2009 has seen as much action off the pitch, track or court as on it. Sport Resolutions looks back on the top 5 sport dispute stories of the year

1. Rugby Union: Blood-Gate

During the quarter final of the Heineken Cup 2009 game between Harlequins and Leinster, Harlequins winger Tom Williams came off the field with a dubious blood injury. The injury allowed Harlequins All Black fly half and kicking specialist, Nick Evans, back on the pitch. Evans was unable to fashion a scoring opportunity and Leinster went on to win the game and the tournament. An investigation by the European Rugby Cup revealed that the blood injury had been faked. Tom Williams was banned for twelve months which was reduced to 4 months on appeal. Harlequins Director of Rugby, Dean Richards, who instigated the use of the blood capsule received a three year ban and Steph Brennan, the Club Physiotherapist, who supplied the capsule, received a two year ban. Club Chairman Charles Jillings subsequently tendered his resignation while the Club Doctor was suspended by the General Medical Council for cutting Williams's lip to hide his use of the fake blood. Harlequins were also fined over £250,000. However, they did escape being thrown out of the Heineken Cup for the 2009-10 season but their form seems visibly shaken and they have failed to progress beyond the group stages of this year’s tournament.

2. Motor Sport: The Crashgate Scandal

Flavio Briatore resigned as team principal of Renault following revelations that a Grand Prix race had been fixed. The controversy centered around a crash involving Renault driver Piquet Jr, during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. At the time, Piquet Jr described the crash as a mistake, however, after he left Renault nearly a year later in August 2009, allegations surfaced that he had deliberately crashed to help his then team mate Fernando Alonso, who went on to win the race. After an investigation by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (“FIA”), Renault were charged with conspiracy and race fixing.

Renault chose not to contest Piquet Jr's claims that he was asked to crash during the Singapore Grand Prix and the World Motor Sport Council (“WMSC”) decided not to impose a ban on Renault. However, Briatore was effectively banned from motor sport for life for his part in the scandal. The WMSC were unable to take direct action against him because he had resigned from Renault. To punish Briatore the WMSC said it would not sanction any event involving him.

Briatore is currently appealing the decision in the French courts. If he loses his case he may have to resign his position with QPR Football Club under the fit and proper person test.

3. Swimming: The Swimsuit Arms Race

Following the December 2008 European Short Course Championships in Croatia, where 17 world records fell, Michael Phelps led the way in calling for a halt to the technological arms race of the performance enhancing, non-textile swim suit. A further 29 world records were broken at the FINA World Swimming Championships held in Rome in July, providing further evidence to support claims that it was no longer the swimmer but the swimsuit that was responsible for the new times being recorded. In July 2009, FINA voted to ban 100% polyurethane swimsuits in competitive events from January 1 2010. The new policy also states that men's swimsuits can cover no more than the area from the waist to the knee, and women's counterparts from the shoulder to the knee.

The arguments continue, however, over whether the world records broken by wearers of the swimsuits should stand, as they are unlikely to be broken through natural performance improvement for many years to come.

4. Athletics: Gender Test Row

In August South African athlete Caster Semenya won gold in the 800m at the 2009 World Athletics Championships, setting the fastest time of the year. Following her victory, questions were raised about her gender which exposed gaps in the IAAF rulebook about how gender is defined. The dispute led to the resignation of the President of Athletics South Africa, Leonard Chuene, who lied that he had not known about tests being carried out prior to the World Championships.

It was widely reported in the press that the IAAF had subjected her to gender testing. The federation explained that the motivation for the test was not suspected cheating, but a desire to determine if she has a rare medical condition giving her an unfair competitive advantage.

Politicians in South Africa lept to Semenya’s defence and on the recommendation of South Africa's Minister for Sport and Recreation, law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf were retained to protect her rights.

Gender tests on Semenya are yet to be completed and the matter is ongoing.

5. Football: The continuing affair of Carlos Tevez

Sheffield United were relegated from the English Football Premier League after their loss to Wigan on the final day of the 2006-07 season. Sheffield United argued that West Ham only avoided relegation because they could field Carlos Tevez who was, it transpired, playing in breach of Premier League transfer rules. The Premier League fined West Ham £5.5 million for signing Tevez and fellow Argentine Javier Mascherano whilst they were subject to a third party ownership agreement.

Sheffield United were unsuccessful in their appeal to be reinstated into the Premier League and then went onto fight for financial compensation from West Ham United. It was reported that Sheffield United wanted in the region of £30 million to compensate them for the financial loss which resulted from relegation. The controversy continued for nearly two years. An arbitration panel found in favour of Sheffield United and in March 2009 both clubs reached a settlement agreement to bring an end to this long running dispute. West Ham agreed to pay £20 million (£4 million a year over the next five seasons) in compensation to Sheffield United.