Northern clubs need to stop the brawn drain

The region that once propped up the England team now wants the national side to return the favour. Sale Sharks are among the Premiership's trio of northern clubs who are occupying the bottom three places in the league, with attendances dipping accordingly, and they want to see England play matches in the North to generate much-needed new interest.

"It's incredibly important the clubs in the North are as strong as they can be," said Mick Hogan, chief executive of Sale. "The Rugby Football Union don't do nearly enough. We've had two full England matches in the North – at Old Trafford – in living memory.

"I understand the RFU have got a mortgage on Twickenham to pay off, I can understand them developing a real strong base in the South-east and it's money flowing into the game. But what good is that money if potentially the game is ebbing away in a big part of the country? There are matches around the North during the 2015 World Cup but we shouldn't have to wait until then."

Newcastle and Sale have each won the league once with the help of bought-in talent, but Mark Cueto, who was appointed Sale captain last week when Pete Anglesea took over as coach from the sacked Mike Brewer, believes the balance has been wrong.

"You must have that almost amateur ethos of building a club around local guys and maybe we've slipped away from it too much," said the Workington-born Cueto. "I think it's massively important to get that back, so that when foreign guys or guys from other areas come here they buy into what the local lads create.

"I wouldn't question anyone's commitment – Dwayne Peel has been great for us – but the loyalty is always going to be totally different to someone like myself who is from the area and has been at the club for a long time."

Today Sale host Saracens, who have Gavin Henson at outside centre while his old foe Mathew Tait is on the bench for the Sharks. While Tait has stayed in the North, moving from Newcastle to Sale in 2008, the brawn drain has generally gone south. The most recent England 22 contained only two players – Cueto and his Sale team-mate Charlie Hodgson – who were northerners playing at a northern club. Ben Foden, Chris Ashton, Mike Tindall, Toby Flood, David Wilson and Danny Care moved south to develop their careers. The other 14 hailed from the Midlands, the South or abroad.

Ashton followed the trail from rugby league trodden by Jason Robinson, who was the only northerner at a northern club to be captain of England in the 1990s or 2000s. There was at least one in every preceding decade; a generation ago there was a succession: John Spencer (Headingley), Tony Neary (Broughton Park), Roger Uttley (Gosforth), Bill Beaumont (Fylde), Steve Smith (Sale).

More recent England skippers with northern connections by birth or schooling played for clubs in the South: Will Carling, Rob Andrew, Lawrence Dallaglio, Matt Dawson, Pat Sanderson and Steve Borthwick.

The future does not look bright. England's Under-18 and Under-19 squads playing in Ireland in midweek comprised 46 players but only five from the academies based at the three northern clubs. By region the South-east had 21 players, the South-west 12 and the Midlands eight.

It has long been mooted that the RFU might take a stake in clubs that struggle to break even. But Hogan, formerly the commercial director at Newcastle, said: "There are other ways a Union can support us. It would be a problem if they took a share in one or two clubs." Sale are interested in signing rugby league star Kyle Eastmond but "can't and won't get into a bidding war".

Semour Kurdi, a local businessman, is thought to have invested £2m in the Falcons while the so-called "million-pound match" when Leeds Carnegie beat Worcester last season to stay in the Premiership netted around £85,000 once their loans had been paid off.

Sale remain optimistic. "On a Sunday morning there are junior clubs round here with hundreds of kids playing rugby union," said Cueto. "Without a shadow of a doubt there is the interest to support a Premiership club."

They have hired Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium for the Premiership match with London Irish in April. "If we get a crowd of 20,000-plus it will be a big statement," said Hogan.

"We would like to do these matches at Christmas time, as Saracens and Harlequins have done at Wembley and Twickenham," Hogan added. "But although we have eight Premier League football stadiums nearby they are not interested in sharing in mid-season. We have tried, but not a chance."