Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins' letter of apology over punch to go under the hammer

Snooker champion Higgins, who died on 24 July at the age of 61, wrote the letter minutes before he appeared in front of a disciplinary panel after a bust-up with Colin Randle, a press officer for the sport's governing body.

It contains remarks from Higgins including "I was very upset at the time in respect of personal and financial matters", said auctioneer Charles Hanson.

Randle, of Findern in south Derbyshire, was officiating at the Crucible World Championship in Sheffield on the evening of 14 April, 1990.

Higgins had just crashed out of the world tournament to Steve James, and as he was entering the media area for a post-match press conference he turned around and "walloped" Randle in the stomach.

Randle, now 60, said the player may have already held a grudge against him after he reported him for not attending a press conference the previous year.

He said: "On entering the press area, as I always courteously did, I thanked him for coming. I just said 'Thank you, Alex' and he turned around and walloped me in the stomach.

"He said words to the effect of: 'I don't have to take any more nonsense off people like you because I'm retiring.'"

The tussle resulted in Higgins being suspended for a year and docked so many points that his ranking fell to 120.

Hansons Auctioneers said that the letter was expected to fetch between 1,500 and 2,000.