THE AFL THEME SONG LADDER

Glenn McFarlane rates the club songs, taking into account their impact, history, tune, lyrics and the passion their fans show for them.

1. RICHMOND

“We’re from Tigerland”, 1962

Best part: “... YELLOW AND BLACK”

One of the most stirring anthems in football, especially its penultimate line. It has regularly topped polls as the best club theme song. Entertainer and tap dancer Jack Malcolmson wrote the words at the request of committeeman Alf Barnett to the tune of ‘Row. Row. Row’. The Tigers wanted a song that they could sing on interstate trips away. Malcolmson obliged: “I’d written a few songs, and I was asked to write a nice, bouncy one for Richmond.” Initially, he felt something was missing, so he added “Yellow and Black” line to the song, and the rest is history.

2. FITZROY/BRISBANE

“We are the boys from old Fitzroy”, 1950s

Best part: “Fitzroy, Fitzroy, The Club we hold so dear”

The original Fitzroy theme song remains one of the most powerful, even if its watered-down version at the Brisbane Lions lacks the same punch. One of the club’s greats, Bill Stephen, penned the words on a railway trip with the club to Western Australia in the 1950s. He had been inspired by hearing ‘La Marseillaise’, the French national anthem, when watching the classic movie Casablanca. Initially, the French embassy in Melbourne complained. The Brisbane Lions song retains the tune, and some of the words, but is not as powerful as the Fitzroy one.

3. CARLTON

“We are the Navy Blues”, circa 1929-31

Best part: “Daa da da da da da daa”

How’s the arrogance of this one? That’s one of the Carlton song’s greatest strengths. And didn’t it get a fair working over during the 1970s and ‘80s. Adapted from the 1898 song, ‘Lily of Laguna’, which was said to be on the song list of the Titanic, it was penned between 1929-31 by a relative of Dan Minogue during his tenure as Carlton coach. Hard to think of a more prominent start to any of the club theme songs.

4. COLLINGWOOD

“Good Old Collingwood Forever, 1906

Best part: “Oh, the premiership’s a cakewalk”

Has to be right up there whether you love it or hate it (and there is no in between). The oldest of the current songs and the only one of the originals that directly referred to its supporters - “All the barrackers a shouting/As all barrackers should”. Written by three-game player Tom Nelson in 1906, the tune is ‘Goodbye Dolly Gray’, a song from the Spanish-American War which grew in popularity in the Boer War. The most contentious line is ‘Oh, the premiership’s a cakewalk’, which became embarrassing through a long premiership drought. A new version in the 1980s changed it to “There is just one team we favour”, but fans never accepted it. The unofficial Cor Blimey was added by the players during the 1920s.

5. SYDNEY

“Cheer, Cheer the red and the white”, 1950s

Best part: “Shake Down The Thunder From the Sky”

A well-liked anthem that owes much to the original South Melbourne song which was written by a supporter Larry Stokes after consultation with Swans champion Ron Clegg during the 1950s. The tune, the ‘Notre Dame Victory March’, received much attention in the 1940 film, ‘Knute Rockne, All-American’. When the Swans shifted to Sydney some wanted to make the club’s song, ‘Up There For Sydney’ (a take on ‘Up There Cazaly’) as the theme song. Fortunately, the players resisted and reshaped the original.

6. MELBOURNE

“It’s a Grand Old Flag”

Best part: “Every Heart Beats True”

A great traditional song that was played non-stop through the 1950s and ‘60s, but has not had much air time in recent seasons. Taken from an American patriotic tune, ‘You’re a Grand Old Flag’, the Melbourne theme song rates as one of the oldest, being written in 1912, having been used on a trip to Tasmania. A second verse was later added by Keith ‘Bluey’ Truscott in the late 1930s. It honours the Demons’ rich past, but seems a little more out of place in the current malaise.

7. NORTH MELBOURNE

“Join in the chorus”, 1920s

Best part: “Good Old North Melbourne, we’re champions you’ll agree.”

Not much is known about how the Kangaroos came to adopt the tune ‘Wee Doech ‘n Dorus’ from Scottish entertainer Harry Lauder as the basis for its theme song during the 1920s. But what is known is how well received it has always been. Countless footy clubs across Australia have used the basis of ‘Join in the chorus’ as its theme song, including the Victorian state team. The first of the two verses starts with a rousing ‘Hearts to hearts and hands to hands/Beneath the blue and white we stand/We shout, Gold Bless our native land’. Sure, some of it might sound a little bit dated - ‘Just for recreation sake’ - but that’s the beauty of tradition.

8, GEELONG

“We are Geelong,” 1963.

Best part: “We play the game as it should be played”

This one gets top marks for the line “We play the game as it should be played” because that’s precisely what the Cats have done - for better or worse - for many years. Written by a player, John Watts, in a premiership year, this remains one of the favourites. And it is fair to say that it was sung with gusto in the aftermath of the 1963 and it has had its fair share of renditions in recent years. Deserves to sneak into the top eight.

