1990 -91 Ottawa Roughriders

[DONMVP]

Ottawa Roughriders who played up to 95 season and folded . Not sure if they had a Ron sleves and pants .The pic there is something there .

[DONMVP]

game shot

[VCFL Commish]

nice job one little correction it was the Ottawa Rough Riders you counldn`t have a league were two teams had the same name lol

[DONMVP]

Yea i know it caused a lot confusion in canada having the 2 rough riders teams

[VCFL Commish]

Only if you weren`t Canadian common there two different words
Roughriders
Rough Riders
Well sort of lol
In all seriousness they were either called the Eastern Riders (Ottawa) or the Western or Greenriders (Saskatchewan)

[dreamtheatervt]

So what is/was the Canadian obsession with Rough Riders?  I'd think that a country that gave the world the creative genius of TPB (the single greatest show, ever.) and Rush could come up with better names.  If you wanted a cowboy reference (I'm guessing that is the reference, seeing that the original Rough Riders were an American Calvary unit led by Teddy Roosevelt), there are still plenty to choose from. 

[MjH]

ORIGINAL: dreamtheatervt
So what is/was the Canadian obsession with Rough Riders?

Here's a bit of the history, quoted from the Saskatchewan Roughriders home-page:

In 1924, the team changed its name from the Regina Rugby Club to the Regina Roughriders.

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.

Ottawa changed their name back to "Rough Riders" in 1927. The history of the Ottawa nick name has also been traced back to the men who "rode" logs down the St. Lawrence river. The team logo in the mid 1990's depicted that.

The other thing you have to realize is that originally the CFL didn't exist as a single league. There were several regional rugby leagues that played their own schedules and didn't interact until the Grey Cup game. When the CFL because a single league (sometime in the 1950's, I think) neither Ottawa nor Saskatchewan wanted to change their names.

[dreamtheatervt]

Thanks MjH.  We don't get CFL exposure down in the states.  I wish we did, because I have to rely on ESPN Classic or my video library for my football viewing entertainment in the summer.