Intense action on the cricket field can sometimes lead to bitter rivalries between players off the ground. One such long-standing rivalry has been between former Australia captain Ian Chappell and legendary England allrounder Ian Botham.
The duo was involved in an altercation at a bar in Melbourne, Australia, over 40 years ago. Chappell claimed that it was Botham who started the fight, trying to hit him with a broken glass.
However, Botham denied the allegation. The incident led to an ever-lasting feud between the two players, and they have not been on good terms ever since.
In a recent interview, Chappell shed some light on the historic rivalry and even made some remarks on his counterpart’s commentary, rekindling the infamous rivalry.
“I’ve had mates say, why don’t you just make up, and I say well firstly if he wants to apologise for the lies he has told I would accept that but why would I make up and be friends with a guy who I have nothing in common with, I think his commentary is the worst of the long term commentators, I have no interests in his interests and I have nothing to talk to him about,” said Chappell when speaking to Channel 9.
The entire thing started during the Centenary Test at Melbourne in 1977. At the time, Botham was 21 years old, trying to make a mark for himself. He had two ODIs under his belt and was a player in Australian club cricket under a scholarship.
It had only been 18 months since Chappell had retired from Test cricket. He held a reputation for being an aggressive batter and an unrelenting captain. Chappell had just quit the first-class game to play for North Melbourne in domestic Australian cricket. The pair met at a bar next to the team hotel after the game, reported ESPN.
Both cricketers have completely different opinions on everything that took place since that moment. Botham said that Chappell was getting fair vocal with Pommie bashing that instigated the fight. After a few words of heated exchange Botham punched Chappell sending him into a crowd of Aussie Rules players.
The pair had already once been interviewed by Ray Martin before being put on the air together as commentators on the first Test of an 1998-99 Ashes series in Brisbane. Twenty minutes into the game, the duo had barely spoken anything. A little more than a decade later the duo came close to fighting in the Adelaide Oval car park after another series of the Ashes Test.
Channel 9 is currently producing a documentary named The Longest Feud that closely follows the rivalry between the two cricketing legends. In this documentary, the duo has been locked in a room together to see if the two players would sort out what has been one of the sport’s oldest grudges. Both cricketers are regarded highly in the cricketing fraternity but this whole saga has led to the fans wishing that the duo sorts out their age-old rivalry and resolve the differences that they harbour against each other.
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