Up There Cazaly - Aussie football anthem

Roy Cazaly (1893–1963) was an early champion ruckman for St Kilda and South Melbourne Clubs from 1911-27. In the 1910s and 1920s, Cazaly formed a famous ruck pack with teammates Fred Skeeter Fleiter and Mark Napper Tandy, who was known for his high marks i.e massive leaps skywards. When teamed with Fleiter and Tandy, Cazaly soared well above the packs of tall players (Sporting Globe, 1935). While Cazaly made a leap, Fleiter would shepherd (protect) and the men would scream “Up there Cazaly” together. The crowds joined in the scream!

Cazaly going up for a screamer/a great mark 

The words later became a battle cry used by Australia’s WW2 troops. It was noted that Cazaly's unusual surname likely contributed to the words’ nationalist fervour amongst working-class male soldiers overseas. Back home in Australia, the famous playwright Ray Lawler included the phrase in his play Summer of the Seventeenth Doll 1955 where the heroine Nancy used it on several occasions, with clear theatrical effect.

But why was a song necessary? In 1978, the Mojo Singers' song C'mon Aussie C'mon was so successful at promoting Channel 9's cricket coverage that it became a #1 hit in Australia. So Channel 7 urgently wanted a similar theme for its Victorian Football League/VFL broadcasts and an advertising company signed up singer-songwriter Mike Brady.

   

L->R: Mark Tandy, Fred Fleiter, Roy Cazaly, South Melb,

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When the South Melbourne Football Club relocated north to Sydney in 1982 as the Sydney Swans, the club changed its song to a version of Brady’s song, Up There for Sydney. This song was not loved and the new Sydney club soon reverted to its original song, Cheer the Red and the White.

The song was featured in the 1980 film version of The Club, the play by David Williamson. In 1981, Ian Turner and Leonie Sandercock published a book on the VFL history called Up Where, Cazaly?: The Great Australian Game. On his 2007 album The World's Most Popular Pianist Plays Down Under Favorites, French pianist Richard Clayderman included a medley of 3 Australian favourites: a]Up There Cazaly, b]Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport and c]A Pub With No Beer.

The National Postal Service opened a tv ad campaign in 2016. They created a cover version of Up There Cazaly, sung by various groups in their own cultural styles. It was affiliated with the AFL's Multicultural version of the anthem.

"Up Where, Cazaly?: The Great Australian Game"

book written by Turner & Sandercock

Stadia, teams and singers may change but there's one non-negotiable truth when it comes to AFL grand finals: Brady singing again, the heart of AFL Grand Final day. Brady told ABC Radio I just have a really lovely feeling about it when I sing it because people like it. And to have 95,000 people sing along with you is wonderful." But why is Brady's song still rocketing along 4 decades on?

By 1979, Brady was actively promoting Channel 7’s coverage of the VFL, composing a jingle about footy being chosen over any other weekend leisure. A disc jockey played the short jingle and asked Brady to turn it into a full-length song.  It was first performed by the Two-Man Band, Brady and music arranger Peter Sullivan, and later became the “anthem” of Australian Rules Football/AFL. The catch-cry was soon adopted by South Melbourne fans and entered our slang expressing encouragement. The song became the highest-selling Australian single ever, and was nominated for Most Popular Australian Single.

The head of Fable Records Ron Tudor rang from Buckingham Palace where he was being presented with an MBE, saying We've got a number one record! It was a surprise, because although Brady had triumphantly performed the song at the grand final, he’d battled technical issues.

In time the song lost its #1 position but Brady could still write more footy anthems, with One Day in September (1980) very popular. And he helped write Greg Champion's song That's the Thing about Football (1994)

Was/is Mike Brady passionate about Australian footy? British born Brady moved to Melbourne in 1959 and experienced early stardom when his band MPD Ltd had a 1965 Australian hit single with Little Boy Sad. Most assumed Brady loved the sport, but he said he wasn't a huge fan of the game but he'd always been an observant person. He was fascinated by the way this Big Thing dominated Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth & Hobart. He'd been to the football once and spent all the time watching the crowd. It was really a great spectacle for me to observe and that's where Up There Cazaly came from.

                                     

Brady playing at an AFL Grand Final, 

Herald Sun

 

Fans singing with Mike Brady

alamy

When released, the song sold 50,000 copies in 3 weeks. But its popularity each Grand Final didn't make it a huge money-spinner. But apart from its rousing chorus, Brady said the song remained popular 40+ years after its release because it appealed to everyone. It's not all about blokes-males. It's not a blokey song but it’s woke; thus women like it. It neither mentions big men flying nor a specific footy team.

Brady, a Collingwood fan, jokes about his fame. But that first grand final performance back in 1979 was the one where the immigrant realised "the crowd was on his side". Always feeling like an outsider, from that day on, he felt like he belonged in Australia.

Roy Cazaly died in 1963

Cazaly was fit into his 60s, but died in Tasmania at 70. Did he realise how famous his name was?