The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario.
- Founded: 1876
- Folded: 1996
- Formerly known as: Ottawa Football Club 1876 to 1897, Ottawa Senators 1925 to 1926.
- Home stadium: Frank Clair Stadium, formerly called Landsdowne Park
- Uniform colours: Black, red and white
- Helmet design: Black background with a white "R"
- Eastern championships: 14 -- 1925, 1926, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1948, 1951, 1960, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1976, 1981
- Grey Cups: 9 -- 1925, 1926, 1940, 1951, 1960, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1976
Franchise history
The team was organized in 1876 as the Ottawa Football Club. It adopted the name Rough Riders in 1898. Although in later years the name was said to derive from logging, the team played from 1925 on in the colours of the Canadian Regiment in the Spanish-American War, which, with the date of the renaming, suggests that the name comes from the war. The team did change its nickname to Senators in 1925 and 1926.For much of the team's history it played in the same league as the Saskatchewan Roughriders, confusing many, and also attracting general ridicule to the CFL for being a league with only eight teams but two of them being named rough riders.
Grey Cup victories for the Rough Riders occurred in 1940, 1951, 1960, 1968, 1969, 1973 and 1976. They won the Grey Cup as the Senators in 1925 and 1926.
