However, a public meeting at Dundee Ice Arena last night allayed fears of Stars fans and some of Fife Flyers’ fans, too.

Stars will spend next season in the Scottish National League, and have retained all their sponsors from the previous season to help them on their way.

It is their aim to transform the currently amateur SNL into a more professionally-run league.

Stars co-owner Steve Ward started off the meeting by explaining the decision process that led to the Elite League’s rejection of the Stars.

He said, “Going back to the start, we were accepted into the Elite League in December, and were promised a place in the league at a meeting in Milton Keynes.

“Then the other teams applied. However, we were told that we would be in a second-tier league with no prospect of promotion and no voting rights.

“The seven teams could not accept this. However, Newcastle and Edinburgh then applied separately to join the league and were accepted, while Bracknell announced their decision to drop out of the BNL.

“We went back to the Elite league and had various meetings. However, we would not join the league and leave Fife and Guildford out in the cold.”

Steve added that Stars were promised entry to the league several times, only for things to change and then being denied.

However, the Dundee side will play hockey next season, albeit at a lower level than before.

Steve revealed there had been a plan to run a four-import Northern League, including (among others) Dundee, Fife, Sheffield, Hull, Whitley, Paisley. Solway and Aberdeen.

However, gradually teams had been forced to withdraw from the negotiations, meaning a new league was not viable.

The Ward brothers then took the decision to run a Stars team in the SNL, and Steve added that Fife had no other option than to join that league also.

He said, “Our aim is to make the league more professional, with every team having 20-25 home games a season.

“If we can build up a regular season, we would hope to bring in imports at some point.

“The SNL is now the top league in Scotland and it is our idea to take this league forward and develop it into a more professional league.”

Dundee Ice Arena manager Jack Dryburgh then gave a brief run down of the history of hockey in the area, pointing out that hockey in the city has undergone hardships before and that this could be a great opportunity for young Scottish players.

Charlie Ward then moved on to junior development.

He said, “There are currently 2500 kids in Scotland playing ice hockey and they have been left with just one professional team, which will have four or five professional British players on it.

“Therefore, it is important for us to build and protect these players like they do in England with the EPL and the ENL.”

Charlie made the poignant statement that when Stars started playing four years ago, there were over 8000 regular fans in Scotland supporting five professional teams. This has now dropped to around 400 supporting one professional team.

Currently, the SNL is somewhat restricted, with limits on the number of players over 30 who can be played. However, the Wards vowed to do their best to change this, mentioning that veteran British players such as Davie Smith could be left with nowhere to play as a result.

The Wards confirmed that the only reason Stars had been rejected from the league was due to the number of teams in the Elite League.

However, the Elite League themselves seemed, until recently, unsure of what number they required, repeatedly changing their mind on Dundee and Fife’s acceptance.

The unanimous feeling was that the SNL could be due to undergo some massive infrastructural changes, which will benefit the sport in the country.

With it becoming almost the top level in Britain, a degree of professionalism and organisation needs to brought to the league, and the Wards are determined to see it through.

They will meet with the Scottish Ice Hockey Association to discuss ways forward for the eight current SNL teams and any others that could join. There was also suggestion of crossover games between Blackburn and Whitley to ease the travelling expenses on the less well off Scottish teams.

At the end of the meeting, it was plain that the Wards are looking to the future and not looking back. A newly-restructured and better-run SNL could see an improvement in young Scottish players and a better national team, and the Wards urged the Stars fans to stay loyal to their team during the period of re-adjustment.