Six things: teammates who hated each other

"If Seb's drowning in the ocean then I'll go and help him out." So Said F1 ace Mark Webber of fellow Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettell . . . but what if he was drowning in a river?

No, teammates Webber and Vettel are unlikely to be on each other's Facebook friends lists, but theirs is just one in a long line of sporting relationships that prove sharing a change room does not mean sharing a friendship.

1. Prost v Senna

Jousts of the Formula 1 variety do not begin and end with Webber and Vettel. When Ayrton Senna joined forces with dual world champ Alain Prost in 1988, McLaren must have been looking forward to its inevitable Constructors' championship. It happened, but not in the way hoped for. Senna and Prost became two of the bitterest rivals in the history of any sport, let alone motor racing. At Estoril, Senna almost ran Prost into a wall. A year later Senna reneged on a pre-race agreement and passed Prost to win the race at Imola. It was too much for Prost, who shifted to Ferrari in 1990 and celebrated by crashing both he and Senna out of the race in Japan. Enormous speed, enormous egos – what a great mix.

2. Harding v Kerrigan

Like F1 driving, ice-skating is an individual pursuit and some individuals don't deal too well when the construct of 'team' is imposed upon them . . . individuals like Tonya Harding. Harding was so miffed at playing number two to America's ice princess Nancy Kerrigan that she instigated an attack intended to break Kerrigan's leg. Even that went wrong. Kerrigan's leg was only bruised and she joined her 'teammate' Harding at the 1994 Winter Olympics, despite Harding admitting to her role in the attack. In later years, Harding released a pornographic video and became a celebrity foxy boxer. Kerrigan was a star of Disney on Ice. The jury is out as to which deserves more pity. 

3. Sutton v Garvey

Baseballers Don Sutton and Dave Garvey shared 11 years and three pennants playing for the LA Dodgers, but team success did nothing to quell the personal animosity between the two. Sutton thought Garvey – painted as an All-American hero by the US sports press – was over-rated and a hypocrite and he said so in a 1978 newspaper interview. When Garvey confronted him about it in the change rooms a brawl ensued – not that their teammates were taking sides. "Stop the fight! They'll kill each other," cried one witness to the kerfuffle, to which catcher Joe Ferguson replied, "good".

4. Contador v Armstrong

Despite the egos involved, team is everything at the Tour de France – you just can't win the race without one. But that does not mean everything is all treacle and Julie Andrews, particularly when two champions from the same team are trying to fit into the one yellow jersey. In 2009, Alberto Contador took about six nanoseconds to sink the slipper into teammate and Tour legend Lance Armstrong after winning the race for the second time. "He’s a great rider and he did a great Tour," Contador said of Armstong, "another thing is on a personal level, where I have never admired him and never will.” Armstrong countered: "If I were him, I'd stop this drivel and start thanking his team." Surprisingly, that team did not include Armstrong when the 2010 Tour got underway.

5. Bradman v Fingleton

Australia's most infamous sporting bad blood began in the heated confines of the Bodyline series when Australian teammates Jack Fingleton and Don Bradman accused each other of leaking dressing room chit-chat to the press. The relationship between the men festered but the giant shadow cast by Bradman's batting genius consumed any legitimate debate and cast Fingleton as the villain in the eyes of many. Sadly, sectarianism also underpinned the enmity. Bradman was a Mason, Fingleton a Catholic. Once at the SCG when Fingleton – who'd had his bat sprinkled with holy water – got out, Bradman passed him on his way to the crease and muttered, "let's see what a dry bat can do".  In the hands of the Don, it scored a century. 

6. McLeod v Edwards

Adelaide Crows Andrew McLeod and Tyson Edwards played more games together than any two other players in VFL/AFL history. They shared two premierships but, from 2005 onwards, did not speak to each other. The origin of the feud is murky but it does bring to mind the words of another Aussie Rules champion, Don Scott. Scott was a ruckman and premiership captain of Hawthorn and formed the game's best ruck-rover combination with Leigh Matthews. But the two great Hawks did not fraternise and rarely spoke. "You come from all walks of life. You're doctors, you're lawyers, you're Indian chiefs," Scott said about the make-up of a footy team. "The common denominator is football. When you've finished football, you go back to your life." So much for team bonding.