Oct. 1907: Rough Riders and St. Patrick's Merge

The history of the Rough Riders includes a number of mergers and amalgamations with other local clubs. They absorbed the Ottawa Trojans in the mid-40s, combined with a St. Brigid's club in 1923 and merged with the University of Ottawa squad in 1913.

Much of the details of those events have been recorded here, so today we'll go even further back to the club's rebirth in 1907 as the IRFU (Big Four) was being formed. The Rough Riders and a club from St. Patrick's combined to join the new Union. 

It wouldn't be a an Ottawa football team restructure without a debate about the name!

I haven't come across a list of name suggestions as of yet. The Rough Riders name stuck, perhaps in part because most of the new roster was built from the previous year's version of that team. The articles above are from October 2nd, the one below is from October 11th.

Using the "professional" tag for this post is more a reference to what this team would become than how it operated at that point, based on the second item below. 

Their first season under the new structure would be underwhelming as they achieved two wins and four losses. The 1908 club, however, would win five out of six and take first place in the Big Four.