The West Virginia Roughriders are a professional indoor football team based in

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending ...

. They were founded in 2016 as the Richmond Roughriders and played at the

Richmond Coliseum Richmond Coliseum is a defunct arena located in downtown Richmond, Virginia, with a capacity of 13,500 that was most often used for various large concerts. The arena opened in 1971 and the region is looking to replace the aging facility with a la ...

in 2017 and 2018. They were members the Arena Pro Football (APF) league in 2017. The Roughriders initially announced they were joining the

National Arena League The National Arena League (NAL) is a professional indoor football league that began play in 2017. It consists of teams based on the East Coast of the United States. Teams' typical payroll budget is $600,000 per season, while players are paid $ ...

(NAL) for the 2018 season but then later joined the

American Arena League The American Arena League (AAL) is a professional indoor football minor league that began playing in 2018. The league was initiated by a merger between Arena Pro Football (APF) and the Can-Am Indoor Football League (Can-Am), although the AAL o ...

(AAL). After the one season in the AAL, the owner announced he was creating his own league, Professional Arena Football, and left the AAL but the new league never gained traction and the team returned to the AAL. Concurrently, the Roughriders also moved to Wheeling due to arena issues in Richmond. They again announced they were not returning to the AAL for the 2020 season and joined the NAL two years after initially backing out. However, the 2020 season was cancelled due to the effects of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the team opted to go dormant for the 2021 season, and then left the NAL prior to the 2022 season.

History

Richmond Roughriders (2017–2018)

The Roughriders were first formed in October 2016 as members of Arena Pro Football's inaugural season. The team would go undefeated in the 2017 season in the unstable APF. The Roughriders defeated the

Florida Tarpons The Florida Tarpons were a professional indoor football team based in Lakeland, Florida, out of the RP Funding Center. Originally established in Estero, Florida, and playing out of Germain Arena, they began play in 2012 as an expansion team of t ...

71–61 to capture the APF's only championship. At the end of the first season, the APF was announced to have merged with the

Can-Am Indoor Football League The American Arena League (AAL) is a professional indoor football minor league that began playing in 2018. The league was initiated by a merger between Arena Pro Football (APF) and the Can-Am Indoor Football League (Can-Am), although the AAL o ...

for the 2018 season to create the

(AAL). The new league initially announced the Roughriders as members in the league, but ownership claimed they were still exploring their options and never committed to the AAL. On July 20, 2017, the

announced it had conditionally approved a team from Richmond as members for the 2018 season with the Roughriders confirming that they were finalizing their NAL expansion requirements. However, on September 13, 2017, the team announced that they were instead joining the

citing that the AAL would be a better fit for them. In December 2017, rapper

Jim Jones James Warren Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was an American preacher, political activist and mass murderer. He led the Peoples Temple, a new religious movement, between 1955 and 1978. In what he called "revolutionary suicide ...

became part owner of the team along with the original owners Gregg Fornario and Mike Kacor. Jones immediately made the news by publicly offering the then-currently unemployed and controversial former NFL quarterbacks

Colin Kaepernick Colin Rand Kaepernick ( ; born November 3, 1987) is an American civil rights activist and football quarterback who is a free agent. He played six seasons for the San Francisco 49ers in the National Football League (NFL). In 2016, he knelt du ...

and

Johnny Manziel Johnathan Paul Manziel ( ; born December 6, 1992) is an American football quarterback for the FCF Zappers of Fan Controlled Football (FCF). He played two seasons with the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) and was also a mem ...

a position on the team. On January 26, 2018, the team announced the signing of controversial former NFL defensive lineman

Greg Hardy Gregory McKarl Hardy (born July 28, 1988) is an American former football defensive end, mixed martial artist and professional boxer who played in the National Football League (NFL) for six seasons, primarily with the Carolina Panthers. He played ...

. The signing gained significant media attention, mostly criticizing the move in response the on-going

Me Too movement #MeToo is a social movement against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture, in which people publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media in ...

, heightened attention to the treatment of women, and Hardy's 2014 domestic violence charge. In the 2018 season, the Roughriders continued to have success and went 7–1 for the season and first-place finish, only losing to the

Georgia Doom The Georgia Doom were a professional indoor football team based out of Macon, Georgia. They play their home games at Macon Coliseum. They started as a midseason road team filling in for the folded Dayton Wolfpack in the National Arena League in 20 ...

. After the

Atlanta Havoc Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

lost their final game of the season, also to the Doom, the Roughriders earned home field advantage for the playoffs. They defeated the

Carolina Energy The Charlotte Thunder are a professional indoor American football team based out of Charlotte, North Carolina. They are members of the American Arena League (AAL) and play their home games at the Bojangles' Coliseum. The team was formed prior to t ...