9. HAWTHORN

“The Mighty Fighting Hawks”, 1956

Best part: “One for all and all for one”

Bit lucky to be this high. This one is so bad it is almost good. And when you base it on ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’, you can understand why. The first line of this song gives off a positive vibe that just carries on throughout. It’s a happy, happy song, because they are a “happy team at Hawthorn”. And why wouldn’t they be happy with what the club has done since first that first flag in 1961. The club’s solicitor ‘Chick’ Lander worked with popular composer Jack O’Hagan - he of the ‘Along the Road to Gundagai’ fame. This song is very much about team, and that sums up the Hawks, too.

10. GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY

“There’s a big, big sound,” 2012

Best part: “We’re the biggest and the best.”

Yes, this is seriously growing on us, even though we haven’t heard it much since the birth of the Giants. In what sounds like a Russian Cossack song, at least it is different to the rest of the modern ones. Cat Empire star Harry Angus wrote it, and tried to stick to the traditional of footy songs, rather than chasing a new rock ‘n roll sound. And somehow he’s made it work. He wrote it with Kevin Sheedy’s desire to make it sound a little like Richmond’s song. This copped so much criticism when it first came out. But, just like the Giants, it is growing on us.

11. ADELAIDE

“The Pride of South Australia”, 1992

Best part: “We’re the pride of South Australia”

This one used to be one of the worst, but has grown on us over time. The reason for it being the worst at the start of the Crows’ life was because the club dared to mention a sponsor in its song (which is just not on). Who could ever forget ‘We are the Camry Crows’? Fortunately, it didn’t last long. And now this song, which forms part of a tune from the ‘US Marines Hymn’, and was written by former president Bill Sanders, is not too bad.

12. WESTERN BULLDOGS

“Sons of the West”, 1940s

Best part: “Cause you can’t beat the boys of the Bulldog breed”

Probably could be a few rungs higher. The Dogs’ song has changed marginally over the years, particularly when the ‘Sons of the ‘Scray’ became ‘Sons of the West’ when the club transformed from Footscray to Western Bulldogs. This was an old sea shanty song, but just quite didn’t lift to the heights that other team theme songs have.

13. ESSENDON

“See the Bombers fly up”, 1959

Best part: “Our boys who play this grand old game/Are striving for glory and fame”

Not sure this one has quite stood the test of time, but Bombers fans don’t seem to worry about that. The songwriter Kevin Andrews was given Essendon life membership earlier this year for coming up with the club’s theme song. He had been boarding with an Essendon player, Jeff Gamble, at a time when the club was looking for a catchy tune. Gamble was humming the theme song for the television show ‘Sunnyside Up’ and Andrews sat down to write the words within half an hour or so.

14. WEST COAST

“We’re Flying High”, 1987

Best part: “We’re the big birds, kings of the big game.”

The main verse was written by musician Kevin Peek at the launch of the West Coast Eagles in 1987, while the man who came up with Freo’s song, Ken Walther, added some verses later. It’s a reasonable song, but that’s not enough to get it into the top bracket.

15. ST KILDA

“When the Saints go marching in”, 1965/66

Best bit: You guessed it, “When the Saints go marching in”.

We hope the unknown songwriter who came up with this song when the Saints were moving from the Junction Oval to Moorabbin in the mid-60s didn’t get paid by words. There are only 14 of them in this song. Nothing wrong with the tune as everyone from Louis Armstrong to Elvis Presley, from Dolly Parton to Bruce Springsteen has sung the original, but there is just something about the repetitious St Kilda words that grates ... and grates ... and grates.

16. PORT ADELAIDE

“Power to Win”, 1997

Best bit: “There’s history here in the making”

How many clubs can boast that their theme song was penned by the original bassist from Cold Chisel? Les Kaczmarek, who sadly died in 2008, wrote the song with Quentin Eyers, when the Power was conceived in 1997. The only problem is that this is no Khe Sanh. And it contains some of the most laboured rhyming in the AFL theme song world. Try this one on for size - “We are the Power from Port, it’s more than a sport”. Deserves it place near the tail of this field.

17. GOLD COAST

“We are the Suns of the Gold Coast Sky”, 2010

Best bit: “We’re the team who never say die”

Written by Melbourne songwriter Rosco Elliott, it’s fair to say this one hasn’t caught on just yet. It’s hard to take it seriously when we see Gary Ablett sing: “Fight! Fight! Fight! Till we hold up the cup/Run, run run all the way”. That might change if the Suns do happen to win a flag in the coming years. But for the moment it deserves to be a cellar dweller.

18. FREMANTLE

“Freo, Way To Go”, 1995

Best bit: The end

This one is as annoying as Ryan Crowley. Let’s face it, it’s a shocker. But while rival fans don’t like it, the Freo fans have voted to keep it after the club’s website offered four options in a review of the team’s theme song, including one from Eskimo Joe. The man who wrote it, Ken Walther, defended it when the club launched a review, saying he had been told to use the Russian working-class folk song, Song of the Volga Boatmen, as the start, which made sound dirge-like. That part of the song was voted out in 2011. Walther said: “In my estimation, it’s not a bad song. It’s a great song.”