Setanta Ó hAilpín’s altercation with Carlton Blues teammate Cameron Cloke is the latest example of what can happen with tensions boil over on the training ground.
Here, we look back at a few famous dust-ups down through the years.
Danny Cipriani v Josh Lewsey
England poster boy Cipriani was knocked out by his Wasps teammate during a training ground row ahead of their Heineken Cup clash with Castres at the beginning of October.
Lewsey was critical of Cipriani’s missed tackles during a defensive drill and proceeded to burst the outhalf’s lip. No action was taken against either player, with Wasps coach Shaun Edwards claiming “we always have a fight in Heineken Cup week”.
El-Hadji Diouf v Anton Ferdinand
The Senegalese striker was allegedly threatened to stab Ferdinand in a row during a Sunderland training session recently.
Diouf played down the incident saying the pair had no issues and everything was cleared up. That came just before Diouf was cleared out, moving to Blackburn in a €2.4million deal.
John Hartson v Eyal Berkovic
Former Wales and Celtic star John Hartson was caught on video kicking Israeli international Berkovic in the head during a West Ham training session back in 1998.
The club fined Hartson £10,000 at the time, but the English FA got involved and brought a charge of misconduct against the striker, the first time they had ever got involved in a training ground incident. He was later fined another £20,000 and handed a three-match ban.
Although he was left with a headache, Berkovic at least pointed out Hartson’s accuracy. “If my head was a ball it would have flown into the top corner of the goal," he said at the time.
Olof Mellberg v Fredrik Ljungberg
Sometimes two players simply can't get along and that was the case with these Swedish teammates.
It all stemmed from an incident in the warm-up stages of the 2002 World Cup when former Arsenal player Ljungberg reacted badly to a heavy challenge from Mellberg and a fight broke out.
The row simmered on for years and exploded again in a fiery exchange following Sweden’s draw with Trinidad and Tobago in the 2006 World Cup.