57–43 in a semifinal game before facing the Havoc. The Roughriders led the game through the first half, but the Havoc came back to win the inaugural AAL championship game 58–50. After the end of the season, the Roughriders home, the

, was scheduled for demolition and to be replaced by a new venue. The team claimed any new arena would be priced out of their affordability and the Roughriders could not return to Richmond for a 2019 season. Majority owner and general manager Gregg Fornario stated they were looking into venues in Hershey,

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, and

Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It is the secon ...

in Pennsylvania,

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

in Virginia, and

Atlantic City Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...

in New Jersey.

West Virginia Roughriders (2019–2021)

On August 15, 2018, Roughriders' owner Gregg Fornario announced his intentions of creating a new league called Northern Arena Football (NAF). His Roughriders team was not initially planning on leaving the AAL with the NAF only having teams north of the Maryland-Pennsylvania border. However, by August 28, Fornario had rebranded the new league as Professional Arena Football (PAF) with multiple divisions, Northern Arena Football and Southern Arena Football, and the Roughriders were announced as part of Professional Arena Football on August 30, leaving the AAL. The league was also announced to have the

New England Cavalry The American Arena League (AAL) is a professional indoor football minor league that began playing in 2018. The league was initiated by a merger between Arena Pro Football (APF) and the Can-Am Indoor Football League (Can-Am), although the AAL on ...

and Marion Mambas as members. By November 2018, no new teams had been accepted by the PAF and Fornario decided to not launch the league in 2019. After the loss of the Richmond Coliseum, the Roughriders also settled on a lease to use

WesBanco Arena WesBanco Arena (originally Wheeling Civic Center) is a multi-purpose arena located in Wheeling, West Virginia. It was built in 1977 at a cost of $7 million. It is home to the Wheeling Nailers ice hockey team, the West Virginia Roughriders ind ...

, becoming the West Virginia Roughriders. However, Fornario's plans to launch the new league fell through and the team rejoined the AAL for the 2019 season as part of a new Northern Division. The Northern Division consisted of the Burgh Defenders,

Jersey Flight The Jersey Flight were a professional indoor football team based in Trenton, New Jersey. The team played its first two seasons in the American Arena League (AAL) and then as a member of the National Arena League (NAL) from 2020 to 2021. They were ...

, and New England Bobcats. The Flight nearly folded at the start of the season and delayed their season starting date, the Bobcats folded midseason, and the Defenders lost their arena, leading to the Roughriders playing eight of their ten games at home. The team then went undefeated for a 10–0 record and eight wins against AAL opponents. They defeated the Flight in the divisional playoff championship before facing the

West Michigan Ironmen The West Michigan Ironmen are a professional indoor football team based in Muskegon, Michigan (and representing the larger region which also includes Grand Rapids and Holland), the Ironmen play their home games at Mercy Health Arena. The team jo ...

, the Midwest Division champion. The Roughriders then advanced to their third straight league championship game, again at home, and beat the

55–29 to win their first AAL championship. Following the season, Fornario again announced he was removing the Roughriders from the AAL due to differences with league operations. On October 24, 2019, the Roughriders were official added to the

(NAL), two years after Fornario had decided to join the AAL instead of the NAL. The 2020 NAL was then cancelled due to the

and head coach Mook Zimmerman decided to retire in August 2020. At the end of the month, team owner Fornario announced the team was for sale. On October 30, 2020, the NAL announced the Roughriders would be dormant for at least the 2021 season. By December 2020, Fornario signed an agreement to sell the franchise to HMG Sports, the group that attempted to launch the Baltimore Lightning in the NAL for the 2021 season before having their membership terminated three weeks later for not providing a letter of credit and an arena lease. The sale apparently never completed. In October 2021, Fornario stated that he was disputing terms of the team's membership contract with the NAL. The Roughriders then stated they will not return to the NAL and will look into other options. Fornario

tweeted Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that he was in discussions with selling the team to the ownership group that operated the NAL's Albany Empire led by Ron Trideco to keep the team in the NAL, but were eventually removed from the list of 2022 NAL teams and were not included in the schedule. On January 12, 2022, The team announced on their Facebook page that, due to renovations to WesBanco Arena that would force the closure of the venue from June 1st to September 1, the Roughriders would not be playing the 2022 season and options to buy the team were put on hold. On October 24, 2022, head coach Mook Zimmerman signed with the IFL's

Massachusetts Pirates The Massachusetts Pirates are a professional indoor football team of the Indoor Football League based in Worcester, Massachusetts, with home games at the DCU Center. The Pirates began play in the 2018 season as a member of the National Arena Lea ...

as a linebackers and defensive lineman coach.

Statistics

Season-by-season results

''As of the 2019 season:''

2017 APF season

2018 AAL season

2019 AAL season

References

External links

Official website
{{West Virginia Sports American football teams in West Virginia Sports in Wheeling, West Virginia American football teams established in 2019 2019 establishments in West Virginia National Arena League teams