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Australian cricketer Ian Chappell Photo sourced from

Top 10 Intriguing Facts about Ian Chappell

Ian Michael Chappell who was born 26 September 1943 is a former cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. He captained Australia between 1971 and 1975 before taking a central role in the breakaway World Series Cricket organisation. 

Known as “Chappelli”, he earned a reputation as one of the greatest captains the game has seen. Chappell’s blunt verbal manner led to a series of confrontations with opposition players and cricket administrators. Let’s take a look at some of the most intriguing facts about him;

1.He came from a family of sportsmen

Australian cricketer Ian Chappell Photo sourced from

The first of Four sons (Ian, Greg, Trevor, Michel) born in Unley, near Adelaide to Martin and Jeanne. Chappell was steeped in the game from an early age. His father was a noted Adelaide grade cricketer who put a bat in his hands as soon as he could walk. 

His maternal grandfather was famous all-round sportsman Vic Richardson, who captained Australia at the end of a nineteen-Test career. Chappell was given weekly batting lessons from the age of five, as were younger brothers Greg and Trevor, who both also went on to play for Australia.

2.He went to Prince Alfred College 

Chappell grew up in the beachside suburb of Glenelg and attended the local St Leonard’s Primary School where he played his first competitive match at the age of seven. He was later selected for the South Australian state schoolboys team.

He then enrolled at Prince Alfred College, a private secondary school noted for producing many Test cricketers, including the Australian captains Joe Darling and Clem Hill. His other sporting pursuits included Australian football and baseball. 

3.Chappell’s performances in the Claxton Shield won him All-Australian selection

Chappell’s performances for South Australia in the Claxton Shield won him All-Australian selection in 1964 and 1966 as a catcher. He credits Vic Richardson, who had represented both SA and Australia in baseball during the 1920s, for his love of the sport.

At the age of 18, his form in grade cricket for Glenelg led to his first-class debut for South Australia (SA) against Tasmania in early 1962. The aggressive style of Sobers and of South Australia captain Les Favell heavily influenced Chappell during his formative years in senior cricket. 

4.He made his international career in 1963/1964 season

This graph details the Test Match performance of Ian Chappell Photo sourced from

He made his international career in 1963/1964 season when he was batted at number three for SA for the first time, in a match against Queensland at Brisbane, and scored 205 not out. He was the youngest member of the SA team that won the Sheffield Shield that season.

A century against Victoria early the following season resulted in Chappell’s selection for a one-off Test against Pakistan at Melbourne in December 1964. He made 11 and took four catches, but was dropped until the Fourth Test in the 1965–66 Ashes series. Chappell supplemented his aggressive batting with brilliant fielding in the slips, and he showed promise as a leg-spinner. 

5.He became South Australian captain

Chappell became South Australian captain when the long-serving Les Favell retired at the start of the 1970–1971 season. Australia’s performances were hampered by playing slow, defensive cricket. In a radical attempt to breathe some aggression into the team, the selectors sacked captain Bill Lawry and appointed Chappell in his stead.

Dismayed by the manner of Lawry’s dismissal, Chappell responded with an attacking performance as captain, he won the toss, put England in and dismissed them for 184, and Australia led the first innings by 80 runs, but set 223 to win they folded for 160 and lost The Ashes after holding them for 12 years. 

6.He was involved in a famous altercation with a young English all-rounder

He was involved in a famous altercation with a young English all-rounder who was in Victoria on a cricketing scholarship, Ian Botham. Both men have put forward vastly different versions as to what happened during the physical confrontation in a Melbourne pub.

The animosity between them continues and Channel Nine used it as a marketing ploy when Botham temporarily partnered Chappell as a television commentator during the 1998–99 season. Botham again revived the feud in his 2007 autobiography with another version of the incident.

7.Chappell was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1986

Bust of Ian Chappell Photo by Doug butler

Chappell was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1986, the FICA Cricket Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2003. Two new grandstands at the Adelaide Oval were named the Chappell Stands; at the dedication ceremony in 2003, the SACA president Ian McLachlan called the Chappells, “the most famous cricketing family in South Australia”.

In 2004, the Chappell family was again honoured with the creation of the Chappell–Hadlee Trophy, an annual series of ODI matches played between Australia and New Zealand.Chappell is the leading advocate for greater formal recognition of the first Australian sporting team to travel overseas, the Australian Aboriginal cricket team in England in 1868.

8.He also worked in the media

Following the path of his grandfather Vic Richardson, who was a radio commentator for many years, Chappell entered the media in 1973 by writing magazine articles and a column for The Age. He did television commentary for the 0–10 Network and the BBC before playing WSC.

During the 1980s, Chappell spent eight years co-hosting with Mike Gibson, Wide World of Sports, an innovative magazine-style program broadcast by Channel Nine on Saturday afternoons and co-hosted a sister show, Sports Sunday, for five years.

9.He also worked as a clerk and a promotion representative 

After leaving school, Chappell spent two years as a clerk in a sharebroker’s office, which he left to play league cricket in England. He then worked as a promotions representative for Nestlé and, later, the cigarette manufacturer WD & HO Wills.

After eight years with Wills, Chappell capitalised on his fame as Australian captain by forming his own company specialising in advertising, promotion and journalism, which has remained his profession. 

10.He is married twice and has a daughter

He is twice married, and has a daughter (Amanda) with his first wife Kay. Chappell now lives in Sydney with his second wife Barbara-Ann. In recent years, Chappell has been a high-profile activist for better treatment of asylum seekers by the Australian government, in particular its policy of mandatory detention.

He supports Australia cutting ties with the United Kingdom and becoming a republic, being a founding member of the Australian Republican Movement.In July 2019, Chappell announced that he had been undergoing radiotherapy for skin cancer.