Beloved Aussie musician Mike Brady has revealed how his iconic AFL anthem Up There Cazaly has been ripped off by a UK football team.
Brady told Sunrise hosts Nat and Shirvo about the club taking his 45-year-old song and making it their own ahead of his performance at the AFL grand final on Saturday.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Mike Brady performs Up There Cazaly.
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He said the team had changed the words and originally listed the singer as an “unknown”.
“It was a while ago, but it still grates a little bit because they’ve used it for a long time,” Brady told Sunrise during Friday’s brekky show.
“It’s (EFL Championship club) Derby County. It’s a Midlands football team, and they still use it.
“But for a long time they used to say ‘original writer or original composer was unknown’.”
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A stunned Shirvo said: “Oh that hurts!”
“It’s been sorted out,” Brady assured.
“But it comes up every now and again because people go to a game — Australians, and they go, ‘Hang on, that’s our song’.
“The song’s called, they changed it to Steve Bloomer’s Watching,” he went on.
“So instead of ‘Up There, Cazaly’ it goes ‘Steve Bloomer’s Watching’.”
But Shirvo was sceptical about the new lyrics.
“It doesn’t have the same ring to it,” Shirvo said.
“I mean, they can steal the melody as much as they want, but they can’t steal the spirit of this song!”
“Well, you’ve claimed it back and you’re going to sing it for us!” Nat said ahead of his performance of the hit in Melbourne’s Federation Square.
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Derby Country is one of the founding teams in English football, and use the song as their walk out anthem.
Brady first released the hit in 1979 to promote Channel 7’s coverage of the VFL (before the AFL was formed), referencing South Melbourne and St Kilda star Roy Cazaly, who was known for his high-flying marks.
Decades later the nostalgic song continues to be played at every AFL Grand Final.
Earlier this month, Brady told 7NEWS reporter Nick McCallum that he fought to ensure he was paid royalties when Derby County played the song.
“I’m not a bad bush lawyer these days and I protect my song’s rights because it’s all I’ve got to live on,” he said.
“So I went after them with a lawyer, the publisher paid for it and they came to a friendly settlement.
“It wasn’t a huge amount, it was token but they do pay a bit for playing it at the stadium every time.”