Tuesday, 21st August 2007 at 5:08 pm

Mighty Dodo in celebrity punch-up?

The rumour mill has been abuzz this week, after tabloid photographers spotted celebrity hockey team Mighty Dodos’ Zimbabwean defender Michael Van Beuningen sporting a quite magnificent black eye. The Dodos - who boast Feverpitcher as official media partner - are cult figures in Cape Town, which has only heightened interest in what might have happened to the bearded Van Beuningen, one of the gentler figures in the game.

Neither Van Beuningen nor his agent have made any official comment, but Feverpitcher has unearthed a couple of stories that may or may not have a shred of truth to them. A regular fixture in the Mother City’s racier night spots, there’s been rumour that Van Beuningen put six bouncers in hospital after one of them made inappropriate comments about the size of his eyebrows (they are lush, flowing eyebrows - or one large eyebrow, to be precise).

There’s also been suggestion that Van Beuningen lost consciousness after breathing in adhesive fumes while working on his celebrated stamp collection, and hit his eye on a large, unforgiving tube of Pritt. But it’s anonymous sources within the Mighty Dodos squad that offer the most compelling reason for Van Beuningen’s injury: Mighty Dodos cheerleader Tarryn Stevens flattened him after he suggested that she’d not been spending quite as much time at the gym as she should have. Having seen Stevens - better half of Dodos star Big Lurker Fleming - Feverpitcher is amazed Van Beuningen isn’t still in intensive care.