"Up There Cazaly" is an Australian sporting catchphrase inspired by former St Kilda and South Melbourne

Sydney Swans

The Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney...

 great Roy Cazaly

Roy Cazaly

Roy Cazaly was an Australian rules football player famous for his high marks and ruck work, which gave rise to the phrase "Up There Cazaly".-Early life/career:...

 ("Up there Cazaly" was "a phrase that would be shouted by team mate Fred "Skeeter" Fleiter

Fred Fleiter

Fred "Skeeter" Fleiter was an Australian rules footballer who played for South Melbourne in the VFL.Fleiter played as a ruck rover and made his league debut in 1919. He played his career beside ruckman Roy Cazaly and is credited with coming up for the famous phrase "Up there Cazaly"...

 when he wanted Cazaly to go for a mark

Mark (Australian football)

A mark is a skill in Australian rules football where a player cleanly catches a kicked ball that has travelled more than 15 metres without anyone else touching it or the ball hitting the ground....

"). The expression later became the basis of a song recorded and composed by The Two Man Band (Mike Brady

Mike Brady (musician)

Mike Brady is an Australian musician most commonly associated with the Australian rules football anthems "Up There Cazaly", referring to 1920s and 30s St Kilda player Roy Cazaly and "One Day in September". "Up There Cazaly" topped the Australian singles charts in September 1979 and briefly held...

 & Peter Sullivan).

The song was recorded in 1979, intended as a promotion for Channel Seven

Seven Network

The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...

's Australian Rules Football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

 (VFL) coverage, and the following year, it was used in the film version of David Williamson

David Williamson

David Keith Williamson AO is one of Australia's best-known playwrights. He has also written screenplays and teleplays.-Biography:...

's The Club

The Club (play)

The Club is a satirical play by Australian playwright David Williamson, that follows the fortunes of a football club over the course of a season. It explores the clashes between "human loyalty versus materialistic gain". It was inspired by the backroom dealings and antics of the Victorian Football...

. The single, released on the independent Fable Records label, sold over 250,000 copies and became the largest-selling Australian single ever released up to that time.

Since then it has entered Australian folklore as a song synonymous with the sport of Australian Rules Football, and has been a feature as part of the pre/post-match entertainment of many VFL/AFL Grand Final

AFL Grand Final

The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...

s.

The song's tune has an unusual key scheme: the verses are in D major, and the chorus is in F major, which is a fairly distant, unrelated key, especially for a popular song; and its final repetition is in G major, in which key the song ends.

Cazaly was a champion footballer of the early 20th Century noted for his high-flying mark

Mark (Australian football)

A mark is a skill in Australian rules football where a player cleanly catches a kicked ball that has travelled more than 15 metres without anyone else touching it or the ball hitting the ground....

s in a time when Australia was involved in war

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

.

"Up There Cazaly" was also a cry used by Australian troops during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

The song is also used as the walkout tune for Tonbridge Angels

Tonbridge Angels F.C.

Tonbridge Angels Football Club is an English football club who play at Longmead Stadium in Tonbridge, Kent, since moving from the Angel Ground in 1980....

 in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

1982 re-recording

In 1982 "Up There Cazaly" was rewritten and released as "Up There Old England" by Cliff Portwood

Cliff Portwood

Clifford Portwood is a former English footballer.-Playing career:Cliff Portwood started his career with Manchester Athletic before joing Preston North End in 1955. He quickly became a regular for the first 11, becoming Tom Finney's understudy. He joined Port Vale for £750 in August 1959. and was...

 and "Members of the 1966 World Cup Team", such as Bobby Moore, Alan Ball, Gordon Banks, Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst etc. Cliff Portwood was a long-time friend of Mike Brady and had permission to use this song along with Peter Sullivan, Cliff's pianist in Australia for the World Cup in 1982. Mike flew to England to help Cliff record the song, but unfortunately it was never released, due to the B side of the song having a portion of "Land of Hope and Glory

Land of Hope and Glory

"Land of Hope and Glory" is a British patriotic song, with music by Edward Elgar and lyrics by A. C. Benson, written in 1902.- Composition :...

" on it, creating a minor licensing issue just as it was getting major airtime on the radio.

In popular culture

In the 1997 documentary series Race Around the World

Race Around the World

Race Around the World was an Australian documentary series produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1997 and 1998 . It was based on a Canadian television series....

, "Up There Cazaly" was played over footage of John Safran

John Safran

John Safran is an Australian documentary maker and radio broadcaster, known for combining humour with explorations into religion and other issues...

 streaking through Jerusalem in St Kilda colours. You Am I

You Am I

You Am I are an Australian alternative rock band, fronted by vocalist/guitarist and main songwriter Tim Rogers. They were the first Australian band to have three albums successively debut at #1 on the ARIA Charts, and are renowned for their live performances.-History:Tim Rogers formed the first...

 vocalist Tim Rogers

Tim Rogers

Tim Rogers is the frontman of Australian rock band You Am I. He is also a solo artist, as well as having fronted and released albums with bands The Twin Set and The Temperance Union.-History:...

 covered part of the song on a 2001 episode of The Footy Show.