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Given that sports stars ply their trade in environments that are often more pressure cooker than field of play, it is no wonder tempers occasionally boil over.

Here we bring you some of the most memorable bust-ups witnessed over the past 12 months.

Barton batters Dabo

Whilst Joey Barton actually assaulted his then Manchester City team-mate Ousmane Dabo back in May 2007, the fall-out from the incident was very much 2008. The training ground bust-up was, according to the court which eventually heard the case, an "explosive combination of football and violence", the savagery of which shocked and appalled in equal measures. Dabo was left with head trauma, an inflamed eye and bruised eyelids and never played for City again. Barton, who was already serving a prison sentence for a separate attack, was handed a further jail term, suspended for four months, and widely condemned.

Kim ruffles Peacock's feathers

American Anthony Kim was out prowling the course following his Saturday fourballs match at the Ryder Cup, when he allegedly body-checked Europe's best-dressed golfer Ian Poulter on his way to a tee box. "He needs to grow up," Poulter said. "I don't take too kindly to someone you would respect as a golfer trying to barge their way through you as if you weren't there. That's pathetic."

"Your momma's so"

Bringing someone's mother into an argument is never a good idea and so it proved when Juan Martin Del Potro did just that during a first-round match against British number one Andy Murray at the Rome Masters. Whilst the Italian stopped short of outright insulting the lovely Judy, her son took umbrage with the fact that his opponent even had the temerity to bring her up in the dispute. Angry words were exchanged at the changeover, albeit from seated positions, before Murray eventually walked through to the next round when Del Potro retired hurt.

Evra sticks tongue out at groundsman

Patrice Evra (pictured) actually did slightly more than that, the Manchester United full-back admitting he struck Chelsea groundsman Sam Bethell on the head during an ugly pre-match confrontation on the Stamford Bridge pitch. The Frenchman claimed he reacted to racists jibes and even went back for more after the disagreement appeared to have calmed down but an FA tribunal failed to prove that to be the case. Evra was banned for four games - he will return to action in January against none other than Chelsea - while Bethell was fined £25,000.

Happy slapper Harbhajan

The IPL may not be everyone's cup of tea, but few can claim it is boring. The new all singing, all dancing version of the game formerly known as cricket achieved official soap opera status on a Friday night in April when off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, frustrated by his Mumbai team's defeat to Mohali, slapped Shanthakumaran Sreesanth on the field of play. The incident left Sreesanth sobbing like a baby, although he pulled it together to tell the assembled press: "It is all in the game. I am fine." The pair later appeared on television to publicly kiss and make up although Harbhajan was slapped (excuse the pun) with a hefty five-game ODI ban and suspended for the rest of the IPL season.

Lewsey puts Cipriani in his place

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that taking on Josh Lewsey is either extremely brave or insanely stupid. Which camp Danny Cipriani falls into remains open to debate, but when the pin-up boy of rugby decided to escalate an argument with Lewsey over a few missed tackles in training into a full-blown and brutal fist fight, the outcome was somewhat inevitable. Reports claimed Cipriani warned his England team-mate to "shut up or be shut up" before he himself was promptly laid out with a nifty right hook from the rock hard Lewsey. Lesson learned.

High kicks and high jinks

Angel Valodia Matos hit the headlines in August for one of the most over-the-top reactions to a refereeing decision ever witnessed. The Cuban was disqualified by Swedish referee Chakir Chelbat at the Beijing Olympics for taking more than the allocated minute for an injury treatment break. Proving that his injury wasn't all that serious after all, the enraged 2000 Olympic champion jumped to his feet, shoved Chelbat and then smashed him in the face with one of those spinny high-kick things that Taekwondo people specialise in. Despite support from Fidel Castro, Matos was banned from the sport for life - as was his coach, who suggested afterwards that his man was well within his rights to demonstrate his anger in the manner he did.

Sloppy seconds

A column celebrating sporting bust-ups would not be complete without a North American entry. So over to the world's most famous magazine intern and ex-beau of Elisha Cuthbert, Sean Avery. The Dallas Stars forward, who worked on Vogue during the summer, was suspended for six games and ordered to undergo an anger management evaluation by NHL for having a pop at his ex-girlfriend, who is now dating Calgary Flames defenceman Dion Phaneuf, live on television. He said: "I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I don't know what that's about." Neither do we.

Mike Hytner / Eurosport