wanna know ur AFL club song history of your teams history: Adelaide Football Club Choosing a club song wasnt high on the priority list when the Crows entered the competition in 1991. In that first year, the players ran out to the hastily arranged jingo, Here we go, Here we go. Unfortunately, this wasnt well received by the fans and so Bill Sanders decided to take matters into his own hands. The club chairman, who was the chief executive at the time, wrote the new lyrics himself to the tune of the US Marines Hymn. Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Bears actually had their own song, but wisely embraced the former Fitzroy club song (with a couple of minor changes) when the clubs merged in 1996. Fitzroy had a song written for them by poet Norm Byron after winning the 1944 premiership, but on a trip back from Brisbane in 1955, a group of players, including Bill Stephen and Ken Ross, came up with the words, set to La Marseillaise, that remain virtually intact today. Carlton Football Club Player power was the driving force behind the introduction of the Blues anthem in the early 1930s. Club historian Stephen Williamson explained that as the team boarded the coach after a game, the players complained that they had no song to celebrate their victory. Also on board that day were the daughters of coach Dan Minogue. Spurred on by the teams displeasure, they decided to write the lyrics to We are the Navy Blues with the assistance of players such as captain Frank Gill. Collingwood Football Club Magpie player Tom Nelson rewrote the words to the American Civil War and Boer War marching song Goodbye Dolly Gray in 1906, making Good Old Collingwood Forever the oldest of the club songs. An attempt to change the line oh, the premierships a cakewalk to there is just one team we favour in the early 1980s was never embraced by the black-and-white army. Essendon Football Club The dispute over composers rights to the Bombers song still simmers today. According to Gregor McCaskie from the Essendon Hall of Fame, two separate parties have approached the club in recent years claiming different identities wrote the song. The common theme is that a member of a band, which regularly played at Essendon club functions, sang Sunnyside Up at a club board meeting sometime during the 1960s. It was met with overwhelming approval. Fremantle Football Club A traditional old-style tune didnt seem appropriate when Fremantle prepared for its entry to the AFL in 1995. Instead, it was decided by the 303 Advertising agency that the song should represent the clubs move forward into the twenty-first century. Composer Ken Walther was signed up to pen some lyrics based on a speeded up version of Stravinskys The Song of the Volga Boatmen. Part of Walthers directive was that catchy lines such as Hit em real hard, send em down below had to be included. Geelong Cats The Cats originally had a song that blended aspects of the current day Kangaroos and Melbourne songs, but in 1963 a group of players, led by John Watts, penned a new version, set to The Torreadors Song from Bizets Carmen. However, the song was probably inspired more by Stand Up and Fight, a song from the 1940 movie Carmen Jones set to the music of Carmen. Like other club songs, there is a little-known second verse. Hawthorn Football Club The birth of the Hawks song arose from a meeting in 1956 between Chick Lander, the clubs honorary solicitor, and Jack OHagan, who was a member of the stock exchange club that Lander frequented. OHagan was a popular Australian composer, best known for writing Along the Road to Gundagai. He received 25 guineas for his lyrics, which were written to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy, and promptly donated the money towards the players end-of-season trip. Melbourne Football Club Based on an American marching song (few words have been changed from the original tune of Youre A Grand Old Flag), the Melbourne club song is one of the oldest. Club historian Lynda Carroll said the song dated back to 1912 and was first sung on a trip to Hobart. Theres even evidence of a song dating back to the 1870s. Keith Bluey Truscott is credited with the little-known second verse added in the late 1930s. North Melbourne Football Club Nobody really knows the origin of the Kangaroos song. According to Father Gerard Dowling, the club historian, the players sang the theme back in the 1920s, but the rest is a mystery. We do know that the song is based on Wee Doech n Dorus, which was written by Scottish singer, Sir Harry Lauder. He toured Australia near the start of the last century, which might explain how the tune fell into North Melbournes hands. The Victorian state team also used a version of this song. Port Adelaide Football Club On its entry to the AFL in 1997, the Power held a competition to find a club song. After more than 70 entries were considered, The Power to Win was declared the winner, composed by well-known local composers Quentin Eyers and Les Kaczmarek (the original bass player with Cold Chisel before Phil Small joined the band). The song even hit the No. 1 spot on the South Australian charts late in 1997. Richmond Football Club In 1962, cabaret singer Jack Malcolmson was asked to come up with a new theme song for the Tigers to replace the one set to Waltzing Matilda. After settling on the old showtune Row, Row, Row, he came up with the famous lyrics that still make this the most popular of any club song. Coach Des Rowe and players were said to have given it a standing ovation the first time they heard it. And for those wondering, its risking head and shin, not risking head and skin, and Tiger of old, not Tigers of old. St Kilda Football Club Saints historian Russell Holmesby said the club went through a few tunes before settling on When the Saints Come Marching in (with few changes to the original jazz classic) sometime in 1965 or 1966. At the Junction Oval, they used to belt out a version of I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside and briefly used a home-grown tune titled We are the Saints, the Red-Blooded Saints. Sydney Swans The Sydneysiders briefly flirted with a reworked version of Mike Bradys Up There Cazaly (Up There for Sydney) before returning to the South Melbourne song set to the tune of the Notre Dame Victory March made popular in the 1940 movie, Knute Rockne, All American. The club actually wrote to the university to ask permission for its use. Supporter Larry Spokes is credited with penning the lyrics, which were conveyed to the club via former captain and coach Ron Clegg. West Coast Eagles An interesting amalgam of two songs - the original penned by guitarist with prog rock outfit Sky and Western Australian producer Kevin Peek for the clubs debut in 1987, featuring many references to Eagles and flying high. Ken Walther, the same man responsible for the irrepressible Freo, heave ho, supplied the verses later in the songs history. Western Bulldogs A few words to Sons of the scray may have changed along the way (the latest coming in 1997 when the name changed from Footscray to the Western Bulldogs), but the club has used the song set to the tune of Sons of the Sea for as long as anyone can remember. However, nobody knows when it was first used. 1954 premiership coach Charlie Sutton said it pre-dated his time at the club, which stretches back to the early 1940s.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 04:04:08 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015