East Coast Rugby Union officials have confirmed that the team will play in the NPC second division next year.
The news, which was announced at the union's end-of-season prizegiving in Ruatoria, was greeted with thunderous applause and cheering by more than 200 Coast fans.
"It wasn't an easy decision in some respects,
but in other ways it was," chairman Bill Burdett said.
"It's going to cost a lot more. We'll need to strengthen the team and look at introducing a development squad, among other considerations, but in the end we owed it to the players, the management staff and the supporters. It's the right decision."
Coach Joe McClutchie, who has guided the team to successive third-division championship titles and a top-four placing in the past three seasons, was understandably delighted.
"It's what we've been working towards since winning the title last year," he said. "It's the next challenge and while we know we need to strengthen the squad we won't be getting drawn into buying players just for the sake of it.
"This team has been built on whanau team spirit and we want players who want to wear the East Coast jersey."
Chief executive officer Anthony Nelson now has the job of ensuring that money is in place so McClutchie can go ahead with his plans of building a team capable of challenging for a top-four place.
- NZPA
