Sporting history is littered with controversy and the latest high-profile dispute came in Abu Dhabi on Sunday when Max Verstappen edged Lewis Hamilton to be crowned Formula One world champion.
Hamilton - the Mercedes driver - appeared to be charging to a record eighth world title, easily holding Verstappen at bay only for a crash for the Williams of Nicholas Latifi to change the course of events in the closing laps.
Confusion reigned as under-fire race director Michael Masi changed his mind to allow lapped cars to pass the safety car – meaning Verstappen had a clear run at Hamilton in the final lap and, on much faster fresh tyres, made his move to claim a first F1 title.
Max Verstappen controversially beat Lewis Hamilton to be crowned F1 world champion
Verstappen had a clear run at Hamilton in the final lap and managed to overtake his rival
Mercedes immediately launched two appeals against the result, one against Verstappen for allegedly overtaking under a safety car and a second claiming a breach of rules regarding race restarts following a safety car period.
Both were dismissed after the two teams spent hours in the stewards’ office, Verstappen able to toast his title over four hours after crossing the finish line – albeit with Mercedes lodging an intention to appeal the call.
But how do the events in Abu Dhabi compare to some of sport's most controversial events? Sportsmail has picked out a number of high-profile incidents that can match the Formula One for drama...
The Hand of God
There is no better place to start than Diego Maradona scoring probably the most controversial goal in the history of football.
England played Argentina in the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico just four years after The Falklands War with tensions still running high.
Three minutes after scoring the opening goal - one of the best pieces of magic to be seen on a football pitch - Maradona wrote himself into football history with a moment of madness.
Maradona, who died last year, jumped up to challenge England goalkeeper Peter Shilton for the ball but, rather than head it towards goal, the Argentine punched it into the back of the net.
It was such a blatant handball that Maradona's team-mates initially didn't really celebrate with him.
But, with VAR still around 35 years away, he managed to get away with it and dump England out of the tournament.
Diego Maradona scored with his hand to knock England out of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico
Tonya Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly (R) hired somebody to attack Nancy Kerrigan in a bid to remove her from the Olympic picture
Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan
Controversy doesn't immediately come to mind when you think of figure skating but the rivalry between two of America's most talented skaters turned ugly in 1994.
Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan were at the peak of their powers and fierce rivals to win the US National Championships and Olympic gold that year.
Kerrigan was the better of the two and had a strong chance of winning gold at Lillehammer 1994 - that was until she was attacked by a man on the eve of the national championships in Detroit who was trying to shatter her knee and force her out of the sport.
Harding went on to win the US title while Kerrigan sat out injured but both were selected to compete at the Olympics later that year. Harding - the subject of a 2017 film starring Margot Robbie - came eighth in Lillehammer while Kerrigan recovered to claim the silver medal.
It later emerged that Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly and his friend Shawn Eckdardt hired somebody to attack Kerrigan in a bid to remove her from the Olympic picture.
Gillooly was sentenced to two years in prison while Harding was stripped of her gold from the 1994 US Championships and was banned from competing in the US for life.
Harding and Kerrigan were at the peak of their powers and fierce rivals at the 1994 Olympics
Bloodgate
Blood is often spilled in a sport as brutal as rugby but Harlequins winger Tom Williams purposely bit into a fake blood capsule so he could be withdrawn late in the game.
It was the defining moments of the 2009 Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leinster and Quins' usual fly-half, Nick Evans, had earlier been substituted because of a thigh injury.
His replacement - Chris Malone - also tore his hamstring 20 minutes later and had to be replaced by Williams with Mike Brown taking over the kicking duties.
However, rules stated Evans could only return to the game as a 'blood replacement' so Williams bit into the capsule to make it look as though he had been cut with just eight minutes remaining.
Harlequins' Tom Williams bit into a fake blood capsule so he could be replaced against Leinster
Nick Evans came back on after being withdrawn but missed a decisive drop kick as his side lost
On ran Evans for the decisive final few minutes and it looked like the plan had worked when he had a drop goal attempt in the last minute to win the game. He missed, however, as Leinster ran out 6-5 winners.
Investigations later proved Harlequins had pulled off the trick four times before the Leinster game.
Williams was given a 12-month ban - later reduced to four months - while Quins director of rugby Dean Richards was slapped with a three-year ban and there was also a two-year ban for physio Steph Brennan.
Hansie Cronje
Cronje was a beloved figure in South African cricket at the turn of the century but, just four months later, his reputation was irredeemably shattered because of his role in a match-fixing scandal.
In April 2000, New Delhi police said they had phone recordings of him and an Indian bookmaker discussing predetermined performances during South Africa's tour of India the previous month.
An outraged Cronje strenuously rebuffed the allegations at first but soon afterwards he was stripped of the South Africa captaincy, a position he had held without challenge for six years.
That came after Dr Ali Bacher – chairman of the United Cricket Board, the precursor to Cricket South Africa – revealed Cronje had not been 'entirely honest' in his denials.
Cronje later confessed to a number of allegations at a Government-appointed King Commission.
Former South Africa captain Hansie Cronje played a crucial role in a match-fixing scandal
The hearing heard Cronje attempted to coerce Herschelle Gibbs and Henry Williams with bribes to underperform in an ODI against India.
Cronje himself admitted to accepting around $130,000 (£100,000) over a number of years from bookmakers to prearrange a number of conditions.
Cronje was found to have been paid around £5,000 and a leather jacket for his wife to make sure there was a positive result in a Test match against England that looked to be heading for a washout after four days of rain.
The United Cricket Board banned Cronje from playing or coaching in the sport for life in October 2000. He challenged the ruling the following year, saying he had no desire to return to playing, only that he would like to coach one day but his appeal was dismissed.
On June 1, 2002, Cronje died aged 32 following a private plane accident.
2000 Paralympic Spanish Basketball Team
Spain's Paralympic basketball team claimed gold at Sydney 2000 but not all was as it seemed.
Soon after their victory a member of their team, Carlos Ribagorda, revealed 10 of the 12-strong squad that beat Russia in the final of the intellectual disability tournament actually had no handicap.
Ribargorda said he had played for the Spanish Paralympic basketball team for over two years but had no mental handicap.
He said the only test he had been asked to complete at his first training session was six press-ups, after which his blood pressure was taken, nor did he face an intelligence test when he was in Australia.
The final team did comprise two players with IQs below 70 as required, but the other ten posed as mentally disabled players with the help of fake medical certificates they were provided with.
At one point during the first game of the tournament, when they were leading China by 30 points, Ribagorda claimed the coach
