Okay, I’ve almost recovered from the dissapointment that was the outcome of the 2009 Grey Cup game . . . and what a game it was.

To have our beloved Riders lose the championship – in a game that they dominated until the end, . . . and to lose by one point . . . with no time on the clock . . . due to a silly mistake that resulted in a penalty (too many players on the field) which gave the Alouettes one final shot at a winning field goal . . . that was a giant heartbreaker!

However, Saskatchewan Roughrider fans, all over the world, are Roughrider fans whether their team wins or loses.  And, Saskatchewan, has no problem playing the role of “next year country”.

Rider fans are amazing!

The Roughriders are “Canada’s Team” and the fans are the “Rider Nation”.  The Riders are not just a football team, they are a “religion” . . .  a “cult”.

In Canada, no matter what city the Roughriders play in, there will be almost as many Rider fans as home team fans . . . and they’ll be crazier and louder than the home team crowd.  Player Andy Fantuz has said that the Riders feel like they’re playing at home, even when they’re on the road . . . there are always so many Rider fans in the stands that the players feel that they play on either home fields or “neutral” fields . . . they never really feel like they’re playing an “away” game.

The unconditional love of the crazy Saskatchewan fans for their Roughriders has a psychological effect on the players that is one of the secrets to their success.

. . . And Rider fans can be found all over the world . . . whether you’re in Afganistan, Holland or Costa Rica, if the Riders are playing, you’ll find Rider fans crowded around a television, radio, or Internet-connected computer.

Now, SaskTel and a Saskatoon-based company called zu have developed “the Rider App”, which is an application for Blackberry and iPhone/iPod Touch mobile devices that provides information about the Saskatchewan Roughriders including: game statistics and scores, complete team season statistics, season schedule, roster and player information, league results and standings, news articles and blogs, as well as official Rider twitter updates.

The Rider App, developed by SaskTel in partnership with Saskatoon-based zu, is a free download for compatible mobile devices. Fans can download the Rider App for free by visiting www.riderville.com/page/riders-mobile. 

Get this!  SaskTel, in a press release issued on November 20, 2009, entitled “Rider Pride running rampant around the world” reported that, in the first month after its release, the Rider App had been downloaded over 11,000 times in 64 countries! (That’s 1/3 of the world!) . . . and that was before the Riders won the Western Division Championship and before they were Grey Cup-bound. (I’d be interested to know how many times the App was downloaded before last Sunday’s big game).

Anyway . . . congratulations to the Alouettes for “stealing” the Grey Cup from us . . .

. . . and congratulations to the Riders on a great season and an exciting Grey Cup game.

We still love you and we can’t wait for next season!

From Riderville.com, the Official Site of the Saskatchewan Roughriders:

THE HISTORY OF THE ROUGHRIDERS

Organized football in Saskatchewan began on Tuesday, September 13, 1910 with the formation of the Regina Rugby Club. The original idea was for the team to be a rowing club, but three-down football soon found its way to Saskatchewan. The original colours of the Regina Rugby Club were gold and purple. The team lost its first game 7-6 to Moose Jaw.

The next season, the team changed its colours to blue and white to match the Regina Amateur Athletic Association. A third colour change occurred in 1912 when they changed to red and black, which they would keep for the next 36 years.
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.

In 1921, East-West interlocking games began being played for the Canadian Championship symbolized by the Grey Cup.

Lacking suitable opposition in this province, in 1936, Regina banded with Winnipeg to form the Western Conference.

The year 1948 was a milestone one for the Roughriders. With the folding of both clubs in Moose Jaw and Saskatoon, the Regina Roughriders became a provincially-owned and -operated club, surviving only on the undying support from the entire province. They became the SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS”.

The team also changed its colours in 1948 to the familiar Green and White. The team was in bad need of new uniforms, and when executive member Jack Fyffe found a set of green and white jerseys at a surplus store in Chicago, for pure economic reasons, the 50 year legacy of the “Green and White” was born and has existed to this day.

In 1956, the Roughriders suffered a terrible tragedy when players Gordon Sturtridge (#73), Mel Beckett (#40), Ray Syrnyk (#56) and Mario Demarco (#55) were killed in a plane crash while returning from an all-star game in Vancouver. Flight #810 crashed into Mt. Slesse in the Coastal Mountains just south of Chilliwack, B.C. The four players’ uniforms are among the eight Roughrider numbers retired by the club. Dave Ridgway (#36), Ron Lancaster (#23), George Reed (#34) and Roger Aldag (#44) are the others.

Ten years removed from the tragic accident, the Roughriders, with coach Eagle Keys at the helm, saw their first great achievement. By defeating the Ottawa Rough Riders 29-14 in Vancouver’s Empire Stadium on November 26th, 1966, Saskatchewan captured its first Grey Cup championship. Lancaster and Reed played key roles in leading the Riders to their first national title.

The Riders remained one of the best teams in the CFL for nearly 15 years, making the post-season every year from 1962 to 1976. Included in that span was five Grey Cup appearances, 1966 (which they won), 1967, ’69, ’72 and ’76

The Roughriders would update their look one more time in 1985, adding black and silver to the Green and White, and featuring a new stylized ‘S’ logo.

The team had several lean years during the late-‘70s and early 1980s, where poor on-field performances led to even worse gates. However, fans remained positive that a turn-around would soon come and it did, by way of one of the best Grey Cup games ever played.

On November 19, 1989, kicker Dave Ridgway nailed a 35-yard last minute field goal to seal the Roughriders’ second ever Grey Cup championship with a 43-40 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Toronto’s SkyDome.

Canada’s Team has now made the playoffs six straight years, including four appearances in the Western Division Finals since 2003. The Riders reached the pinnacle of the CFL for the third time in the team’s history when they captured the Grey Cup in Toronto on November 25, 2007 after defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 23-19.