ICE hockey bosses have apologised to the chairman of a North-east club after he was wrongly named in a disciplinary statement.

Paul Smith, who has suggested he is to quit his post with the Newcastle Jesters, was named alongside the club and its parent company, The Eye Group by the Ice Hockey Superleague's (ISL) standards committee.

The committee stated last month that it had found all three guilty of not paying the players and coach from last season's squad, and a meeting of the ISL board subsequently fined them £10,000.

But Mr Smith has now received a written letter of apology from Ian Taylor, the league's chief executive, stating he should not have been named, charged or punished.

Although an ISL spokeswoman said there would be an official retraction next week, Mr Smith, a former player with the Durham Wasps, said: "I just want to make it perfectly clear that the ISL have officially apologised."

About £150,000 is still outstanding from February, March and April's wages, and the ISL has a ban on the club registering players for the new season, which starts in September, until the matter is cleared up.

For the latest Jesters news, visit www.thisisthenortheast. co.uk/sport/jesters.