History of a Football Team

Football, as we know it, evolved from English rugby. The first recorded game of football in Canada was played at the University of Toronto in November of 1861. By 1884 the Canadian Rugby Union was established to oversee the sport across Canada.

Regina’s North-West Mounted Police formed one of the first Saskatchewan Rugby teams in 1888. Their nearest competition was Winnipeg, where they played games twice a year. In 1907 the Saskatchewan Rugby Football League was formed. Three years later, in 1910, the Saskatchewan Rugby Football Union was formed. Teams from Regina, Moose Jaw, Saskatoon, Prince Albert and Weyburn made up the league.

On October 21, 1911, the Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan Unions formed the Western Canada Rugby Football Union (WCRFU). Winnipeg realtor Hugo Ross donated the championship trophy bearing his name. He subsequently drowned in the sinking of the SS Titanic in April 1912. Only teams registered with the CRU were eligible to compete for the Grey Cup, a trophy donated by Governor General Earl Grey for the Rugby Football Championship of Canada. Since the WCRFU was not a full member of the CRU, the 1911 Western Champions, the Calgary Tigers, were not allowed to compete for the national championship.

The Regina Rugby Club changed its colours in 1911 to blue and white to match the Regina Amateur Athletic Association. The colours were changed again in 1912 to red and black, the infantry colours of the Canadian contingent which fought with Teddy Roosevelt in the Spanish-American War. The team kept these colours for 36 years. The Regina Rugby Club changed its name to the “Regina Roughriders” in 1924. One theory is that they were named after this Canadian contingent that had become known as the “Roughriders.” The other theory is that the name came from the NWMP who were called Roughriders because they broke the wild horses that were used by the force.

The Grey Cup game was suspended from 1916–19 during World War I. In 1921 the WCRFU joined the CRU and the Edmonton Eskimos became the first Western team to play in a Grey Cup game. Although the Saskatchewan Roughriders won the Western Conference Championships seven times between 1928 and 1951, they were unsuccessful in obtaining a Grey Cup victory. The Regina team played its first Grey Cup in 1923, losing to Queen’s University 54–0. The team played its second Grey Cup game on December 1, 1928, in the first Grey Cup game ever covered by radio broadcast. In 1929, Regina’s “Jersey Jack” Campbell made the first-ever forward pass thrown in a Grey Cup game. On December 3, 1932, the Regina Roughriders became the first team to win five Division Championships and play in five consecutive Grey Cup games.

In 1936 the Western Interprovincial Football Union (WIFU) was formed with Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Calgary Bronks and Regina Roughriders. A white ball was used at games played under floodlights in western Canada to enhance its visibility for the spectators.

Regina’s Taylor Field opened in 1946. The field was named after Neil J. “Piffles” Taylor, a prominent Regina rugby and football player who left the game in 1916 to serve as a pilot in World War I. After spending a year as a prisoner-of-war he was released in 1918. Despite the loss of an eye, Taylor played as quarterback for the Regina Roughriders and claimed victory over Calgary, winning the 1919 Hugo Ross trophy. Taylor served as president of the Regina Roughriders, the CRU and the WIFU.

When the Moose Jaw and Saskatoon teams dissolved in 1948, the Regina Roughriders became a provincially owned and operated club popularly known as the Saskatchewan Roughriders, a name they would officially adopt on April 1, 1950. Financial constraints prevented the team from replacing their worn out uniforms. In 1948 executive member Jack Fyffe found a set of green and white jerseys at a surplus store in Chicago and the legacy of “Green and White” was born. In 1989 the uniform was updated with the addition of silver and black to the “Green and White” along with a new logo.

Tragedy struck the Saskatchewan Roughriders on December 9, 1956, when Flight #810 flying from Vancouver to Regina crashed into the side of Mount Sleese in the Rockies: 62 passengers and crew were killed including Winnipeg Blue Bomber Calvin Jones and Roughriders Gordon Sturtridge, Mel Beckett, Ray Syrnyk and Mario DeMarco who were returning from the Shrine All Star Game in Vancouver. The families of Mel Beckett and Mario DeMarco donated the Beckett-DeMarco trophy to recognize the Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman in the West.

On November 26, 1966, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, led by coach Eagle Keys, won their first Grey Cup defeating the Ottawa Rough Riders 29–14 in Vancouver’s Empire Stadium. The Saskatchewan Roughriders again represented the Western Division in the 1967, 1969, 1972 and 1976 Grey Cup games. On November 19, 1989, Head Coach John Gregory led The Saskatchewan Roughriders to their second Grey Cup victory on a last-second field goal by Dave Ridgeway, defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 43–40 at Toronto’s Skydome in the highest scoring game in Grey Cup history. In the 1997 Grey Cup, Saskatchewan was defeated 47–23 by Toronto, a team they had not faced since the 1930 game between Regina and Balmy Beach. Regina hosted the Grey Cup game on November 19, 1995, and on November 16, 2003. At the 1995 game, the Baltimore Stallions became the first and only American-based team to win the trophy, defeating the Calgary Stampeders 36–20.