It's not easy being a Roughrider fan sometimes. The team celebrated its 100th anniversary a couple of years ago; since its inception as the Regina Rugby Club, the team has won only 3 league championships, in 1966, 1989, and 2007. That's not to say that there haven't been good teams -in the late 1950s to mid-70s, the team quite consistently made the playoffs, but either didn't advance to the Grey Cup, or did and lost, sometimes in a heartbreaking fashion (Tony Gabriel, I'm lookin' at you). After the mid-70's, the team embarked on a 20 or so year stretch of losing seasons.
Strangely enough, that's when I started to be a Rider fan. Not because I was a glutton for punishment, but I think because that's when I became aware of the team. As a child, I knew the team existed; I'm sure the 1976 Grey Cup game was on TV at our house. I remember having this idea that the 'cast' syllable in Ron Lancaster's (arguably one of the greatest CFL quarterbacks ever) name, was associated somehow with his seemingly frequent injuries towards the end of his career (I was 7. And weird. Give me a break). I look back on those years of drought now, and especially on the accomplishments of some of the individual players, in amazement. This year, the Riders had three receivers with over 1000 reception yards; in 1991, one of the two other years in which that happened, the team had a 6-12 record. There are Roughriders from that era whose records still stand, who played on mediocre to flat-out bad teams.
Since the bad years, we've had good years, great years, erratic years, and frustrating years. I still find it odd to hear the Riders referred to as an 'elite' team in the league; it doesn't seem real to someone who lived through the 1980's, and started watching the 1989 Grey Cup game hoping that the team would at least put up a good fight (spoiler alert: they did.) The losing 2011 season was a nightmare -it seemed as though the previous winning seasons had been a dream, and we were waking up to the reality that nothing had changed; or that someone had sold their soul to get the winning seasons and it was now payback time.
It's not easy being a Roughrider player or coach sometimes. The best fans in the league, to be sure, but those fans won't hesitate to let you know that you should have caught that pass/called a different play/thrown to a different receiver/not thrown at all/ran/blocked/taken up polo... you get the idea. The community is also small enough that players and coaches are easily recognizable, and people may even know where you live, should they wish to express their feelings in a more direct fashion. The common saying is that the most popular guy in town after the Riders have lost a game is the backup quarterback.
But throughout the seasons, the fans have stayed. Other CFL teams have had bad seasons; even several seasons' worth. For those other teams, this has meant large numbers of empty seats in their stadiums, little community support, and diminishing media attention. Not here. I think that in Saskatchewan, we're used to persevering in the face of adversity. In the face of problems beyond anyone's control, whether it was poor crops, economic downturns, drought, hail, severe winters, or losing football seasons, there still had to be hope that things would get better. Without hope, there was nothing left - and giving up has never been the easy option here. Next year...next year things will be different....next year things will be better....is a way of life here. And that is what has kept the team and fans going throughout its history.
No matter what the outcome of today's game is, we will still bleed green, we will still support the Roughriders. But.....2013 Grey Cup Champions sounds really good...and I am curious about how many dancing people Albert Street will really hold. Next year is NOW - GO RIDERS!
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