NEW Earswick All Blacks ARL Club will play in the senior division of the Yorkshire League this season after it was confirmed that their third place last term was good enough for promotion.

All Blacks finished behind Batley Boys and Hunslet Old Boys in division one of the league, the third tier, and they also reached the final of the White Rose Trophy, going down in extra time of a tight game to Hunslet, in what proved to be a successful season for Simon Baynes' men.

Although only the top two in the table were guaranteed automatic promotion, league chiefs have allowed All Blacks to go up to the second tier under a revamping of the league structure.

All Blacks chairman Charles Rollinson said: "It was something we were aiming for. We finished third and the league decided we are strong enough to be promoted.

"It was a highly successful season for us, especially given the season before when we were on the point of folding."

Rollinson said they would like to build on their success, and did not rule out successive promotions, with a place in the premier division their goal.

"We will be certainly aiming at hitting the top four again," he said. "It will be a pretty similar squad this year but we hope to be naming two or three new players before the start of the season."

Updated: 09:42 Wednesday, July 23, 2003