Greg Chappell’s GoFundMe page is raising an incredible amount of money as Australians rally behind the cricket legend after he revealed his financial woes

A fundraiser for former Australian cricket captain Greg Chappell has passed the $80,000 mark after he revealed his financial difficulties.

A GoFundMe page was created in Chappell’s name after he revealed that he rents his home and “doesn’t live in luxury.”

“I’m not down,” Chappell told News Corp.

“I certainly don’t want it to sound like we’re in dire straits, because we’re not – but we’re not living in luxury either.”

Both Rod Marsh and Dennis Lillee received fundraising appeals after their playing careers ended, raising significant funds for their futures – but Chappell received none.

Australians have thrown their support behind Greg Chappell after he revealed his financial woes

Chappell (pictured after winning the 1981 World Series Cup) says he is not in a desperate situation but is not living in luxury either

But now a fundraising dinner has been organized to help Chappell. At the time of writing, the fundraising page has raised over $82,000, with a goal of $250,000.

“I think most people assume that because we played cricket we all live in luxury.” “While I’m certainly not poor, we don’t have the advantages that today’s players have.”

Two friends of the cricket legend, Peter Maloney and David Evans, said Chappell’s foundation had raised millions for youth homeless charities – but the man himself was doing it harder than he should.

“Greg is a very proud man. “He does it harder than he says,” Maloney said.

“The Chappell Foundation is run by Darshak Mehta and 100 percent of the money raised is distributed.” They distribute it annually, so at the end of each year they have no money left over and can start over.

“If you put your name to a foundation, you have the right to take some money from it.” But Greg didn’t get a cent from it, even though he could have.

“I guess that was the irony of him being the face of the cause and showing up to every event and raising so much money even though he didn’t have much himself.”

“Put it this way, we’ll probably end up raising about $250,000, and that will make his final years a lot richer.”

The former Australian Test captain’s Go Fund Me page has already raised over $82,000

“We usually have a deposit card at lunch and there are EFTPOS machines. “We didn’t have time to set one up or at least prepare it for an event, which would have been quite a hassle,” Maloney said.

“The quickest way to do this was with a Go Fund Me page.”

Chappell hopes Australian cricket could learn from its situation and take better care of players from the past who didn’t earn the same money as today’s stars.

“It’s just my friends realizing we didn’t get much and just to make sure that Judy and I are comfortable in our retirement,” Chappell said.

“To be fair, there are others of our time who are in a worse situation and could use the help, and I don’t think the game did enough for the players of that time.” Especially in terms of the comparison with the present time.

“I believe that the players who laid the foundation for what is happening today should probably be recognized for the role they played in getting the game to where it is today.”

Chappell played 87 Test matches and captained Australia 48 times.

He retired from the sport in 1984 as the highest run-getter in Australian Test history (7,110), surpassing the previous record set by Sir Donald Bradman (6,996).