As might be expected of someone with such forthright opinions and sense of his own mind, Chappell has always had a tendency to create conflict. To Chappell, Steve Waugh was a selfish captain who “ran out of ideas quickly”. Former teammate Max Walker “doesn’t know much about anything … He’s not interested in anything but himself and his next pat answer … And you know what, I’ve never seen the colour of his money.”
Of the latter-day revival of his famous bar-room clash with Ian Botham, of which each has a differing account, Chappell recently noted that the author of the story,Charlie Sale of the Daily Mail, had “written a fairytale on this occasion”. He added, “that makes them a good pair because Botham deals in fairytales as well”.
He was an outspoken critic of Kim Hughes throughout the Western Australian’s career, first shunning him during the latter’s short-lived move to South Australia in 1974-75, a period in which the talented batsman wasn’t even invited to train with the Chappell-led SACA squad. That snub was repeated during the World Series breakaway, when Chappell was selecting the list of Australian players at the behest of Kerry Packer. Later he would write that Hughes and another ill-fated Australian, Graham Yallop, were “the worst choice as leaders since Robert O’Hara Burke … the only difference with Yallop and Hughes is they got away with their lives”.
Still, Chappell is the first to acknowledge Hughes’s gifts as a batsman, recently labelling his unbeaten 100 against the West Indies in 1981-82 Australia’s greatest postwar innings and “the bravest innings I’ve ever seen”.
His strike threat and stand-off with the SACA on a range of petty administrative issues was orchestrated to establish a fairer deal for his players after Chappell had felt slighted by the board not consulting him on the selection of a squad to play in Sydney and Brisbane. Under duress Chappell caved in, saying: “I have lost all feeling for the SACA. I have no respect for the association. I am going for the players.”
One of two players to vote against Chappell’s strike, Gary Cosier, would later pay a price when, like Hughes, he failed to receive a lucrative World Series Cricket offer.
Most famously of all, Chappell butted heads with Sir Donald Bradman in the latter’s days as an administrator. Honesty and a man’s word have always been paramount to Chappell.
“There were a couple of occasions when I didn’t get truthful answers from Don Bradman and that affected the relationship from my end.
“If I’m asked the question, I’ve got no problems saying what I thought of him.”
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