- Up There Cazaly
"Up There Cazaly" is an Australian sporting catchphrase inspired by former St Kilda and South Melbourne great
Roy Cazaly ("Up there Cazaly" was "a phrase that would be shouted by team mate Fred "Skeeter" Fleiter when he wanted Cazaly to go for a mark" [ [http://www.footballlegends.org/roy_cazaly.htm Roy Cazaly - An Early Tasmanian Football Legend ] ] ). The expression later became the basis of a song recorded and composed by The Two Man Band (Mike Brady & Peter Sullivan.)The song was recorded in 1979, intended as a promotion for
Channel Seven 'sAustralian Rules Football (VFL) coverage, and the following year, it was used in the film version ofDavid Williamson 's "The Club". The single, released on the independentFable 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 Finals.
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 marks in a time when Australia was involved in war.
"Up There Cazaly" was also a cry used by Australian troops during
World War II .Controversy
In 2006,
Cliff Portwood , a former English soccer player with a band consisting of members of the 1966 World Cup team plagiarized and began selling a song called "Up There (Old) England", which had a similar tune to Up There Cazaly with lyrics for the English Soccer Team. This was reported onBBC Radio and in theHerald Sun . It was falsely claimed by many that the song was released in 1966 for the team's World Cup campaign, however in Australia, Mike Brady appeared on3AW radio with this news, with legal action being considered and to retrieve any royalties associated with the sale of the song. However, the song was not a commercial success in England and quickly vanished from the public consciousness.This tune is used by Derby County fans for their anthem "Steve Bloomer's Watching".References
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