The birth of the Premiership in the summer of 1997 divided the RFU. Many within it felt a professional league in England could never last and it would be doomed to a spectacular public failure.

When Saracens meet Bath this weekend though, it will mark the 2000th game in the Premiership era and the doubters will have been well and truly proved wrong.

The leagues structure has developed and strengthened, the crowds have swollen and the TV interest has increased drastically, ueliing a growth in Rugby Union betting.

In the 90’s club Rugby was seen as “a means to an end and not an end in itself” by a parliamentary committee, it is now worth over £120 million a year, close to the revenue of the RFU itself. The attendances have gone from an average of 5,500 to 13,500 and the recent encounter between Harlequins and Saracens at Twickenham saw a crowd of 82,00 watch a domestic game in England, more than any domestic football match outside of a major cup final, and thats without including the big centre-piece matches of the Betfair Six Nations 2012.

The downside of the Premiership era is clear in the North of England. If, as looks likely Newcastle are relegated and Leeds fail to gain promotion the Northern presence in the league will be down to just one side, Sale Sharks.

The demise of the once great northern clubs of Orrell, West Hartlepool, Liverpool St Helens and others has only continued with the birth of the Premiership and the shift of money further to the south. Newcastle and Sale have both won the Premiership but over the last few years this has become an ever more distant memory.

Sale are showing a revival with a desire to become a Northern Super Club. If the Premiership is to survive and continue to grow it needs a Northern club to be successful. To inspire the whole nation Union needs a foothold in the North and hopefully Sale will provide this.