Rugby has to be careful about pricing itself out of the market Bath fan Glen Leat

One of the priorities for clubs when the game went professional was to attract increasing numbers of fans to matches.

The figures would suggest they have been successful, with Premiership clubs reporting bumper sales of season tickets - especially on the back of England's World Cup win.

But has professionalism been a good thing for the fans, who now have to pay far more than ever before, and is the game better to watch than in amateur times?

We asked Glen Leat, editor of Bath web-fanzine 'Everytime Ref, Everytime!'

I first went down to the Recreation Ground in the early 1970s when I was still at school, and I think what stands there were were made from railway sleepers.

In the late 1980s and 1990s I used to stand, and we had to get to the ground at least two hours before kick-off to get a place.

Part of that was good fun, because you'd have a load of banter with the people around you, but when it was pouring with rain you'd get pretty hacked off.

I was at the club AGM when the announcement that the game was going professional was made - exciting times.

Phil de Glanville stood up and told us that if we didn't vote for professionalism then all the other clubs would take our best players - and out of the 800 who were there probably only 20 voted against it.

Professionalism was hard for Bath fans because the simple fact is that everyone caught us up - the levels of fitness these days are really unbelievable.

That said, I've never known as many injuries as we seem to get these days - what shocks me is when you hear of people getting hurt in the warm-up, and I don't remember that at all.

At Bath we obviously have a number of problems with the development of the ground Glen Leat

Perhaps the beer or wine-edged fug kept them going before professionalism.

The camaraderie between the fans in rugby has always been good, but I think that has changed to an extent, simply because of the number of people who watch rugby now.

What club rugby has to be careful about is pricing itself out of the market.

When we went to Twickenham for the cup final two weeks time the tickets are �40 a head - and for club rugby I just think that's too expensive.

If you're going to have a long-term strategy you have to make sure you can keep people's interests.

There could come a time when people say "I just can't afford this anymore"' and rugby as a sport cannot afford that.

My season ticket at Bath costs �220 for an uncovered seat, and I don't have a problem with that.

But on top of that we've got all the cup games, so if Bath get into the final as we did this year then you've got all those too.

The crucial thing with rugby is that people like to come in families - now I've got five of us going to Twickenham - so that sets me back �200 - just for the tickets!

I think there is a danger the game will expand too much - and we have to be realistic... it's not football.

At Bath we have a number of problems with the development of the ground, but overall it's clear facilities for fans have improved.

What they've done at Northampton is fantastic - the ground looks superb - and that demonstrates what can be done.

Generally speaking professionalism has been a positive move.