place on November 24, 2013, at Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field in Regina, Saskatchewan. It was the third Grey Cup game to be hosted in Regina following the 83rd and 91st editions of the game. The Roughriders won their fourth championship with a score of 45 to 23 against the Tiger-Cats. The game took place on artificial turf, and Mosaic Stadium added temporary seating to bring the total seating capacity to just under 45,000.

Kick-off occurred at 5:30 p.m. CST (6:30 p.m. EST; 3:30 p.m. PST), while the pre-game started at noon CST (1 p.m. EST; 10 a.m. PST).

This was the third consecutive year that the Grey Cup involved a team from the host city, following the BC Lions in the 99th Grey Cup and the Toronto Argonauts in the 100th, with all three games seeing the host win. This was also the fourth time that the Roughriders and Tiger-Cats met in the Grey Cup final, having previously met in the 55th, 60th, and 77th editions of the game. The Roughriders became the second western-based CFL team to win the Grey Cup at their home stadium.

Roughriders running back Kory Sheets was named the Most Valuable Player after setting a Grey Cup record by rushing for 197 yards and scoring two touchdowns. Slotback Chris Getzlaf, also of the Roughriders, was awarded the Dick Suderman Trophy as the Most Valuable Canadian.