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, in 1979, became the title of a popular song, securing his place in Australian folklore.
Cazaly was one of 12 inaugural "Legends" inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
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). James Cazaly was a renowned sculler and rower in Melbourne. Just before 6 July 1878 he was eliminated in a semi-final for the sculling championship of Victoria by the eventual victor, Charles A. Messenger. Elizabeth was 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 rival 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.
One of nine new players in the team, Cazaly played his only First XVIII match for St Kilda against Carlton, at Princes Park, on 29 July 1911.
The other new players were: Alby Bowtell, Claude Crowl, Peter Donnelly, Alf Hammond, Otto Opelt, Rowley Smith, Tom Soutar, and Bill Ward – and, including that match, and ignoring Harrie Hattam (16 games), Bert Pierce (41 games), and Bill Woodcock (65 games), the very inexperienced team's remaining fifteen players had only played a total of 46 matches.
Cazaly played 99 matches with St Kilda.
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.
During the depression of the early 1930s, he worked on the Melbourne waterfront and played with waterside workers in a midweek football competition.
Cazaly coached South Warrnambool during the 1919, 1920 and 1921 finals series and when they won the 1921 Warrnambool & District Football Association premiership.
Cazaly was responsible for recruiting South Warrnambool footballer and 1925 Brownlow Medallist, Colin Watson to St Kilda in 1920.
Cazaly was captain-coach of Minyip in the Wimmera District Football League in 1925 at a salary of £12 a week. Cazaly returned to South Melbourne for the 1926 VFL season.
Cazaly was 180 centimetres (5 ft 11 in) tall, which is short for a ruckman, but his high leap made up for that, and he was incredibly fit.
He was famous for his ability to take spectacular marks despite his relatively small stature, and South Melbourne teammates Fred "Skeeter" Fleiter and Mark "Napper" Tandy would simultaneously yell "Up there, Cazzer", originating the 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 the Brownlow Medal.
In 1928, Cazaly played for the South Melbourne Districts Football Club, including in a losing VFL Sub-Districts grand final in 1928.
He departed Victoria at the end of the year and headed for Launceston, Tasmania, before returning in 1931 to coach Preston in the Victorian Football Association (VFA).