Full name Roy Cazaly Name Roy Cazaly Nickname(s) Cazza Weight 80 kg | Positions Ruckman Place of death Hobart, Tasmania Original team Middle Park | |
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Date of birth (1893-01-13)13 January 1893 Date of death 10 October 1963(1963-10-10) (aged 70) Role Australian Rules Football Player Died October 10, 1963, Hobart, Australia | ||
Place of birth Albert Park, Victoria | ||
2005 Legend | Roy Cazaly
Roy Cazaly (13 January 1893 – 10 October 1963) was an Australian rules footballer who played for South Melbourne and St Kilda in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He also represented Victoria and Tasmania in interstate football, and after his retirement as a player, turned to coaching. Known for his ruck work and high-flying marks, he inspired the common catchphrase "Up there, Cazaly!", which became a popular song of the same name, securing his place in Australian folklore.
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Cazaly was one of 12 inaugural "Legends" inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
Early life/career
Cazaly was born in Albert Park, a suburb of Melbourne, on 13 January 1893. He was the tenth child of English-born James Cazaly and his wife Elizabeth Jemima (née McNee), a midwife and herbalist from Scotland.
Cazaly learnt his football at the local state school, quickly becoming its first-choice ruckman. He tried out for VFL side Carlton Football Club in 1910, but quit the club when he injured a shoulder in a reserves match and could not get the Carlton medical staff to treat it. Cazaly crossed to fellow VFL side St Kilda and made his senior debut in 1911 during a players' strike, when many of St Kilda's regular senior players refused to play as a result of a dispute with the club's committee over dressing rooms. He played 99 matches with St Kilda.
VFL fame
In 1920 he left St Kilda, signing with South Melbourne. He coached that club in 1922, and won South's most consistent player award in 1926.
Cazaly was famous for his ability to take spectacular marks despite his small stature, and at South Melbourne a teammate, Fred "Skeeter" Fleiter, would often yell "Up there, Cazaly", a phrase that would become synonymous with Australian rules football. He initially developed his marking ability by jumping at a ball strung up in a shed at his home, and held his breath as he jumped, an action that he believed lifted him higher. He also possessed the capacity to kick a football over 65 metres. In 2009 The Australian nominated Cazaly as one of the 25 greatest footballers never to win a Brownlow Medal.
Coaching career
In 1928 he departed Victoria and headed for Launceston, Tasmania, before returning in 1931 to coach Preston in the Victorian Football Association. His subsequent return to Tasmania was punctuated by short stints as non-playing coach of South Melbourne (in 1937–1938), coach of Camberwell (in 1941 – at age 48, he was nominally a non-playing coach, but he did strip for a few games late in the season) and non-playing coach of Hawthorn (in 1942–1943), and as non-playing assistant coach of South in 1947. While coaching Hawthorn, he was reported to have given the club its nickname the "Hawks" as he saw it as tougher than their original nickname the "Mayblooms".
Legacy
He is known to have played 378 senior matches (including 13 interstate matches for Victoria and 5 for Tasmania). Throughout his career he stood at just 180 centimetres (5 feet 11 inches) and was incredibly fit. He retired from competitive football in 1941 at the age of 48. Later, he coached (non-playing) New Town to a number of Tasmanian Football League premierships. After his retirement from football, he was involved in many business ventures before his death in Hobart on 10 October 1963. His son, Roy junior, played for New Town after World War II.
The famous line of "Up there, Cazaly" was used a battle cry by Australian forces during World War II.
It is also the name of a song, released in 1979 by Mike Brady and the Two-Man Band.
Cazaly was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996 as one of the inaugural twelve Legends.
Cazaly's Stadium in Cairns, Queensland is named after Roy Cazaly.