| 1931 Up There, Cazaly! |
Our oval in Cramer Street
today stands in Cazaly Ward within the City of Darebin.
Memories of most footballers fade with time, but
the name of Roy Cazaly lives on, and part of the legend was created
during his year as captain coach of Preston in 1931... | |
Roy Cazaly played firstly with St. Kilda, and later transferred across Albert Park to South Melbourne.
Cazaly's spring, especially when going for hit-outs, pioneered the modern ruck game. The catch-cry 'Up There Cazaly', later to lend itself to the smash hit of the 1970s, is attributed to co-ruckman "Skeeter" Fleiter who used it to encourage Cazaly to take the knock-out. The cry soon took hold and become a common roar from the crowd at South's games. It also became a rallying call for Australian troops in the Middle East during the Second World War.
In 1931, Preston appointed Collingwood full-back, Charlie Dibbs, as captain-coach. Dibbs was a resident of Preston and ran the few weeks of training that constituted a “pre-season” in those days, but Collingwood refused him a clearance. Dibbs ultimately played 216 games with Collingwood, including five premierships. Before that, the local club had approached giant North Melbourne ruckman, Norm Lewis to coach, but discovered that he was under a long-term suspension imposed by the V.F.A. before North Melbourne had joined the V.F.L. in 1925.
Nothing remains to suggest how Cazaly and Preston linked up tgether. He had been coaching in Tasmania and was appointed on the eve of the Preston's first match. Cazaly took the attitude that he could build a strong team at Preston by promoting young and enthusiastic players in preference to older players who were not pulling their weight. He sacked half the side and replaced them with youngsters.
"I'll take a chance. I've got 18 fighters behind me now - not one of these kids cares whether he plays on the Preston ground or away from home, he'll go down fighting. I can do something with kids like that."
Cazaly's impact came slowly with Preston winning just three of the first eight games, but unperturbed, Cazaly kept on 'blooding' young players, and the momentum gathered pace. From round 9, Preston had to win virtually every game to make the finals, and apart from a draw against Yarraville, they achieved the feat.
By this time, Preston's brave attempt at the premiership had caught the public's imagination,
"The youngsters at Preston have done everything I have asked of them. That is why I am so confident that we will defeat Oakleigh and then go on to take the pennant. They have been set some severe tasks, but have never flinched under the severest punishment, and have come back to take the honours. We will not have a quitter at Preston. No matter what the trend of Saturday's game, Preston will be coming back asking for more." ROY CAZALY, captain and coach of Preston The Sporting Globe, September 16, 1931
Cazaly at 38 years of age was amongst Preston's best when they beat the top team, Oakleigh in the semi-final, but the slice of luck Preston had needed to make the finals was about to run out. In the final against a much more experienced Northcote, Preston lost top rover "Bluey" Summers at half-time, and with only one replacement allowed, Cazaly was clearly injured in the second half but forced to stay on the ground. Preston lost the final narrowly, and Oakleigh, with the right of challenge as minor premiers, beat Northcote easily in the Grand Final.
There are many unsung heroes around football clubs and certainly Preston had one, who remains anonymous (although there is a strong belief the hero was long-serving comitteeman Alan McAsker) , in 1931.
Cazaly was only appointed in the week before the first game with no chance for him to play in the season opener. Preston were desperate to have him in the team for the second round, but his clearance from Tasmania, which had to be ratified by a V.F.L. Permits Committee that met on Friday nights, had been held up in Tasmania, and finally sent by air-mail on the Friday.
The flight was due at 1:30 p.m. in time for afternoon delivery to the V.F.L. On enquiry, a committeeman was told the mail had been delayed and would not arrive until 4.30, meaning that there was no possibility of the mail being delivered before Saturday morning or Cazaly's clearance being approved in time for him to play.
However, the enthusiasm and zeal of the committee-man were amply rewarded.
Arriving at the aerodrome at 2.30, he waited till 4.30 for the arrival of the mail to ascertain whether there was anything for the Victorian Football League. He received little encouragement at the airport, however, as the mail was transported to the P.M.G. wagon and hastily driven to Spencer Street.
The committeeman dashed off on a motorcycle in pursuit and he eventually landed himself in the sorting room at Spencer Street. After enquiring of the superintendent, he was told that the mail had been despatched to Elizabeth Street. In the meantime, the official met Messrs Cazaly and Hannah, who were lamenting their misfortune, but fresh hope sprang up as the ardent official wended his way to the sorting room at Elizabeth Street and ascertained that there was, in fact, a mail for the V.F.L.
He was advised that it would be necessary to obtain permission from the secretary of the League, Mr. L. H. O'Brien, authority to hand over the letter. This being done, the official rushed the correspondence to Mr. O'Brien's office just minutes before he left for the Permit Meeting, and on opening, it was discovered that it did indeed contain a clearance for Cazaly from Tasmania.
The League met that night and granted Cazaly his permit to play against Coburg the following day.
In 1939, The Sporting Globe senior writer, Hec. DeLacy nominated Roy Cazaly as the best all-round footballer that he had ever seen. Two years later, he wrote an article on Cazaly and included some reminiscences of a game he had watched at Preston
"In one game, a big opposition follower stood off and threw a punch at a clever Preston wingman.
"Cazaly left the forward line and ran the follower to earth, spun him around and smacked him across the face with an open hand. While this was going on, another opponent and a former League man ran up behind and gave Cazaly a rabbit-killer and dropped him. He was up in a split second".
"The ball was kicked into a pack in which Cazaly and his assailant were the principals. Despite my closest watch, all I can report is that Cazaly came away with the ball loping along in the long-striding way he had, while his assailant lay in a heap on the ground with his tongue hanging out over his cheek and was obviously seized suddenly with some sort of violent spasm. The rough stuff stopped in a trice". The Sporting Globe, April 19, 1941According to Marc Fiddian’s earlier history of the club, Cazaly was reputedly been paid £8 per week in 1931, which was more than double the basic wage - although he does not quote the source of this claim and there is no supporting contemporary evidence.
This may or may not be true, but if it was the case, then he was being paid by someone outside the club.
In reality the club was being hit hard by the growing economic depression. The 1930 Annual Report shows a total expenditure on coach, players and training staff of £1401 (£1205 plus £196 respectively), but in 1931 the figure was virtually halved to £715 (only a single figure was shown).
However, with a young side likely to play finals football, Preston should have been a team that would attracted experienced players to the coaching role. Yet just three weeks before the season, the club had not received a single application for the position!
Cazaly had not been heard from since the end of the previous season – some committeemen proposed approaching Cazaly directly, but others were against the move "it is doubtful if the Preston Football Club are in a position to pay the fancy prices that have been paid previously"
In his place, Preston appointed Harry Hunter, who played a handful of games with the club in 1921 before moving to Essendon, where he played 109 games. Hunter had been captain-coach of Yarraville in 1930 and 1931, and impressed Preston officials with his coaching mid-way through the latter season when his tactical moves in the second half gave the western suburbs team a surprise win over the locals at Cramer Street